Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services, Inc. v. VOR Technology, LLC

CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedApril 15, 2020
Docket1:18-cv-03373
StatusUnknown

This text of Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services, Inc. v. VOR Technology, LLC (Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services, Inc. v. VOR Technology, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services, Inc. v. VOR Technology, LLC, (D. Md. 2020).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

* KRATOS DEFENSE & ROCKET * SUPPORT SERVICES, INC., * * Plaintiff, * v. * Civil Case No. SAG-18-03373 * VOR TECHNOLOGY, et al., * * Defendants. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiff Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services, Inc. (“Kratos”) filed an Amended Complaint against VOR Technology (“VOR”), Anthony Lawrence (“Lawrence”), and Doe Defendants 1-10 (“Doe Defendants) (collectively, “Defendants”), alleging claims relating to certain contractual obligations. ECF 30. Kratos, on one hand, and VOR and Lawrence, on the other hand, have filed cross-motions for partial summary judgment. ECF 41, 42. Both sides have opposed the other parties’ dispositive motion, and Kratos also filed a reply. ECF 45, 46, 47. No hearing is necessary. See Loc. R. 105.6 (D. Md. 2018). For the reasons that follow, Kratos’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment will be granted, and VOR’s and Lawrence’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment will be granted in part and denied in part. I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND The United States Air Force (“Air Force”) entered into a contract (“the Prime Contract”) with VOR in 2017. ECF 41-2 No. 9. Under the Prime Contract, VOR would provide engineering and technical personnel to perform work on Air Force aircraft components at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. Id. VOR entered into a subcontract (“the Subcontract”) with Kratos, under which Kratos would provide engineering, technical, and other personnel support for the Prime Contract at Robins Air Force Base. See generally ECF 41-5. The Subcontract provided, inter alia, that Kratos would submit periodic invoices to VOR for the services rendered, and VOR would make payment on any invoice submitted within 45 days of receipt. Id. at page 7 (Article 11). In compliance with Article 11 of the subcontract, Kratos provided monthly invoices to VOR. ECF 41-7 No. 5 (VOR admission). Each month, VOR incorporated the amount of Kratos’s

invoice into its own invoice, and sent the Air Force a single invoice for the work performed by both companies. ECF 41-13 (Casto Dep.) at 43:19-44:7. VOR then assigned its invoices to “a factoring company,” which made an immediate cash payment to VOR of the invoice amount, less a percentage that the factoring company charged for the upfront payment. Id. at 28:20-29:15, 43:19-44-7. Although VOR received payments from the factoring company, VOR did not always use the money to pay Kratos for its share of the invoiced work. Id. at 44:8-12 (responding “yes” when asked if VOR would use payment for other purposes). VOR does not dispute the accuracy of the invoices Kratos submitted. ECF 41-6 (Lawrence Dep.) at 47:2-20; 77:5-78:2 (stating “No” when asked if he has any factual basis to contest the

accuracy of invoices). While VOR initially paid Kratos’s invoices in a timely fashion, beginning in or around January, 2018, VOR fell behind in its payments to Kratos. ECF 41-13 at 42:13-21. VOR’s cash flow problems were severe, and VOR’s management began to disagree about which expenses should be paid. Id. at 39:14-41:4 (“[W]e talked about who was going to get paid, what bills were going to be paid”), 27:17-24, 137:5-138:3. VOR’s then-Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel, Daniel Casto, believed VOR should pay Kratos, but Lawrence disagreed. Id. at 137:5-138:3. Casto left VOR on March 31, 2018. Id. at 22:21-25, 26:25-27:9. During Casto’s tenure, he did not participate in any discussions suggesting that Kratos was failing to perform its obligations under the Subcontract. Id. at 34:15-18. On April 2, 2018, Kratos emailed Lawrence to discuss the debt VOR owed, which amounted to $658,584.39 at that time. ECF 41-17 at 4. Lawrence promptly responded, representing that VOR imminently expected to receive funding from a $2.5 million loan from the State of Maryland. Id. at 3. Lawrence stated, “In the meantime, we will be making invoice payments throughout the week to settle our account,” and “remaining payments and all future

payments will be paid on or before the due dates.” Id. He concluded, “I apologize for not having all the funds to you today as promised but we will make sure to have the remaining balance to you very soon. Thank you again for your patience.” Id. On April 26, 2018, Sharon Tarlton, the Director of Administration at VOR, emailed Kratos to say that the loans were being finalized and, “Upon receipt, it is VOR’s intent to pay KRATOS invoices due, at once.” ECF 41-18 at 3. However, by May 21, 2018, Kratos had not heard anything further. Id. at 2. On or about that date, Jack Trumbull, the Vice President of Business Operations and Finance for Kratos, spoke with Lawrence by phone. Id. Lawrence told Trumbull that he was “working on making payment by the end of this week.” Id. On or about May 29, 2018, VOR made

a payment of $97,629.14. See ECF 47-5; ECF 41-19 at 4 (“Great news, we received the $97K payment yesterday afternoon.”). On June 8, 2018, Lawrence emailed Trumbull to advise that VOR had sent another payment, amounting to $146,161. ECF 41-19 at 2. Lawrence stated that the amount was “less than what you were expecting but we are getting there. We will have the payment schedule to you soon.” Id. Kratos received the payment of $146,161 on or about June 11, 2018. ECF 47-5. On July 23, 2018, Lawrence emailed Trumbull and stated, “VOR’s new CFO, David Goldstein (cc’ed), will be developing a payment schedule within the next week. Once completed, he will send over. Once the plan is developed, we will hold to it.” ECF 41-20 at 4. In August, 2018, Kratos Division President David Carter met with VOR’s Chief Financial Officer, Wilbert Williams, to discuss an alleged workshare imbalance at Robins Air Force Base. ECF 41-16 (Williams Dep.) at 18:21-19:8. Article 41 of the Subcontract provided, “The workshare for Subcontractor under the contract will be a target of 49% of the resulting contract revenue. VOR and Subcontractor will no less than annually review the actual work share versus target work share

and re-distribute labor position as needed.” ECF 41-5 at 25. Because Kratos’s work share, as of the date of the meeting, exceeded 49%, Williams, for VOR, proposed “reducing Kratos’s personnel, you know, for a period of, say, a year and, in that process of doing that, it would not only bring the contract back into compliance, but also allow VOR to start to recoup a bigger percentage of the revenue and then use a portion of that revenue to start paying down some of the back payments as was stated.” ECF 41-16 at 59:17-60:14. However, Kratos and VOR did not reach an agreement on how to address the workshare imbalance. Id. at 24:22-25:10. On August 17, 2018, Kratos sent VOR a “Notice of Material Breach.” ECF 41-21 at 3 (email from Marie Mendoza); ECF 41-22. The incorporated “Accounts Receivable Aging Report”

in the Notice reflected a then-balance of $920,668.42 owed to Kratos. ECF 41-22. In the negotiations that followed, Goldstein, VOR’s CFO, agreed that VOR would “develop a plan for repayment” and “[p]ay Kratos for July and all invoices going forward as soon as VOR is paid.” ECF 41-21 at 3. On August 31, 2018, Kratos exercised its option to renew the Subcontract for another six months. ECF 42-6. In August or September of 2018, Kratos representatives met twice with the Air Force about Kratos’s payment issues with VOR. ECF 46-5 at 49:5-20; ECF 46-2 at 32:2-33:18. On September 7, 2018, Goldstein emailed the Air Force representative in charge of the Prime Contract, stating that VOR “stands behind” the Prime Contract and was “in constant communication with KRATOS related to the outstanding balance.” ECF 41-23 at 4. Goldstein also told the Air Force that VOR “was planning on making a significant payment today (9/7/18) and will honor that payment next week.” Id.

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Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services, Inc. v. VOR Technology, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kratos-defense-rocket-support-services-inc-v-vor-technology-llc-mdd-2020.