Kuhns v. Ledger

202 F. Supp. 3d 433, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118928, 2016 WL 4705160
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedAugust 24, 2016
Docket15 Civ. 3246 (NRB)
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 202 F. Supp. 3d 433 (Kuhns v. Ledger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kuhns v. Ledger, 202 F. Supp. 3d 433, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118928, 2016 WL 4705160 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

NAOMI REICE BUCHWALD, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiff John D. Kuhns brings this action against defendants Dean Ledger, Robert Fasnacht, Ronald B. Foster, and NanoFlex Power Corp. (“NanoFlex” or “the company”) seeking damages, injunc-tive, and declaratory relief arising out of his termination as Executive Chairman and co-CEO of NanoFlex. Presently before us is defendants’ partial motion to dismiss the complaint. For the reasons stated below, defendants’ motion is granted in part and denied in part. Specifically, Counts Two, Five (as to defendant Foster), and Seven are dismissed.

BACKGROUND

The following facts, which we assume to be true for purposes of this motion, are drawn from Kuhns’ amended complaint.

Defendant NanoFlex, a Florida corporation with its principal place of business in Arizona, “is engaged in the invention, development, commercialization and licensing of advanced photovoltaic technologies and intellectual properties.” Am. Compl. ¶7. During the events described herein, defendant Ledger served as co-CEO and defendant Fasnacht served as Executive Vice President. Defendant Foster holds 47% of the outstanding shares of NanoFlex, making him its largest shareholder. The Board of Directors of NanoFlex consisted of Kuhns, Ledger, and Fasnacht.

Kuhns, who had invested in NanoFlex for more than a decade, acted as Co-CEO and Executive Chairman of the board of NanoFlex pursuant to an employment agreement dated September 24, 2013, which was amended and restated on October 22, 2013 (the “Employment Agreement”). The Employment Agreement provided that Kuhns would serve as Executive Chairman of the board of directors for five years.

In late 2014 and early 2015, NanoFlex could not pay its officers and, according to the amended complaint, Ledger resorted to fraud in order to raise money for the company. To do so, Ledger made baseless representations to investors: he told them that NanoFlex’s equity had an imputed value of $50-60 million and that NanoFlex would list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 2015. Ledger further offered potential investors “units” of a share of common stock and a warrant with a strike price of $2.50, without providing reliable valuation and capitalization figures, and proposed modifying the strike price without authorization from the board of directors. In addition, Ledger obtained short-term loans even though NanoFlex could not repay these loans except from new infusions of capital. Kuhns told Ledger not to make these representations to investors several times.

Pursuant to an agreement between Na-noFlex and Kuhns’ investment banking firm, Kuhns Brothers, Inc., Kuhns separately obtained a financing proposal from SLS Holdings VII LLC (“SLS Holdings”). Under. the terms. of the proposal, SLS Holdings would extend to NanoFlex a $3 million loan for three years at 5% interest, and would require the resignations of certain members of management. In addition, SLS Holdings would receive a warrant to purchase 25% of NanoFlex for $1.00. This proposal valued NanoFlex at $12 million. Kuhns circulated the proposal on March 6, 2015 and advocated exploring the proposal further, while Ledger and Fasnacht objected to the offer. SLS Holdings withdrew the proposal after NanoFlex’s counsel, at the direction of Fasnacht and Ledger, [436]*436asked for an extension of the deadline to accept the offer.

On March 16, 2015, Fasnacht told Kuhns that he and Ledger wanted Kuhns to resign. He told Kuhns that they were acting on behalf of “the shareholders,” who found the SLS Holdings proposal “unacceptable.” Am. Compl. ¶24. The “shareholders,” according to Kuhns, “clearly referred to ... Foster, the [company's dominant and controlling shareholder.” Id. Kuhns refused to resign and two days later sent NanoFlex a notice of default, in which he demanded that NanoFlex cure its breaches of the Employment Agreement, including failure to pay him compensation he was owed, within 30 days.

Kuhns received a draft Form 10-K on Friday, March 27, 2015, and told Ledger and Fasnacht that he would provide comments the following week. He subsequently received an updated draft on Monday, and provided his comments that evening. Specifically, Kuhns stated that “[t]he manner in which we are offering our securities could engender an inquiry from the regulators. In that event, we would find it expensive and difficult to defend ourselves.” Am. Compl. ¶ 26. He further noted that

[e]ven though the [c]ompany is a registrant, its shareholders’ ability to trade the [cjompany’s shares is extremely limited, and has not been adequately disclosed, as follows: 1) the [c]ompany has no market makers, in the absence of which trading may not take place; and 2) the [cjompany’s shares may not be uplisted to a better exchange without the approval of the exchange in question, which in turn is vague and generally depends on the [cjompany doing an underwriting with a recognized broker/dealer. The [cjompany has no such arrangements.

Id. Finally, he requested disclosure regarding the importance of a senior executive and the difficulties NanoFlex might face without him. Kuhns would not sign the draft Form 10-K without the requested changes.

The following day, Kuhns received a Notice of Termination, which stated that he was terminated for “Cause” as the Employment Agreement defined the term. Specifically, defendants fired him for allegedly breaching his fiduciary duties. Finally, the Notice of Termination stated that 67.26% of the shareholders had voted by written consent to remove Kuhns from the Board.

DISCUSSION

On a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the Court must accept as true all factual allegations in the complaint and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiffs favor. ATSI Commc’ns, Inc. v. Shaar Fund, Ltd., 493 F.3d 87, 98 (2d Cir.2007). Nonetheless, “[fjactual allegations must be enough to raise a right of relief above the speculative level, on the assumption that all of the allegations in the complaint are true.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (citation omitted); see also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). Thus, a plaintiff must allege “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955. If a plaintiff “ha[sj not nudged [hisj claims across the line from conceivable to plausible, [his] complaint must be dismissed.” Id.

I. Dodd-Frank Retaliation Claim

Defendants seek dismissal of Count One, which alleges that NanoFlex violated the whistleblower protection provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) when it fired him, allegedly in retaliation for his statements to Ledger to stop mak[437]*437ing fraudulent statements to investors and for his comments on the draft Form 10-K NanoFlex contends that Count One fails as a matter of law, because Kuhns failed to properly report under the statute and because he did not reasonably believe that the conduct he identified constituted a violation of the securities laws.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Melvin v. City of New York
S.D. New York, 2025
Anderson v. Kocienda
D. Connecticut, 2024
Anderson v. Quiros
D. Connecticut, 2024
Petion v. Pearson
D. Connecticut, 2023
Rosa v. Cook
D. Connecticut, 2022
Harry v. McDonald
D. Connecticut, 2022
Henderson v. Quiros
D. Connecticut, 2022
Urban v. Quiros
D. Connecticut, 2022
Green v. Franco
D. Connecticut, 2022
Eason v. Walsh
D. Connecticut, 2022
Goss v. New London
D. Connecticut, 2021
Davis v. Furtick
D. Connecticut, 2021
Blaine v. Walker
D. Connecticut, 2021
Orellano v. Papoosha
D. Connecticut, 2021
Rojas v. Guadarrama
D. Connecticut, 2021
Ford v. Campbell
D. Connecticut, 2021

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
202 F. Supp. 3d 433, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118928, 2016 WL 4705160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kuhns-v-ledger-nysd-2016.