Patriarch Partners Agency Services, LLC v. Zohar CDO 2003-1, Ltd., et al.

District Court, S.D. New York·Decided March 11, 2026·No. 1:16-cv-04488·Unknown

Opinion

eon DOCUMENT UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT ELECTRONICALLY FILED SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK DOC #: DATE FILED: 3/11/2026 PATRIARCH PARTNERS AGENCY SERVICES, LLC, 16-CV-4488 (VM) Plaintiff, DECISION AND ORDER - against - ZOHAR CDO 2003-1, LTD., ET AL., Defendants.

VICTOR MARRERO, United States District Judge. The Court has reviewed the motions in limine filed by plaintiff Patriarch Partners Agency Services, LLC (“PPAS”) and by defendant David Dunn as Trustee for the Zohar Litigation Trust-A (the “Trust”). PPAS filed one motion in limine, which contained four discrete subparts. (See “PPAS’s Motion” or “PPAS’s Mot.,” Dkt. No. 380.) PPAS’s Motion makes the following requests: (1) to exclude the testimony of Elizabeth LaPuma on subjects for which she previously invoked the attorney-client privilege at her deposition (“PPAS’s Motion 1.1”). PPAS’s Motion 1.1 is hereby GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. (2) to exclude the testimony of David Dunn on topics for which he lacks personal knowledge (“PPAS’s Motion 1.2”). PPAS’s Motion 1.2 is hereby GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

(3) to exclude allegations of a “scheme” by non-parties and PPAS affiliated entities to deprive the Zohar Funds of cash (“PPAS’s Motion 1.3”). PPAS’s Motion 1.3 is hereby DENIED. (4) to exclude materials from the “Books and Records

Action,” Zohar CDO 2003-1 v. Patriarch Partners, LLC, C.A. No. 12247-VCS (Del. Ch.) (“PPAS’s Motion 1.4”). PPAS’s Motion 1.4 is GRANTED. The Trust filed two motions in limine, which make the following requests: (1) to exclude the following litigation exhibits: PX-527, PX-278, PX-528, and PX-500 (“Trust’s First Motion,” Dkt. No. 374). The Trust’s First Motion is GRANTED IN PART and RESERVED FOR TRIAL IN PART. (2) to preclude PPAS from introducing certain damages evidence and computations (“Trust’s Second Motion” Dkt. No. 378, collectively with the Trust’s First

Motion, the “Trust’s Motions”). The Trust’s Second Motion is DENIED IN PART and RESERVED FOR TRIAL IN PART. I. LEGAL STANDARDS “The purpose of an in limine motion is to aid the trial process by enabling the Court to rule in advance of the trial on the relevance of certain forecasted evidence, as to issues that are definitely set for trial, without lengthy argument at, or interruption of, the trial.” Palmieri v. Defaria, 88 F.3d 136, 141 (2d Cir. 1996) (internal quotation marks omitted). “A court’s determination of a motion in limine is preliminary and may be subject to change as the case unfolds.”

State v. Deutsche Telekom AG, 419 F. Supp. 3d 783, 787 (S.D.N.Y. 2019). II. ARGUMENT A. PPAS’S MOTION 1.1: TESTIMONY OF ELIZABETH LAPUMA PPAS’s Motion 1.1 seeks to exclude testimony of Elizabeth LaPuma, the former Managing Director of Alvarez & Marsal, regarding subjects for which she allegedly invoked the attorney-client privilege at her deposition. The parties agree that the Trust should not be allowed to elicit testimony from LaPuma regarding topics over which she previously asserted privilege. The parties, however, appear to differ as to how much of LaPuma’s testimony should be excluded. PPAS

asks the Court to prohibit LaPuma from testifying as to any topic for which she asserted privilege during her deposition. The Trust argues that this is overbroad and would prevent LaPuma from testifying as to the underlying factual matters on those topics that she also spoke about during her deposition. The Second Circuit has long held that “the attorney- client privilege cannot at once be used as a sword and a shield,” meaning “[a] defendant may not use the privilege to prejudice his opponent’s case or to disclose some selected communications for self-serving purposes.” United States v.

Bilzerian, 926 F.2d 1285, 1292 (2d Cir. 1991). The sword-and- shield doctrine prevents a party that invoked the attorney- client privilege from cherry-picking which facts to later disclose at trial. See id.; see also In re Residential Cap., LLC, 491 B.R. 63, 68 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2013). While LaPuma repeatedly invoked the attorney-client privilege during her deposition, she also testified as to underlying facts. The Trust states that it “intends to elicit the same factual testimony at trial—not the legal advice.” (“Trust’s Opp.,” Dkt. No. 390 at 17.)1 Since the Trust states it will not be cherry-picking evidence it hid using the attorney-client privilege but is instead seeking to elicit

testimony for factual matters that LaPuma already discussed during her deposition, the Court will not prevent LaPuma from testifying on those factual matters. However, “the Court is prepared to exclude any testimony or evidentiary presentations by the Defendants at trial if that same

1 Page numbers in this Decision and Order reference the document’s ECF page number. testimony or evidence was withheld from Plaintiffs during discovery based on attorney-client privilege.” Cary Oil Co. v. MG Ref. & Mktg., Inc., 257 F. Supp. 2d 751, 761 (S.D.N.Y. 2003). PPAS’s Motion 1.1 is therefore GRANTED IN PART to the extent that LaPuma will not be allowed to testify as to

matters for which she invoked the attorney-client privilege and did not provide factual testimony but is DENIED IN PART to the extent that the Court will allow her to testify to the underlying facts she discussed in her deposition. B. PPAS’S MOTION 1.2: TESTIMONY OF DAVID DUNN PPAS seeks to preclude David Dunn (“Dunn”), the Litigation Trustee for the Trust, from testifying as to subjects for which PPAS alleges he has no personal knowledge, including Zohar Funds’ damages and wind-downs. The Trust states that it does not intend to elicit any testimony for which Dunn does not have personal knowledge. Pursuant to FRE 602, “[a] witness may testify to a matter

only if evidence is introduced sufficient to support a finding that the witness has personal knowledge of the matter.” Fed. R. Evid. 602. A lay witness can provide testimony only to the extent that it is “rationally based on the witness’s perception” and “not based on scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge within the scope of Rule 702.” Fed R. Evid. 701. As required by FRE 602, the Court will allow Dunn to testify only on the topics for which he has personal knowledge. Because Dunn became the Litigation Trustee in August 2022, both parties agree that he has no personal knowledge of events from 2016 to 2018 that underly the claims

in this matter. (See Trust’s Opp. at 15; “PPAS’s Reply,” Dkt. No. 401 at 9.) PPAS argues that Dunn should not be allowed to testify regarding the Trust’s damages because he did not provide answers to damages-related questions during his deposition. (See Pls. Reply at 9-10.) At the same time, PPAS states that it “should nevertheless be permitted to cross- examine Mr. Dunn on the issue of the Trust’s recoveries subsequent to the events at issue as they relate to the Portfolio Companies at issue here, as that information goes to PPAS’s damages defense and, to the extent Mr. Dunn has personal knowledge on that topic, he can answer questions about it.” (Id. at 9 n.1.) PPAS cannot have it both ways.

Dunn will be allowed to testify regarding the Trust’s damages to the extent he has personal knowledge. However, pursuant to FRE 701

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Patriarch Partners Agency Services, LLC v. Zohar CDO 2003-1, Ltd., et al., (S.D.N.Y. 2026).

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