Pike v. Freeman

266 F.3d 78, 2001 WL 1164594
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedSeptember 26, 2001
DocketDocket No. 00-9161
StatusPublished
Cited by215 cases

This text of 266 F.3d 78 (Pike v. Freeman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pike v. Freeman, 266 F.3d 78, 2001 WL 1164594 (2d Cir. 2001).

Opinion

SOTOMAYOR, Circuit Judge:

Respondent-appellant Brian M. Freeman appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Richard C. Casey, Judge) granting petitioner-appellee Joseph D. Pike’s motion to confirm a July 15, 1999 arbitration award against respondents. In particular, Freeman challenges (1) the portion of the award finding him liable as a general partner of co-respon[81]*81dent Danco Investors Group, L.P., and (2) the district court’s dismissal with prejudice of his counterclaim and cross-claims for indemnification based upon a finding that he waived those claims by falling to assert them in the arbitration. We agree with the district court that Freeman failed to demonstrate that the challenged portion of the arbitral award should be set aside. With respect to the district court’s dismissal with prejudice of Freeman’s indemnification counterclaim and cross-claims, however, we find that the district court’s analysis of the counterclaim is based on an erroneous assumption, and that the district court erred in concluding that Freeman waived his indemnification claims by not asserting them in the arbitration. Consequently we vacate the dismissal with prejudice of Freeman’s indemnification claims and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

The matter submitted to arbitration involved a dispute among Pike, Freeman, and other individuals and entities involved in a project to manufacture, distribute, and market an abortion-inducing drug in the United States (the “Project”). The patent for the drug in the United States is owned by a non-profit organization, The Population Council, which retained private entrepreneurs to carry out the Project.

Pike was initially the individual selected to be in charge of the Project. Given the Project’s potentially controversial nature, Pike set up a complicated corporate structure to shield from publicity the entities playing key roles in the Project. As a result, those who invested in the Project did so by purchasing limited partnership interests in respondent Danco Investors Group, also known as Neogen Holdings, L.P. (the “Partnership”). The Partnership’s general partner was respondent N.D. Management, Inc. (“N.D.Management”).

I. The Engagement Contract

For reasons not relevant here, The Population Council eventually decided that Pike should extricate himself from any position of control within the Project. In connection therewith, Pike, individually and on behalf of N.D. Management, the Partnership, and “affiliated entities,” hired appellant Brian M. Freeman’s company, Brian M. Freeman Enterprises, Inc. (“BMF Enterprises”), to be the agent in negotiating and selling Pike’s controlling interest in the various entities involved in the Project. Pike’s retention of BMF Enterprises was documented in an engagement contract dated November 3, 1996 (the “Engagement”).

II. The Agreement

In January 1997, Pike entered into an agreement to sell 75% of his 100% interest in N.D. Management to respondent Me-dApproach, L.P. and other “Participating Investors” (the “January Agreement”). In return for the sale and for fulfilling other obligations, Pike was to receive certain payments. Freeman, in addition to his role as the principal of BMF Enterprises, was listed in the January Agreement as one of the “Participating Investors” in the Project. The January Agreement also provided that, with respect to Pike’s remaining interests, such as his remaining 25% interest in N.D. Management, Pike was to provide Freeman and two other individuals “an exclusive and irrevocable proxy and power of attorney ... for all rights with respect to voting of stock or partnership interests in N.D. Management, Inc., [and] Neogen Industries, Inc., which shall also include all control, management and financial functions of each of [82]*82the Pike Entities and the Project.”1 Freeman signed the January Agreement.

The January Agreement contained the following arbitration clause: “Any disputes hereunder shall be resolved by: binding arbitration by American Arbitration Association in New York City on an expedited basis.”

The January Agreement was amended on February 5, 1997. Although the definition of “Participating Investors” was not changed, paragraph 10 of the amendment purported to exclude Freeman to a significant extent from the arrangements set up in the January Agreement, while leaving him responsible for certain specific obligations, including his duties as a proxy holder and holder of a power of attorney and his duty as a “Participating Investor” to make up any shortfall in investments received for the Project.

The January Agreement, amended on February 5, was again amended on or about February 12, 1997 (collectively, the “Agreement”). The February 12 amendment provided in relevant part that certain payments to Pike under the Agreement were to be given instead to BMF Enterprises to satisfy certain of Pike’s obligations to BMF Enterprises under the Engagement. The February 12 amendment added, however, that “the remaining sections of the Engagement, remain in full force and effect.”

III. The Arbitration

After a dispute subsequently arose as to whether Pike had performed his obligations under the Agreement and whether he was entitled to receive the payments promised to him thereunder, Pike sent a demand for arbitration on September 21, 1998, alleging “the respondents’ breach of the Agreement.” Freeman was one of the named respondents and was described as an “individual.” Respondents filed an answer dated November 5, 1998, asserting as the Twenty Second Affirmative Defense: “As to all claims ... Freeman ... [is] not properly before this tribunal for arbitration in that there are no agreements conferring such jurisdiction.” Respondents, including Freeman, then participated in the selection of arbitrators and, eventually, in discovery. In February 1999, following a preliminary hearing, the arbitrators issued an order indicating that the parties had agreed that no explanatory supporting opinion would be provided when the arbitrators issued their ruling.

On March 1, 1999, Pike filed a “Written Specification of Affirmative Claims,” which provided a summary of the breaches of the Agreement alleged by Pike:

Mr. Pike agreed to relinquish control and approximately 75% of his financial stake in the Project in return for $3,500,000 and an agreement by respondents to indemnify Mr. Pike for expenses incurred in connection with his role in the Project. Also, respondents promised Mr. Pike a position as a consultant for five years, with appropriate support and an annual salary of $300,000. Finally and most importantly, respondents assured Mr. Pike that they would protect the Project and the investors by purchasing any limited partner interests tendered in connection with a rescission offer they would, make, and that they would contribute additional financing of $14,000,000.
[83]*83Respondents have failed to fulfill any of these obligations....

The indemnification that Pike sought for expenses “in connection with his role in the Project” consisted of attorneys’ fees and costs Pike incurred in obtaining dismissals or stays of lawsuits brought against him by certain respondents in late 1997 and 1998 — lawsuits Pike claimed should have been arbitrated.

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266 F.3d 78, 2001 WL 1164594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pike-v-freeman-ca2-2001.