SIGA Technologies, Inc. v. Pharmathene, Inc.

132 A.3d 1108, 2015 Del. LEXIS 678, 2015 WL 9467037
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedDecember 23, 2015
Docket20, 2015
StatusPublished
Cited by78 cases

This text of 132 A.3d 1108 (SIGA Technologies, Inc. v. Pharmathene, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
SIGA Technologies, Inc. v. Pharmathene, Inc., 132 A.3d 1108, 2015 Del. LEXIS 678, 2015 WL 9467037 (Del. 2015).

Opinions

SEITZ, Justice, for the Majority:

I. INTRODUCTION

This is the second appeal by SIGA Technologies, Inc. (“SIGA”) ■ from a Court of Chancery judgment awarding PharmAth-ene, Inc. (“PharmAthene”) damages stemming from failed merger and license negotiations between the parties. In the first appeal, this Court upheld the Court of Chancery’s finding that SIGA in bad faith breached its contractual obligation to negotiate a license agreement consistent with the parties’ license agreement term sheet, known throughout this litigation as ■ the “LATS.” This Court also held that where parties have agreed to negotiate in good faith, and would have reached an agreement but for the defendant’s bad faith conduct during the negotiations, the plañir tiff can recover contract expectation damages, so long as the plaintiff can prove damages with reasonable certainty. Because the Court of Chancery ruled out expectation damages in its first decision, this Court remanded the case to reconsider an award of damages to SIGA in a decision we will call “SIGA I.”1

The Court of Chancery did as instructed and reevaluated the evidence, including evidence of expectation damages. Although the court previously found that lump-sum expectation damages were too speculative to recover, the Court of Chancery held on remand that PharmAthene met its burden of proving with reasonable certainty expectation damages and awarded PharmAth-ene $113 million.2 The parties once again appealed to this Court.

•SIGA raises essentially two claims of error in the current appeal: first, the Court of Chancery was not free to reconsider its prior holding that lump-sum expectation damages, were too speculative; and, second, if reconsideration was permitted, the expectation damages awarded following remand were too speculative. After careful consideration of SIGA’s arguments, we find that the law of the case doctrine did not preclude the Court of Chancery from reconsidering its earlier determination that lump-sum expectation damages were too speculative. In SIGA 1, this Court' clarified that expectation damages were available, instructed the Court of Chancery to revisit its damages award, directed the trial court to reevaluate the helpfulness of expert testimony, and permitted the court to make any order in- further progress of the case not inconsistent with the SIGA I decision. The Court of .-Chancery followed the law of the [1111]*1111case by complying with the mandate in SIGA I.

We also find that the court did not abuse its discretion when it awarded PharmAth-ene lump-sum expectation damage's, and its factual findings supporting its new damages determination were not clearly erroneous. The Court of Chancery considered anew all issues relevant to the remedy, including the uncertainty caused by the wrongdoer’s breach. When a party breaches a contract, that party often creates a course of events that is different from those that would have transpired absent the breach. The breaching party cannot avoid responsibility for making the other party whole simply by arguing that expectation damages based on lost profits are speculative because they come from an uncertain world created by the wrongdoer. Rather, when a contract is breached, expectation damages can be established as long as the plaintiff can prove the fact of damages with reasonable certainty. The amount of damages can be an estimate.3 When awarding lump-sum expectation damages for breach of a Type II contract, the Court of Chancery correctly took into account all the circumstances of the breach, including the wrongdoer’s willfulness,4 especially when the wrongdoer caused uncertainty about the economic terms of the transaction by its failure to negotiate in good faith.5 Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Chancery.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND6

A. SIGA’s Development Of ST-246

In 2004, SIGA acquired technology for ST-246, an antiviral drug for the treatment of smallpox. At that time, the viability,. potential uses, safety, and efficacy of the drug, as well as the likelihood of SIGA obtaining regulatory' approval or making sales to the government, were, as is typical in this industry, uncertain,

By late 2005, SIGA was running out of money, fits largest shareholder, MacAn-drews & Forbes, refused to invest additional funds, and the NASDAQ threatened to de-list its shares. -SIGA estimated that it needed an additional $16 million to complete development of the drug. On top of its -.financial problems, SIGA .was having trouble developing ST-246 because it had no experience or .employee expertise bringing a drug to market. ■ - .

B. SIGA And PharmAthene Negotiate A Business Collaboration

In dire straits, SIGA began discussing a possible collaboration with PharmAthene. This was not their first attempt to work together. - PharmAthene had previously [1112]*1112backed out of merger negotiations between the parties in late 2003. Nevertheless, Thomas Konatich, SIGA’s Chief Financial Officer, contacted Eric Richman, PharmAthene’s Vice President of Business Development and Strategies, to begin discussions. According to Richman’s contemporaneous notes, due to the prior failed attempt at a merger and to SIGA’s need for a fast cash infusion, SIGA insisted on framing a license agreement before discussing a potential merger.

Both companies put together teams to negotiate the potential business collaboration. On SIGA’s side, in addition to CFO Konatich; the key participants included the Chairman of SIGA’s board, Donald Drap-kin, who also served as the Vice Chairman of SIGA’s biggest stockholder, MacAn-drews & Forbes; SIGA’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dennis Hruby, who kept SIGA’s senior management apprised of ST-246’s scientific developments; and then-board member and current Chief Executive Officer, Eric Rose. SIGA’S financial controller, Ayelet Dugary, prepared financial projections that informed the negotiations. Additionally, several in-house lawyers from MacAndrews & Forbes took an active role in negotiating with PharmAthene on SIGA’s behalf, including Michael Borofsky who was involved in negotiating the terms of the LATS; and Steven Fasman, who worked with SIGA personnel to prepare a valuation of ST-246, and who was involved in discussions with PharmAthene after SIGA experienced positive developments and backed out of the merger and the LATS negotiations. SIGA also hired attorney'Nicholas Coch to represent it in communications with PharmAthene’s attorney right before SIGA breached its obligation .to negotiate a license agreement according to the LATS.

PharmAthene’s team, assembled by Richman, included CEO David Wright; CFO Ronald Kaiser; and board member Elizabeth Czerepark; as well as attorney Jeffrey Baumel. PharmAthene also later hired attorney Elliot Olstein who communicated with SIGA’s attorney Coch in the time leading up to SIGA’s breach.

1. SIGA And PharmAthene Negotiate And Sign The LATS

Konatich and Richman led the negotiations over the license agreement on behalf of their companies. The Court oí Chancery found that at the end of 2005, the parties conservatively valued ST-246’s market potential at around $1 billion to $1.26 billión.7

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

Related

Berris v. Choi et al.
S.D. New York, 2025
JanCo FS 2, LLC v. ISS Facility Services, Inc.
Superior Court of Delaware, 2025
Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. v. Anthony Mack
Court of Chancery of Delaware, 2025
Richard Brody v. DCiM Solutions, LLC
Court of Chancery of Delaware, 2025
Fortiline, Inc. v. Hayne McCall
Court of Chancery of Delaware, 2025
Zeta Global Corp. v. Socialcom CA2/7
California Court of Appeal, 2025
Cornelius T. Walker, Jr. v. FRP Investors GP, LLC
Court of Chancery of Delaware, 2025
Givaudan v. Conagen
128 F.4th 485 (Second Circuit, 2025)
Enhabit, Inc. v. Nautic Partners IX, L.P.
Court of Chancery of Delaware, 2024
Fortis Advisors LLC v. Johnson & Johnson
Court of Chancery of Delaware, 2024

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
132 A.3d 1108, 2015 Del. LEXIS 678, 2015 WL 9467037, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/siga-technologies-inc-v-pharmathene-inc-del-2015.