Tri Harbor Holdings Corporation v. Sigmapharm Laboratories, LLC

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedMarch 4, 2022
Docket19-02053
StatusUnknown

This text of Tri Harbor Holdings Corporation v. Sigmapharm Laboratories, LLC (Tri Harbor Holdings Corporation v. Sigmapharm Laboratories, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tri Harbor Holdings Corporation v. Sigmapharm Laboratories, LLC, (N.J. 2022).

Opinion

OE %, UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT +h Zz DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY ae ew fay we InRe Case No.: order MrebottitaohlaP 2022 by Clerk TRI HARBOR HOLDINGS CORPORATION, et U.S. Bankruptcy Court al District of New Jersey ° Chapter: 1] Debtors.

KAVOD PHARMACEUTICALS LLC (f/k/a RISING PHARMACEUTICALS, LLC, f/k/a RISING PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.) and TRI HARBOR HOLDINGS CORPORATION (f/k/a ACETO CORPORATION), Plaintiffs, Adv. Pro. No.: 19-2053 (VFP) Vv. SIGMAPHARM LABORATORIES, LLC, Defendant. Judge Vincent F. Papalia

OPINION AND ORDER ON MOTION TO COMPEL PRODUCTION OF UNREDACTED NOTES

The relief set forth on pages twelve through fifteen (12-15) is hereby ORDERED.

DATED: March 4, 2022 | Fifa onorable Vincent F. Papalia United States Bankruptcy Judge

This matter came before the Court on the Motion filed by Sigmapharm Laboratories, LLC (“Sigmapharm”) against the two Liquidating Debtors that are Plaintiffs in this adversary proceeding (collectively, the “Debtors” or “Plaintiffs”). The Motion seeks to compel the production of certain unredacted notes taken by Plaintiffs’ forensic accounting expert, Alvarez & Marsal (“A&M”) (the “Privilege Motion”). More specifically, the Motion asks the Court to require

Plaintiffs to produce an unredacted version of the eighteen pages of A&M notes that are Bates- stamped RISING_SP_00092538 through RISING_SP_00092555, including “unredacted native versions of the notes, with complete metadata” (the “A&M Notes” or the “Notes”).1 The Privilege Motion was filed by Sigmapharm on February 14, 2022 with a March 1, 2022 return date, at the same time Plaintiffs filed a motion to compel Sigmapharm to supplement its response to Interrogatory No. 7 propounded by Plaintiffs (the “Sales Information Motion”). That Interrogatory required Sigmapharm to set forth its revenues and profits (gross and net) generated from Third Party Sales under the June 22, 2006 Master Product and Collaboration Agreement between the parties (the “Agreement”) after its termination by Sigmapharm.2 This

expedited schedule for both Motions was set by the Court at the request of the parties so as to meet the March 8, 2022 deadline for expert discovery under the parties’ December 22, 2021 Fourth Supplemental Joint Order Scheduling Pretrial Proceedings.3 For each Motion, the nonmoving party filed an objection, and the movant, a reply. I. JURISDICTIONAL STATEMENT The Court has jurisdiction over this matter under 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b) and the Standing Orders of Reference entered by the United States District Court on July 10, 1984 and amended on

1 Sigma Appl., Proposed Order, at 2, Ex. 1, Dkt. No. 82. 2 The Sales Information Motion was separately heard and decided by the Court on the same March 1, 2022 return date and is being granted by separate Order for the reasons set forth on the record on March 1, 2022. Db. Appl. ¶ 7 n.5, Dkt. No. 81-1. 3 Dec. 22, 2021 JSO, Dkt. No. 78; Feb. 14, 2022 Scheduling Letter, Dkt. No. 80. The parties appear to have agreed to September 18, 2012. This is a core proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(A) and (O). Venue is proper in this Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1408. The Court issues the following findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Fed. R. Bankr. P. 7052. To the extent that any of the findings of fact might constitute conclusions of law, they are adopted as such. Conversely, to the extent that any conclusions of law constitute findings of fact, they are adopted as such.

II. STATEMENT OF RELEVANT FACTS The Debtors filed their voluntary Chapter 11 petitions on February 19, 2019 and sold substantially all their assets within approximately three months of the petition date. The Debtors also confirmed their Liquidating Plan by Order entered on September 18, 2019.4 On July 18, 2019, the Debtors filed a nine-count Adversary Proceeding to address their contractual dispute with Sigmapharm under the Agreement identified above and Sigmapharm filed various counterclaims. By Opinion entered on October 5, 2021 and Order entered on October 6, 2021, the Court (i) granted in part and denied in part Debtors’ motion for summary judgment; and (ii) denied Sigmapharm’s motion for summary judgment. As part of its ruling, the Court

determined that Sigmapharm unlawfully terminated the June 22, 2006 Agreement by serving Debtor with a December 16, 2016 Notice of Breach and a March 23, 2018 Notice of Termination that did not comply with requirements for notice of breach and termination under that Agreement.5 Pursuant to a December 22, 2021 Joint Scheduling Order, expert discovery ends on March 8, 2022, with a status conference to follow on March 15, 2022.6

4 Sept. 18, 2019 Confirmation Order and Plan § 1.111 (Shore Suven closing date), Main Dkt. No. 996. 5 Tri Harbor v. Sigmapharm, 2021 WL 4877265, at *45 (Bankr. D.N.J. Oct. 5, 2021). III. THE PRIVILEGE MOTION A&M was engaged by Plaintiffs’ Counsel to, among other things, “quantify the lost profits on sales” under the Agreement.7 A&M generated (and Sigmapharm has reproduced as Exhibits) three extensive reports as a result of its engagement by Debtor that were signed by Laureen Ryan, one of A&M’s Managing Directors. Those reports, as identified below, were included (under seal)

as Exhibits to Sigmapharm’s Privilege Motion. Exhibit 3 Expert Report (April 2, 2021) Exhibit 4 Plaintiff’s Submission Pursuant to the Court’s Order on Sigmapharm Laboratories, LLC’s Motion to Enforce the Audit Requirements of the Agreement (August 5, 2021) Exhibit 5 Rebuttal Expert Report (January 6, 2022).8 By Sigmapharm’s count, which was not challenged by the Debtors, there are twenty-six occasions in these reports in which A&M based its conclusion solely (or primarily) on Ms. Ryan’s conversations with an employee (or former employee) of Debtors (twenty-two times with Eugene Hughes; three times with Rajiv Hazaray; and one with Counsel and other employees about obtaining documents from third parties).9 Debtors and A&M, based presumably on their obligation to produce not only “a complete statement of all opinions the witness will express and the basis and reasons for them” under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(B)(i), but also “the facts or data considered by the witness in forming them” under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(B)(ii), produced to Sigmapharm eighteen typed pages of partially redacted Notes divided into four sections. Those Notes are Bates-stamped RISING_SP_00092538 through RISING_SP_00092555 (and have been previously defined as the “A&M Notes” or the “Notes”).10 The four subsections are:

7 Sigma Appl., Apr. 2, 2021 Report of Laureen M. Ryan, Ex. 3, Dkt. No. 82. 8 Sigma Appl., A&M Reports, Exs. 3, 4, 5, Dkt. No. 82. 9 Sigma Appl. ¶¶ 14, 17, Dkt. No. 82. (i) Agenda for Discussion with E. Hughes Regarding Audit (Bates 92538-92540); (ii) Notes from Call with Rajiv Hazaray (Bates 92451-92543);11 (iii) Notes from call with Eugene Hughes and A&M team on 6/17/2020 (Bates 92544-92549), which were not redacted according to Plaintiffs; and (iv) Audit Package II Review (Bates 92550-92555).12 Plaintiffs initially redacted material from a total of eleven pages in sections (i), (ii) and (iv) only, but subsequently produced the notes of the call with Mr.

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