Zazzali v. Minert

468 B.R. 663, 2011 WL 6934544, 2011 Bankr. LEXIS 5030, 55 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 271
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Delaware
DecidedDecember 30, 2011
DocketBankruptcy No. 08-12687 (PJW); Adversary No. 10-56163 (PJW)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 468 B.R. 663 (Zazzali v. Minert) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zazzali v. Minert, 468 B.R. 663, 2011 WL 6934544, 2011 Bankr. LEXIS 5030, 55 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 271 (Del. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PETER J. WALSH, Bankruptcy Judge.

This opinion is with respect to the motion to dismiss (the “Motion”) filed by David Ryan Minert (“Minert”), Roy L. Nelson (“Nelson”), and Nelson & Minert PLLC (“N & M”, and together with Nelson and Minert, “Defendants”). (Doc. # 8.) The Motion is seeking to dismiss the complaint (the “Complaint”) of James R. Zazzali, Litigation Trustee (“Plaintiff’) for the DBSI Estate Litigation Trust. (Doc. # 1.) For the reasons described below, I will grant the Motion in part and deny it in part.

Background

In November 2008, DBSI Inc. (“DBSI”) and several of its affiliates (collectively “Debtors”) filed voluntary petitions for relief under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. § 101 et seq. (Case No. 08-12687(PJW).) Pursuant to the confirmed Second Amended Joint Chapter 11 Plan of Liquidation (the “Plan”) (Doc. #5699, Case No. 08-12687(PJW)), Plaintiff was appointed as the representative of the DBSI Estate Litigation Trust. (Doc. # 5924, Case No. 08-12687(PJW).) Plaintiff subsequently filed approximately 850 avoidance actions (the “Avoidance Actions”) against more than 1300 defendants (“Avoidance Action Defendants”) seeking to recover allegedly preferential and fraudulent transfers. (Compl. ¶ 21.)

Prior to the commencement of the Debtors’ bankruptcy cases, Nelson and Minert were employees of Debtors.1 Both are certified public accountants. Minert was employed as the Debtors’ tax manager, and Nelson was a staff accountant. In November 2008, Minert and Nelson formed N & M, an Idaho professional limited liability company. Approximately one month later, Nelson and Minert were terminated from their positions with Debtors.

As part of their employment, Nelson and Minert each executed a Confidentiality and Non-Solicitation Agreement (the “CNA” or the “CNAs”). The CNAs provide that

Employee shall not, at any time, either during or subsequent to employment, directly or indirectly, misappropriate, disclose to any person not then employed by Employer, or use for any purpose other than to benefit Employer, any Confidential Information, as defined herein, except that Employee may provide Confidential Information to a third person when specifically authorized and directed to do so by Employer.

[667]*667(Defs.’ Ex. A. ¶ 1.) In the CNAs, Confidential Information is defined as “any and all confidential or proprietary information in any form that Employer treats or regards as confidential if: (a) the information has actual or potential commercial or economic value; or (b) the unauthorized disclosure of the information could be harmful to the interests of Employer....” (Id. ¶ 3.) The term includes “financial and organization information, including ... financial statements ... and all other financial information not disseminated to the public” and “[a]ny other information not generally known to the public which, if misused or disclosed, could reasonably be expected to adversely affect Employer’s business.” (Id. ¶ ¶ 3(e) & (h).) The Confidential Information is considered “the sole property of Employer.” (Id. ¶ 4.) The CNA also provides that “Employee will not during employment with Employer and for six (6) months following termination of such employment for any reason solicit ... any of Employer’s customers ... with whom Employee first worked or developed a relationship with during Employee’s employment with Employer, or the business or patronage of any such customers.... ” (Id. ¶ 5.)

Around the time of their termination from Debtors, Nelson and Minert each executed a Separation Agreement and Release of Claims with DBSI, in which DBSI agreed to give Nelson and Minert the company-issued computer equipment and accessories that they had used during their employment. (Defs.’ Ex. B.2) These Separation Agreements were never approved by the bankruptcy court.

In a letter dated December 5, 2008 (herein the “December 5 Letter”)—the Same date as Nelson’s and Minert’s terminations from Debtors—N & M offered to prepare tax returns for certain of the DBSI companies, and asked for DBSI’s consent to solicit investors in non-debtor DBSI affiliates for their business. (Pl.’s Ex. A.) DBSI responded in a letter dated December 8, 2008 (the “December 8 Letter”) and gave N & M permission to contact investors “regarding the preparation of the [investor] entity tax returns.” (Defs.’ Ex. C.) DBSI also granted, subject to permission from the investors, “access to the books and records of the respective companies to allow [N & M] to complete the tax returns.” (Id.) Plaintiff alleges that the December 5 Letter and the December 8 Letter, taken together, formed a “Tax Solicitation Agreement” pursuant to which DBSI granted permission to solicit former customers and to have access to Debtors’ confidential financial information for the limited purpose of preparing investor tax returns. As a result of this access to Debtors’ records, Minert spent approximately 1,590 hours logged into DBSI’s accounting system from January to August 2009.

At some point during this same time period, N & M was retained by certain ad hoc committees (“Ad Hoc Committees”) representing the interests of investors in certain Debtors and non-debtor affiliates. As investors in several series of notes issued by the various Debtors and non-debt- or affiliates, the investors stand to gain from the recovery of money in the Avoidance Actions instituted by Plaintiff. After Debtors learned of the services that N & M was providing to the Ad Hoc Committees, Defendants’ access to the system was [668]*668terminated on August 14, 2009. As of the filing of the Complaint, N & M continued to provide administrative and consulting support to the Ad Hoc Committees.

In November 2009, N & M was retained by the chapter 11 trustee’s ordinary course accountants to prepare tax returns for certain Debtors. In the course of preparing these returns, Defendants again gained access to Debtors’ confidential financial, tax, and accounting information.

At some point after the Avoidance Actions had been filed by Plaintiff, Defendants, through their website www. nelsonminert.com, began to solicit the Avoidance Action Defendants to participate in a joint defense to Plaintiffs claims. The website states that the firm is “assisting in the administration of a defense for individuals and businesses that have been named as defendants in complaints (lawsuits) filed by the Trustee of the DBSI Litigation Trust, James R. Zazzali.” (Compl. ¶ 50.) As noted above, any recovery from the Avoidance Action Defendants would inure to the benefit of the estates, and thus to creditors—including the investors represented by the Ad Hoc Committees—under the Plan.

Following the confirmation of the Plan in October 2010, Plaintiff filed this action in December 2010.

Jurisdiction

This court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334 and 157.

Standard of Review

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Related

In Re Dbsi, Inc.
468 B.R. 663 (D. Delaware, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
468 B.R. 663, 2011 WL 6934544, 2011 Bankr. LEXIS 5030, 55 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zazzali-v-minert-deb-2011.