Physician Shareholder Derivative Jury Verdict for Shareholder
Jun 13, 2013OUTCOME: Complete Victory
On June 13, 2013 the jury awarded SKV client, Dr. Fite and BEPA's other shareholders every penny of the nearly $4,000,000 claim Dr. Fite asserted on BEPA's behalf and rejected every one of the Defendan ... ts' counterclaims that sought a total of some $12 million. SKV partners Craig Smyser and Justin Waggoner tried the case for Dr. Fite. The case had been pending for nearly a decade as Defendants sought to derail the derivative claims by attempting to buy back and cancel Dr. Fite's share holdings, entering into a collusive settlement with a court-appointed receiver, and by taking the company into bankruptcy. Although SKV defeated each one of these attempts to deny their client her day in court, the last aborted bankruptcy effort in particular cost Defendants as the bankruptcy judge found that the company brought the bankruptcy in bad faith to obtain an advantage in the state court litigation, a result sustained by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas and by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
