KHOJA v. PROVINCE INC (2020)

MEMORANDUM ***

On August 13, 2018, we filed our opinion in this case, Khoja v. Orexigen Therapeutics Inc., 899 F.3d 988 (9th Cir. 2018), cert. denied, sub nom. Hagan v. Khoja, ––– U.S. ––––, 139 S. Ct. 2615, 204 L.Ed.2d 264 (2019). Because, during the pendancy of this appeal, Orexigen filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition, and the automatic stay of 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) came into effect, we noted that that “opinion [did] not address or decide Plaintiff’s appeal as against defendant-appellee Orexigen.” Id. at 994 n.1.

Orexigen’s successor in interest, Province, Inc., as the Wind Down Administrator for Orexigen Therapeutics Inc.,¹ has now filed a status report indicating that the bankruptcy court, per the parties’ stiuplation, has lifted the § 362 stay with respect to this case. We have therefore resubmitted this appeal for decision with respect to Orexigen.²

We have, again, reviewed the parties’ briefs and our opinion in Orexigen. After such review, we fully adopt our opinion in Orexigen, 899 F.3d 988, to resolve Plaintiff’s appeal as against Defendant Orexigen.

Therefore, with respect to Plaintiff’s appeal as against Defendant-Appellee Province, Inc., as the Wind Down Administrator for Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., the judgment of the district court is

AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part, and REMANDED. No costs.

FOOTNOTES

1.   For convenience, we refer to Orexigen’s successor, the Wind Down Administrator, as “Orexigen.”

2.   We note that Orexigen fully participated in the briefing and oral argument on November 6, 2017; the § 362 stay did not come into effect until after oral argument and submission of the case for decision. See id.