United States Second Circuit

In an action brought by the trustee of a litigation trust, resulting from a bankruptcy proceeding, in which the trustee alleged misconduct by corporate insiders and advisers, the Court of Appeals certifies the following questions to the Court of Appeals of New York: 1) the over-arching question whether the allegations of the complaint in this case satisfied the "adverse interest" exception to the Wagoner rule of imputing insiders' misconduct to their corporation, and the following subsidiary questions subsumed within that ultimate question: 2) whether the adverse interest exception was satisfied by showing that the insiders intended to benefit themselves by their misconduct; 3) whether the exception was available only where the insiders' misconduct harmed the corporation; 4) if harm was required, whether the analysis of such harm could include any detriment to a corporation resulting from the eventual unmasking of the misconduct; 5) if harm was required, whether such harm could be determined by considering a corporation and its related corporations as a single enterprise; 6) if harm was required and was to be determined with respect to separate though related corporations, whether the complaint adequately alleged such harm; 7) whether the exception was precluded where the misconduct conferred some benefit upon the corporation; and 8) if the adverse interest exception were otherwise available, would it be precluded by the "sole actor" rule?

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/24/2009
• Published 12/24/2009

Judges

• JON O. NEWMAN, Circuit Judge., Before: NEWMAN, PARKER, and LIVINGSTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Kathleen M. Sullivan, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP, New York, N.Y. (Richard I. Werder, Jr., Sascha N. Rand, Sanford I. Weisburst, K. McKenzie Anderson, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP, New York, N.Y., on the brief), for Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Linda T. Coberly, Winston & Strawn LLP, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee Grant Thorton LLP., Kevin A. Burke, Howrey, LLP, New York, N.Y. (Gary F. Bendinger, Sarah D. Abeles, Howrey LLP, New York, N.Y., on the brief), for Defendant-Appellee KPMG LLP., Philip D. Anker, Lori A. Martin, John V.H. Pierce, Anne K. Small, Jeremy S. Winer, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, New York, N.Y., on the brief, for Defendants-Appellees Banc of America Securities, Credit Suisse Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities., Anthony Candido, Clifford Chance LLP, New York, N.Y., on the brief, for Defendant-Appellee Mayer Brown International., James J. Capra, Jr., Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, New York, N.Y., Kenneth Y. Turnbull, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Washington, DC, on the brief, for Defendant-Appellee PricewaterhouseCoopers., Robert F. Wise, Jr., Paul Spagnoletti, Davis Polk & Wardell LLP, New York, N.Y., on the brief, for Defendants-Appellees Ingram Micro, Inc. and CIM Ventures, Inc., Kevin H. Marino, John D. Tortorella, Marino, Tortorella & Boyle, P.C., Chatham, N.J., on the brief, for Defendants-Appellees William T. Pigott and Liberty Corner Capital Strategies., John K. Villa, George A. Borden, Craig D. Singer, Williams & Connolly LLP, Washington, DC, on the brief, for Defendant-Appellee Mayer Brown LLP.