BKJB Partnership, Robert Cheeley, Keith Breedlove, James Butler, Jr., and Bobby Thomas, collectively, BKJB plaintiffs below, appeal from the trial court’s denial of their motion for partial summary judgment, grant of Richard Moseman’s motion for summary judgment, and grant of Geoffrey Gitner’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Gitner cross-appeals from the trial court’s denial of his motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. For reasons that follow, we affirm in BKJB’s appeal and therefore, we need not address Gitner’s cross-appeal. This case arose as the result of a business venture by Moseman, Daniel Rousseau and Blake Van Leer to operate refuse disposal landfill sites in Maryland and Virginia. After encountering financial difficulties with the venture, Moseman, Rousseau and Van Leer transferred 25 percent of the issued and outstanding stock in the corporations to BKJB in exchange for a $5 million loan. Moseman v. Van Leer , 263 F3d 129, 131 4th Cir. 2001. Subsequently, “according to Moseman and Rousseau, on November 20, 1995, Van Leer informed them that there was a ‘problem,’ that the King George landfill site was nearly worthless and that BKJB would not provide additional funding unless Moseman, Rousseau and Van Leer gave up another 40 of their stock together with executed proxies in favor of BKJB. The 40 stock interest was transferred. The right to vote the remaining shares was assigned to BKJB in exchange for another $1 million.” Id.
The business was eventually sold and each of the parties negotiated their own agreements with the buyer. Id. at 132. In connection with the sale, each party signed mutual releases “of all claims, specifically disclaiming any reliance on representations by any other party to the transaction.” Id.
