LeGrow Tosses Suit Over DuPont's Chemours Spinoff
A Delaware judge on Tuesday dismissed a fraud suit accusing DuPont of using its 2015 spinoff of The Chemours Co. to insulate the company from the growing liability stemming from litigation related to the supposed dumping of toxic chemicals.
November 29, 2017 at 07:26 PM
2 minute read
A Delaware judge on Tuesday dismissed a fraud suit accusing DuPont of using its 2015 spinoff of The Chemours Co. to insulate the company from the growing liability stemming from litigation related to the supposed dumping of toxic chemicals.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Abigail M. Legrow said the lawsuit from Matthew Mooney, a former investor in the Delaware chemical giant, had targeted forward-looking statements the company had made in support of the transaction, which DuPont said was part of a long-term plan to focus on higher-growth assets.
Mooney, who reported a loss on his investment in DuPont, said in February that the company had instead used the spinoff of its performance chemical division to distance itself from “potentially debilitating” risk associated with the alleged dumping of the chemical C8, which had been linked to various forms of cancer and other illnesses.
Legrow, however, noted that DuPont's statements expressed the company's expectations for the spinoff and that Mooney failed to show that DuPont had intentionally mislead investors at the time.
“Mooney has not sufficiently pleaded, either generally or with particularity, any contemporaneous fact supporting an inference DuPont knew its statements were false when made or lacked a good faith belief in their truth,” she wrote. “Rather, Mooney only cites events arising well after the statements were made,”
DuPont, which completed its merger with Dow Chemical Co. in September, had argued that Chemours was responsible for damages and environmental liabilities associated with the C8 dumping under an indemnification provision of the separation agreement the companies signed in the spinoff.
Dow and DuPont earlier this year settled multidistrict litigation for $670.7 million, and DuPont agreed to share in covering liabilities associated with C8 for the next five years. The company has also said that it has accrued $1.3 billion in likely environmental and restoration costs.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllEagle Pharma Founder Sues Company to Recoup Cost of SEC Investigation
2 minute readPrivate Equity Firm's Counsel to Del. Supreme Court: Forfeiture Provisions Present 'a Choice'
4 minute readDavis Polk Lands Spirit Chapter 11 Amid Bankruptcy Resurgence
Trending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250