It is not often that the Delaware Supreme Court rejects the specific arguments advanced by an appellant and then decides the matter in the party’s favor on grounds not asserted by that party but considered sua sponte by the court. Such was the case in Levey v. Brownstone Asset Management, LP, No. 551, 2012 (Del. Aug. 27, 2013), wherein the court reversed the decision of the Court of Chancery and remanded for further proceedings “in the interest of justice.”

Gordon Scott Levey appealed from the Court of Chancery’s order granting summary judgment and dismissing his action on the ground of laches by analogy to the statute of limitations. According to the Supreme Court’s opinion, the facts were undisputed, although at oral argument Levey’s attorney argued that there was a material issue of fact that should have precluded summary judgment. Levey had been a member of Brownstone Investment Group (BIG) for many years. In 2004, he became a minority non-managing owner of two related entities, Brownstone Investment Partners (BIP) and Brownstone Asset Management (BAM). In 2006, he announced that he was leaving all three. Litigation ensued immediately in federal court, in which Levey, by way of counterclaim, asserted entitlement to the return of his capital investments in BIP and BAM, plus a cash payment in connection with his voluntary departure from BIG. A year later, in 2007, Levey’s attorney formally demanded payment of the value of his claimed interests in the Brownstone entities or else he would pursue available legal remedies. In response, the defendants took the position that Levey no longer had any legal interests in BIP and BAM, nor had he any basis to believe that he still held such interests.

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