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Case Study: Delaware Bankruptcy Court Denies Trustee's Breach of Fiduciary Duty Suit

By Earl M. Forte
March 01, 2019

 

On Jan. 22-25, 2018, a bench trial occurred in Gary F. Seitz, Chapter 7 Trustee of Covenant Partners, L.P. v. William B. Fretz, Jr. and John P. Freeman (In re Covenant Partners, L.P.), 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 156652 (E.D. Pa. 9/13/18) (Seitz), an adversary proceeding in In re Covenant Partners, L.P., No. 14-17568-SR, Bankr. E.D. Pa. in which the Trustee of Debtor, Covenant Partners, L.P., sued for breach of fiduciary duty.

Covenant was a limited partnership founded by Defendants in 1996. It had 58 limited partners and operated from Keystone Equities Group, L.P., an affiliated broker-dealer. Keystone provided Covenant with office space, support and broker-dealer services. Covenant's Limited Partnership Agreement (LPA) was governed by the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act (the Act).  It granted the General Partner broad authority, to borrow and secure borrowings with Covenant's property.

Covenant owned 8 million shares of common stock in Pet360, Inc., a startup that sold pet food, supplies and services on line.  John Freeman was on Pet360's Board from the 1990's until 2014.  Pet360's stock was private and restricted.  From 2008 until 2010, Keystone experienced difficulties.  To preserve Keystone, Covenant lent $1.2 million to Keystone (the Loan Advances).

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