Lowenstein Sandler has obtained a decisive summary judgment ruling in favor of its client Medalist Partners and related defendants in Hodnett et al. v. Medalist Partners Opportunity Master Fund II-A, L.P. et al., pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
In a comprehensive opinion, Judge Jennifer L. Rochon granted Medalist’s motion for summary judgment in its entirety, dismissing all claims against Medalist and its managing partner. The Court also granted Medalist’s Daubert motion, excluding the plaintiffs’ damages expert and finding that the plaintiffs failed to establish lost profits with reasonable certainty.
The litigation stemmed from allegations by two individuals who claimed they were wrongfully excluded from an alleged joint venture formed to launch a piping business in the Pacific Northwest.
Plaintiffs brought claims against Medalist for breach of a nondisclosure agreement and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty. The Court rejected these claims, holding that:
- The plaintiffs lacked standing to sue for breach of contract because the NDA was not executed in the plaintiffs’ individual capacities;
- The plaintiffs failed to point to any evidence from which a juror could infer that Medalist “substantially assisted” the co-defendants in the alleged breach of fiduciary duty; and
- Medalist’s decision to provide financing to the alleged competing company did not cause injury to the plaintiffs, as the company had already been formed and secured key contracts prior to Medalist’s involvement.
While the Court allowed certain claims against other defendants to proceed to trial in December 2025, Medalist and its affiliates are now fully dismissed from the action. In addition, the Court held that the plaintiffs failed to show lost profits with reasonable certainty and that the plaintiffs’ expert’s damages opinion, which relied on speculative projections, was unreliable and irrelevant.
The firm’s Business Litigation team was led by Gavin J. Rooney, partner and Chair of Lowenstein’s Business and Class Action Litigation groups, with Jennifer Fiorica Delgado driving the briefing and case work, and Craig Dashiell and Raymond Cooper contributing to the successful result.
The case is Hodnett et al. v. Medalist Partners Opportunity Master Fund II-A, L.P. et al., No. 1:21-cv-00038 (S.D.N.Y.).