Wirum
Wirum v. Goel (In re Signet Solar, Inc.)
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Chen, J.
ORDER ON APPEAL
Currently pending before the Court are two appeals of bankruptcy adversary proceedings. The debtor in bankruptcy (Chapter 7) was the company Signet Solar, Inc. (“Signet”). The trustee for Signet filed claims for relief against two of Signet’s founders and members of the board of directors, namely, Prabhakar Goel and Bhupendra B. Patel. According to the trustee, Mr. Goel and Mr. Patel breached their fiduciary duties to Signet. ' The trustee also asked that any claims of Mr. Goel (and an affiliated company) and Mr. Patel against Signet be equitably subordinated because of their alleged misconduct. The bankruptcy court granted Mr. Goel and Mr. Patel’s motions to dismiss and denied leave to amend. The trustee now appeals that order.
I. FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
As a formal matter, there are two complaints filed by the trustee — one against *752 Mr. Goel (and an affiliated company) and one against Mr. Patel. The complaints, however, are substantially the same. For convenience, the Court largely cites to the allegations in the Goel complaint.
As alleged, Signet was a company “formed in 2006 to market a new form of thin-film silicon panel to the solar…