The minority partners sued Western for breach of the partnership agreements, alleging that Western improperly pledged partnership assets to finance activities that did not benefit the partnerships.
Retained by Dorsey & Whitney
Western Wireless Corp. held majority ownership interests in several partnerships controlling local cellular licenses. The minority partners sued Western for breach of the partnership agreements, alleging that Western improperly pledged partnership assets to finance activities that did not benefit the partnerships. In particular, Western allegedly used these assets as collateral to purchase licenses for its VoiceStream Wireless division, which was later spun off to Western shareholders.
Western’s motion for summary judgment was granted on all claims.
Defense counsel retained Cornerstone Research and Dr. Gregory Rosston of Stanford University to evaluate this claim. Dr. Rosston analyzed Western’s financing activities and the related risks and rewards to the minority shareholders. He opined that because each minority partner’s downside risk was limited to the value of its particular local cellular systems, its upside benefit should also be based on the operations of its local system rather than on the licenses purchased for VoiceStream. As a result, the minority owners should not benefit from the VoiceStream spin-off. Western’s motion for summary judgment was granted on all claims.
