Spears Manning & Martini Secures Jury Trial Victory in Southern District of New York
Since October 2022, Spears Manning & Martini lawyers have been defending a startup company and its founder in civil litigation pending in federal court in the Southern District of New York. The plaintiff’s original complaint contained various patent-related and state law tort claims.
Through motions to dismiss, the Spears Manning & Martini team reduced the plaintiff’s multi-count complaint to one count that went to trial before a jury in the Southern District of New York in June 2026—a breach of fiduciary duty claim based on the novel theory that the startup’s founder owed the plaintiff a fiduciary duty as the “corporate promoter” of the company. A “corporate promoter” is a person who organizes a company and solicits investors. The plaintiff claimed that the founder breached that duty by failing to give her a substantial ownership percentage in the startup company in exchange for work that she performed for the company.
At trial, the Spears Manning & Martini team—Joseph Martini, Armel Jacobs, and Johnna Wallace—argued that their clients did not breach any duty to the plaintiff and introduced evidence that proved the plaintiff received what she was promised—that is, options to purchase common stock in the startup company at favorable terms. In late June 2026, after four days of trial, the jury agreed that the startup company and its founder did not breach a fiduciary duty and returned a verdict in their favor.