After four years of contentious litigation, and following a month-long trial, a Gunster team led by Joe Santoro, Clint Losego, David Wells, Meredith Plummer, Derek Mountford, Tammi Boske and Fred Owens obtained a complete dismissal of claims and judgment for the Defendants in the matter of Hembio, Inc. v. Paul Fireman, Dr. Adam Rogers, and Hemera Biosciences, LLC.
The case involved a dispute over the acquisition and later sale of Hembio, a biotech startup that was working on a treatment for age related macular degeneration (known as HMR59). The ruling confirmed that the former officers and directors of the selling company acted in good faith and with transparency when they rescued the investors from insolvency by taking a huge risk and investing millions to continue to fund the research and development of the treatment. The fact that they later profited from that risk was not a basis to claim that the transaction was fraudulent or unfair.
“Paul Fireman’s investment saved Hembio’s investors and ensured the development of a groundbreaking gene therapy for macular degeneration,” Santoro told the Daily Business Review.
