Marani Brands Inc. (MRIB)

[Matthew Berg]

Yes. It's what we call a court house steps settlement. They'll go through the process, discovery, bickering, nuisance motions and lots of paperwork and then settle it the day the trial starts. The issue would only be what would satisfy Bodie and would Marani have the resources to settle it to his minimal expectations? And regardless of the public company aspect I'm sure it would be gagged. That's common regardless of public or private status and up to the parties involved not the judge.

Here's the rub though and the tough break for Bodie, so I'm not so sure why he's doing it. The process is going to drain the Marani coffers as well as his own significantly (I've tried two similar cases and both were relatively minor skirmishes that resulted in literally millions in legal fees). Given the fact that I truly believe Marani will go dark as they did in 2009 long before any trial (we'll see), adding a default judgment to the heap of debt and liabilities will be of no concern for Marani and Bodie will be left with getting blood from a stone. That's why I didn't give the whole thing much thought. But, as I said, if the original transaction starts getting examined and it's not kosher, you better believe some other enforcement folks will start looking at all the transactions. Officers of the court in those depositions have an obligation to report any knowledge of a crime. I'm not sure how that's handled ethically but I'd say it's a risk for both parties.