Echo Therapeutics beats whistleblower charges

Echo Therapeutics (NSDQ:ECTE) said this week it has beaten a lawsuit which the company said could drain its coffers and leave it unable to continue.

The Iselin, N.J.-based company was facing a case in the U.S. District Court for Southern New York related to “various violations of the securities laws, theft of trade secrets, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.”

Today, Echo Therapeutics announced that plaintiffs dismissed the action without prejudice, and that the company was considering legal recourse.

Last week, Echo Therapeutics announced that the court denied a restrictive injunction related to the case

The company said that the court ruling also came with the dissolution of a temporary restraining order previously issued ex parte in the action which temporarily restrained the company from taking “certain actions outside of the ordinary course of business.” The order had previously prohibited the company from entering into agreements with Medical Technologies Innovation Asia, which it inked a 10 year deal with in 2013.

The company said that the court ruled that “plaintiffs had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits with respect to any of their securities claims, breach of fiduciary duty claims or trade secret claims.

Echo Therapeutics and its directors, who were also named in the suit, said they will seek dismissal of all claims and “are evaluating legal recourse including the availability of legal claims against the plaintiffs.

The charges were being brought against Echo by its former VP of operations and product development Thomas Bishop. Echo Therapeutics claims that Bishop “tendered his resignation after admitting to lying to the company’s officers and directors regarding attending a meeting in Florida with one or more of the Plaintiffs that he was instructed not to attend,” according to SEC documents.

Echo Therapeutics had said earlier this month that it wasn’t sure it would be able to stay in operation if it were to face an extended legal defense in the case.

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