To many in the furniture industry, the 2014 merger of Herman Miller, the famed purveyor of midcentury classics like the Eames lounge chair, and Design Within Reach, the emporium for sleek modern furnishings, was a no-brainer.
But a little-noticed lawsuit brought by two longtime shareholders in Delaware contends that the $154 million merger of the two never happened at all.
The lead plaintiff, Andrew Franklin, who is president of UTR, an investment firm, called it “the most-botched merger in Delaware history.”
“We’ve been deprived of a ton of value,” he said in a telephone interview.