DELAWARE – Dole Food Inc. CEO David Murdock is now facing a trial over the company’s 2013 privatization.

Bloomberg Business is reporting the Delaware Chancery Judge Travis Laster refused to dismiss a case challenging the privatization that was led by Murdock.

Murdock, members of the Board of Directors, and Deutsche Bank AG, which helped to structure the deal, all sought to have the case thrown out instead of facing the trial.

Bloomberg speculates that Laster must have believed that the Dole deal required greater scrutiny. In his ruling he said that investors raised legitimate questions about how the deal was negotiated by Murdock and if officials of Deutsche Bank AG helped him structure a deal that hurt shareholders.

The judge wrote that investors uncovered evidence that raised doubts about whether Dole Directors “were sufficiently independent from Murdock to bargain with him at arm’s length.”

“Murdock had previously threatened and taken punitive action against Directors who did not accede to his wishes,” Laster added.

The trial is now set for February 23. Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for the latest on this developing story.

Dole Food Inc.