William Petty

analysisPetty co-founded Exactech in 1985, chaired its board from inception, was chief executive until 2014 and president from 2002 to 2007. After the 2018 acquisition he was co-executive chairman of Exactech and Osteon Holdings with Jeffrey Binder until he stepped back from day-to-day management in January 2020. ^{1 2 3 4}

qualification

The dates come from the Settlement Trust's complaint; the earlier SEC proxy confirms David Petty as chief executive from March 2014 and president from November 2007, and the Florida and UK registers confirm Johnson as president and chief executive.

analysisBefore the 1996 listing he held 44.6% of the shares, almost all jointly with Betty Petty; at the 2018 record date he beneficially owned 24.3%, mostly through Prima Investments, Limited Partnership. In the sale he and Prima exchanged 2,402,400 shares for Class B shares of the new parent. ^{1 2}

analysisHe and Betty Petty jointly owned 4.6% of the supplier Brighton Partners, which Exactech bought in 2010 with him as one of the sellers' representatives, and he received royalties under a product-design consulting agreement. ^{1 2}

analysisHe was a defendant in The Arbitrage Fund's fiduciary-duty suit over the sale and in Florida product-liability cases. The Settlement Trust alleges that in 2018 he e-mailed Hospital for Special Surgery surgeons, at Binder's direction, to discourage a presentation of data on damaged components, and sues him for breach of fiduciary duty, including over his conduct before the acquisition. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9}

qualification

The account of the competing bid and the negotiations is the plaintiff's, as summarised by the appeal court on the class-certification question; the court did not decide the merits. These are plaintiffs' claims; no ruling on liability appears in the dockets reviewed. These are allegations in the Settlement Trust's complaint, which was pending in the Delaware Court of Chancery in October 2026; no court has ruled on them. HSS is not a party to the trust's suit; it appears as an interested party in the bankruptcy. These are allegations in the Settlement Trust's complaint, which was pending in the Delaware Court of Chancery in October 2026; no court has ruled on them.

response

On 9 June 2023 the Petty and Miller defendants and the Miller family holding companies moved to dismiss the Starling case; the Exactech defendants answered the Sindicich complaint on 19 December 2023 and Hillman Supply Company filed an answer with affirmative defences and a jury demand on 26 December 2023. TPG has denied wrongdoing, a local television investigation reported in September 2026; in a statement to a national newspaper in May 2025 TPG called it 'categorically false' that it had any prior knowledge of the packaging nonconformance, and in court filings TPG and its affiliates have said that Exactech and TPG maintained 'clearly separate businesses'.

outcome

On 22 July 2020 the appeal court reversed the denial of class certification and remanded; the later outcome is not in the record. The Starling and Sindicich cases were closed on 29 October 2024 because of the bankruptcy filed in the Exactech master case. Pending: the docket showed the case as active on 16 October 2026; a filing of 14 August 2026 attached the Maryland qui tam papers and the plan confirmation order as exhibits, but the filing itself is not in the record and no ruling is recorded.