Scott Duggan, former general counsel and senior vice president of The Fresh Market Inc., has failed to convince a judge to dismiss a breach of fiduciary duty claim he faces for his role in the publicly traded grocery chain’s $1.36 billion buyout.

Delaware’s Chancery Court found in a Dec. 31 decision that the allegations in a shareholder lawsuit could “conceivably support” a claim that Duggan was grossly negligent when he drafted and certified a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with Fresh Market’s sale to private equity firm Apollo Global Management.