Amendments were adopted to restore market practices impacted by three recent Court of Chancery decisions.
Amendments simplify the approval of a merger by a board of directors, thereby removing the potential for certain...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery issued a post-trial opinion, on January 30, 2024, in Tornetta v. Musk, holding that Tesla’s board of directors (the “Board”) breached its fiduciary duties in awarding CEO Elon Musk (with the...more
2/22/2024
/ Appeals ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Litigation ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Elon Musk ,
Equity Compensation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Rescission ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Shareholders ,
Tesla
In a landmark decision, In re Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores, Inc. Stockholder Litigation,1 the Delaware Court of Chancery held that a controlling stockholder did not breach his fiduciary duties when he amended company bylaws...more
The past year saw significant developments in the Delaware courts for books and records inspection demands pursuant to Section 220.
In a first-of-its-kind decision, the Court rejected an inspection demand as lacking a...more
Examine a major Ninth Circuit decision affirming dismissal of a Section 14(a) derivative action based on a forum-selection clause;
Highlight the Third Circuit’s adoption of the Omnicare standard for securities fraud claims;...more
7/24/2023
/ Books & Records ,
Capitalization ,
Class Action ,
Coinbase ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Derivative Suit ,
Disney ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Forum Selection ,
Mergers ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholders ,
Waivers
Chancellor McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an Opinion on July 6, 2023, in Anderson v. Magellan Health, Inc., imposing a new, heightened standard of review of requests for mootness fees predicated on...more
Proof that an inspection demand is improperly “lawyer-driven” will overcome a stockholder’s pretextual claim for investigating wrongdoing.
A stockholder does not have a proper purpose for investigating an “ordinary...more
7/7/2023
/ Board of Directors ,
Books & Records ,
Breach of Duty ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Delaware ,
Disney ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Florida ,
Inspections ,
LGBTQ ,
Shareholders
The Delaware Supreme Court affirms the Court of Chancery’s determination that Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity was the result of fair dealing, reflected a fair price, and was entirely fair—even when the process was...more
In this edition of Dechert’s Securities & Derivative Litigation Quarterly Update, we:
Examine the first criminal insider trading prosecution based on a 10b5-1 trading plan;...more
5/15/2023
/ Class Action ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Derivatives ,
Enforcement ,
Fraud ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Settlement ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Trading Plans
Court of Chancery holds that Corwin cleansing does not apply to claims seeking to enjoin entrenching actions subject to enhanced scrutiny review under Unocal.
The Court found that Plaintiffs successfully pled facts...more
In this edition of Dechert’s Securities & Derivative Litigation Quarterly Update, we examine: (1) the Delaware Court of Chancery’s latest post-trial decision showing how the special committee process is critical in the...more
11/2/2022
/ Bad Faith ,
Breach of Duty ,
Burden of Proof ,
Delaware ,
Derivatives ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Due Diligence ,
En Banc Review ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Minority Shareholders ,
Mortgage-Backed Securities ,
Regulation FD ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Litigation
The Delaware Court of Chancery issued its decision in In re Tesla Motors, Inc., on April 27, 2022, rejecting claims that Tesla, Inc. CEO Elon Musk breached his fiduciary duties to Tesla’s stockholders as a director and an...more
5/11/2022
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Litigation ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Elon Musk ,
Energy Sector ,
Entire Fairness Standard ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Merger Agreements ,
Purchase Price ,
SolarCity ,
Tesla
In Express Scripts, Inc., et al. v. Bracket Holdings Corp., the Delaware Supreme Court, sitting en banc, reversed and remanded the decision of the Delaware Superior Court, holding unanimously that (i) although common law...more
Repetition is not always a rhetorical virtue. Delaware entities seeking to enforce non-compete provisions exclusively in Delaware courts have now been warned: Including non-compete agreements in employment contracts with...more
A Review of U.S. Law on Force Majeure, Frustration of Purpose, Impracticability and Impossibility -
The current outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus, recognized by the World Health Organization as a global pandemic, has...more
In Marchand v. Barnhill et al. (“Blue Bell”),1 the Delaware Supreme Court on June 19 unanimously reversed the dismissal of a shareholder derivative lawsuit against the members of the board of directors and two officers of...more
7/1/2019
/ Appeals ,
Bad Faith ,
Blue Bell Creameries ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Caremark claim ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Demand Futility ,
Derivative Suit ,
Dismissals ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Food Poisoning ,
Food Safety ,
Independent Director ,
Listeria ,
Product Recalls ,
Reversal ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Wrongful Death
Key Takeaways
- Aruba Networks continues the trend toward market-based measures of fair value in statutory appraisal actions and should further limit appraisal arbitrage opportunities.
- In a statutory appraisal action,...more
On January 18, 2013, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve a circuit split concerning the extent to which the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (“SLUSA”) preempts state law claims...more
1/25/2013
/ Brokers ,
Equity Securities ,
Fraud ,
Investors ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Preemption ,
Private Equity ,
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ,
SCOTUS ,
SLUSA ,
Split of Authority ,
State Securities Claims