News & Analysis as of

Books & Records Board of Directors

Morris James LLP

Chancery Determines Certain Suits and Investigations Against Amazon Were Insufficient to Meet Credible Basis Standard to Inspect...

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Wong Leung Revocable Tr. v. Amazon.com Inc., C.A. No. 2023-1251-BWD (Del. Ch. May 1, 2024) - In order to inspect books and records under Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, a stockholder-plaintiff must...more

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP

Governance Insights: Protecting Information to Protect Process – When is it Appropriate to Restrict a Director’s Access to Board...

When is a board of directors permitted to withhold information from one of its members? Although the Canadian corporate statutes generally grant directors a blanket right to inspect board and committee minutes, there is...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Takeaways From the Delaware Court of Chancery’s First Dismissal of MultiPlan-style SPAC Challenge

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Since the Delaware Court of Chancery’s January 2022 decision in In re MultiPlan Corp. Stockholders Litigation,1 plaintiffs in Delaware had enjoyed a long and unbroken string of motion to dismiss victories in suits alleging...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Finds Egregious Conduct in Books and Records Action Justifying Fee-Shifting Against Corporation

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PVH Polymath Venture Holdings Ltd. v. TAG Fintech Inc., C.A. No. 2023-0502-BWD (Del. Ch. Jan. 26, 2024) - Under the “bad faith” exception to the American Rule, Delaware courts will consider shifting fees when aggressive...more

Hogan Lovells

2024 Securities, Shareholder, and M&A Litigation Outlook

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2023 was a busy year, with both the Delaware courts and others, including the U.S. Supreme Court, weighing in on shareholder and M&A litigation issues. The Delaware Court of Chancery issued several notable decisions on issues...more

Mayer Brown

A Matter Of Propriety: Delaware Courts Reject Books-and-Records Demand Driven by Ulterior Motive

Mayer Brown on

Section 220 demands are a commonly used tool for stockholders to gain access to a company’s books and records. Although this provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law vests stockholders with a right of access thereto,...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Corporate Boards Face ESG Pressure From Both the Left and Right

Over the past decade, environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics have featured heavily in social and political discourse. ESG has also become prominent in the boardroom as directors navigate how best to address...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Largely Denies Books-and-Records Inspection Exploring Dividend Potential

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Greenlight Capital Offshore Partners, LTD., v. Brighthouse Financial Inc., C.A. No. 2022-1067-LWW (Del. Ch. Nov. 20, 2023) - Valuation is a well-established proper purpose to inspect corporate books and records. While each...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Insights: The Delaware Edition - December 2023

In this issue, we discuss recent Delaware court developments regarding officer liability, who can recover “lost-premium” damages, and trends in books and records actions, among other topics....more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Books and Records Demands 2023 Recap: Courts Continue To Develop the Law Regarding the Scope of Inspection

As discussed in prior articles, stockholder plaintiffs have increasingly sought to obtain companies’ books and records under 8 Del. C. § 220 (Section 220) and the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act’s analogous provision,...more

Dechert LLP

Delaware Books and Records Demands in 2023: Protections and Pitfalls for Companies

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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

DarrowEverett LLP

Diversity Driven Derivative Suits: Culture Wars Come to the Boardroom

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Traditionally deployed to protect a corporation from its board’s imprudent investment or financial decision-making, in recent years shareholders have taken to bringing derivative actions on a corporation’s behalf for its...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Rejects Stockholder Demand For Corporation To Supplement Its Section 220 Production With Searches And...

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On August 25, 2023, Magistrate Bonnie W. David of the Delaware Chancery Court issued a post-trial report denying stockholder requests for supplemental productions of emails from Zendesk, Inc. (the “Company”) pursuant to a...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Rejects Stockholder’s Section 220 Books And Record Demand In Connection With Corporation’s Expression...

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On June 27, 2023, Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a judgment in favor of a “leading media and entertainment” company with a “substantial presence in Florida” (the “Corporation”),...more

Dechert LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Bars Stockholder from Inspecting Books and Records Related to Board’s ESG-Related Decision

Dechert LLP on

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

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Delaware Court of Chancery Issues Decision on Disney Board’s Obligations in the DeSantis Dispute

On June 27, 2023, Vice Chancellor Lori Will of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a much-anticipated decision addressing the obligations of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company (Disney) in overseeing Disney’s...more

Barnea Jaffa Lande & Co.

How to Conduct Board and Committee Meetings

In recent years, we have witnessed a sharp increase in the number of lawsuits filed in Israel against officers and directors of companies and a broadening of the scope of their liability. As a result of their roles, directors...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Developments and Trends in Delaware Law: A Review of 2022 and What To Expect in 2023

On January 24, 2023, Skadden presented the fourth and final part of our 15th Annual Securities Litigation and Regulatory Enforcement Update series, “Developments and Trends in Delaware Law: A Review of 2022 and What to Expect...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Assesses The Application Of Timeliness Principles To Caremark Red Flags Claim And Applies “Separate...

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On December 15, 2022, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery denied a motion to dismiss claims as untimely in a derivative action brought by stockholders against the officers and directors of...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Court of Chancery Dismisses Caremark Claims Because of Reporting Systems

Delaware courts have historically been reluctant to allow Caremark (or “board oversight”) claims to gain traction, describing such a claim as “possibly the most difficult theory in corporation law upon which a plaintiff might...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

The Angel’s in the Details: The Importance of Carefully Drafted Board Minutes

Board minutes are an essential part of a company’s internal record keeping. But they are more than a routine, formal exercise. They also play a pivotal role in stockholder litigation. As a contemporaneous record, plaintiff...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Advancing Forward — Delaware Courts Provide Further Guidance on Incumbent Board Enforcement of Advance Notice Bylaws

In late 2021 and early 2022, two decisions from the Court of Chancery addressing advance notice bylaws reiterated, consistent with long-standing Delaware law, that clear and unambiguous advance notice bylaws will be...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Current Bounds on Books and Records Demands

For decades, Delaware courts have encouraged stockholders to use the “tools at hand” — before initiating lawsuits — by obtaining corporations’ books and records through 8 Del. C. § 220 (Section 220). As described in prior...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Insights: The Delaware Edition - December 2022

In this issue, we discuss recent Delaware court decisions further developing the bounds around books and records demands. Other articles focus on recent developments concerning advance notice bylaws and the standards used by...more

Hogan Lovells

Hamrock: No Caremark liability for natural gas explosion

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In City of Detroit Police & Fire Ret. Sys. on Behalf of NiSource, Inc. v. Hamrock, No. CV 2021-0370-KSJM, the Delaware Court of Chancery granted a motion to dismiss duty of oversight claims against an energy company’s...more

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