Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 167: Listen and Learn -- Direct and Derivative Actions (Corporations)
Board Diversity Podcast
Securities Litigation and Disclosure Issues
Podcast: CFTC Issues LIBOR Transition Relief for Swaps
In re Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation Derivative Litigation, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, sitting en banc, overruled its prior decision in Blasband v. Rales that applied an...more
Many corporations pay significant amounts for directors and officers liability policies. Commonly referred to as D&O policies, these policies usually involve three sides. Directors and officers are likely to have the most...more
Last year, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster famously held that officers could be subject to liability under the Caremark doctrine. In re McDonald’s Corp., 289 A.3d 343 (Del. Ch. Jan. 26, 2023). The Caremark doctrine...more
Harper v. Sievert, C.A. No. 2022-0819-SG (Del. Ch. May 31, 2024). A stockholder plaintiff brought derivative claims alleging that current and former directors of T-Mobile US, Inc. were liable for aggregating customers’...more
City of Sarasota Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Inovalon Holdings Inc., No. 305, 2023 (Del. May 1, 2024). The Delaware Supreme Court’s decision in Khan v. M & F Worldwide Corp. (“MFW”) established a cleansing process for a...more
All empires eventually decline. For decades, Delaware has held the crown as the premier state of incorporation for domestic companies (and many foreign companies seeking a foothold in the United States capital markets). But...more
Boards of Delaware corporations control the company’s assets, which includes by default derivative claims for breach of fiduciary duty against the company’s directors and officers. When derivative claims survive dismissal...more
The power to bring a claim for breach of duty causing injury to a Delaware corporation resides with the board of directors. It is part of their duty under Section 141(a) of the Delaware General Corporation Law to manage the...more
Clem v. Skinner, et al., C.A. 2021-0240-LWW (Del. Ch. Feb. 19, 2024) - This Caremark decision involved the retail pharmacy company, Walgreens, and concerned billing practices for a particular insulin pen product that gave...more
In re Oracle Corp. Deriv. Litig., Consol. C.A. No. 2017-0337-SG (Del. Ch. Feb. 7, 2024) - Under the mootness rule, a stockholder plaintiff can be awarded attorneys’ fees when the plaintiff’s litigation efforts result in...more
Tornetta v. Musk, et al., C.A. 2018-0408-KSJM (Del. Ch. Jan. 30, 2024) - Stockholders of Tesla, Inc. brought a derivative action against Elon Musk and six individual Tesla directors, alleging that the directors breached...more
Palkon v. Maffei, C.A. 2023-0449-JTL (Del. Ch. Feb. 20, 2024) - This decision arose out of TripAdivor’s conversion from a Delaware corporation into a Nevada corporation. The company’s CEO and Chair had voting control and...more
A recent ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Anthony J. Battaglia addresses whether demand futility is an affirmative defense that must be asserted in an answer or raised in a motion to dismiss. In re Franklin Wireless, 2024...more
In In re Match Group, Inc. Derivative Litigation, the Delaware Supreme Court answered some important questions about the standard of review applicable to conflicted transactions under Delaware law. The first question relates...more
Like many questions in the law, the answer to the question of whether a member of a California nonprofit corporation may maintain a derivative action is "it depends"....more
In Palkon v. Maffei, 2024 WL 678204 (Del. Ch. Feb. 20, 2024), the plaintiffs sought to enjoin the proposed conversions of TripAdvisor, Inc. and Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. into Nevada. As noted in this post, Vice...more
In re Oracle Corp. Deriv. Litig., C.A. No. 2017-0337-SG (Del. Ch. Dec. 28, 2023) - By rule, the prevailing party in Court of Chancery litigation is entitled to shift costs to the losing party, subject to the Court’s...more
This top ten list summarizes significant decisions of the Delaware Supreme Court and the Delaware Court of Chancery over the past calendar year. Our criteria for selection are that the decision either meaningfully changed...more
On December 12, 2023, the Harvard Corporation unanimously reaffirmed its support for President Claudine Gay's continued leadership despite her controversial testimony before the U.S. Congress and allegations of plagiarism. ...more
In Newman v. KKR, the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed a shareholder suit against Transphorm, Inc.’s Board and KKR, the largest shareholder, for failure to plead demand futility. The plaintiff alleged that the Board...more
In re Dell Techs. Inc. Class V S'holders Litig., C.A. No. 2018-0816-JTL (Del. Ch. July 31, 2023, revised Aug. 22, 2023) - Stockholders filed class actions in the Court of Chancery challenging the terms of a redemption of a...more
Optimiscorp v. Atkins, C.A. No. 2020-0183-MTZ (Del. Ch. June 1, 2023) - As this decision explains, when stockholder plaintiffs control the derivative claims of the company, they serve as agents of the company and owe the...more
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
In re Baker Hughes, a GE Company, Derivative Litigation, C.A. No. 2019-0201-LWW (Del. Ch. Apr. 17, 2023) - After the Court of Chancery made a pleadings stage determination that the demand was futile, a board of directors...more
The High Court has ordered that ClientEarth pay Shell’s costs in connection with all aspects of ClientEarth’s unsuccessful application for permission to continue a derivative claim against Shell and its directors. This is a...more