It is well understood that directors of Delaware corporations are subject to the fiduciary duties of care and loyalty. In general, the duty of care requires directors to base their decisions on all material information...more
On October 26, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted long-delayed rules which will require companies to implement mandatory "clawback" policies with respect to incentive-based compensation if the company's...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission new "clawback" rules were approved on a divided vote. The two Republican members of the Commission, Hester M. Peirce and Mark T. Uyeda voted against adoption. Tomorrow's election will...more
Compliance Today (November 2020) - The U.S. Department of Justice announced another guilty plea in the case involving bribery and kickbacks at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. According to the Department of...more
McDonald’s Corporation has joined a growing list of companies that have taken action to forfeit unpaid compensation or demand repayment of compensation previously paid to a former CEO, including equity awards or proceeds from...more
Neurvana Medical, LLC v Balt USA, LLC, C.A. No. 2019-0034-KSJM (Del. Ch. Feb. 27, 2020). Neurvana Medical, LLC (“Neurvana”) sold a medical device to Balt USA, LLC (“Balt USA”), largely for post-closing consideration if the...more
Nielsen v. EBTH, Inc., C.A. No. 2019-0164-MTZ (Del. Ch. Sept. 30, 2019). Delaware law permits advancement of fees and expenses for officers or directors who have such rights under certificates of incorporation, bylaws, or...more
Ephrat v. medCPU, Inc., C.A. No. 2018-0852-MTZ (Del. Ch. Jun. 26, 2019). Former directors and officers may be entitled to advancement for post-separation conduct if that conduct is "by reason of the fact" of the directors'...more
The California Supreme Court has imposed a continuous ownership requirement for shareholder derivative suits under California Corporations Code Section 800. Grosset v. Wenaas, 42 Cal. 4th 1100 (2008). Thus, a shareholder must...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A Delaware Chancery Court judge last week dismissed a derivative complaint seeking to recover a $10 million severance payment made to a corporation’s former CEO because he found that plaintiff shareholder...more
Numerous decisions from the Delaware courts establish that a company cannot abandon its promise to advance legal fees and expenses when the covered director, officer, or employee properly invokes it....more
In a recent Delaware Court of Chancery case - Hyatt v. Al Jazeera America Holdings II, LLC, C.A. No. 11465-VCG - Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III of the Delaware Court of Chancery took on a “familiar” issue with a “twist”:...more
This is an interesting advancement case as it applies the usual test of whether the former directors have been sued “by reason of the fact” they were directors in the context of suit against former owners’ representative for...more
As is well known, a former director may be entitled to have his fees advanced in suits against him even after he has resigned from the board. ...more
Collective redundancy consultation has recently become a lot more serious on a personal level for directors and senior managers. Three former directors of collapsed delivery company Citylink are being prosecuted in...more
In Kerbawy v. McDonnell, the Delaware Court of Chancery affirmed the validity of a solicitation of written consents that removed certain directors and appointed new directors. A key theme of the opinion is that stockholders...more
Not infrequently, a former director may seek to have his attorney fees advanced in two pending matters, only one of which is covered by a corporation’s advancement obligations. An example would be an SEC action coupled with a...more
As accounting restatements occur relatively infrequently, and the severity is often modest, the proposed “clawback” rules represent more of a "check the box" compliance activity than a real enforcement threat....more
The Dodd-Frank Act required the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to adopt rules that direct national securities exchanges (such as the NYSE and NASDAQ) to require listed companies to implement and disclose their...more
Advancement provides corporate officials with immediate interim relief from the personal out-of-pocket financial burden of paying the significant ongoing expenses inevitably involved with defending investigations and legal...more
In the area of what claims are subject to the right to have fees advanced to a former officer or director, there is no more often disputed issue than whether the claim asserted arose out of the role as an officer or director...more
As in the past, the Court of Chancery again rejects this effort to welch. Notwithstanding a charter and bylaw provision that gave a former director the broadest rights to advancement, the company had him sign an undertaking...more