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Court of Chancery Awards Fees Under the Corporate Benefit Doctrine in Director Qualifications Bylaw Dispute

Full Value Partners L.P. v. Swiss Helvetia Fund Inc., C.A. No. 2017-0303-AGB (Del. Ch. June 7, 2018) - A representative plaintiff who confers a non-monetary benefit on the represented class will be entitled to an award of...more

Court of Chancery Enforces Broad Director-Like Books and Records Rights in the LLC Context

Obeid v. Gemini Real Estate Advisors LLC, C.A. No. 2017-0510-JTL (Del. Ch. June 5, 2018) - To facilitate the proper exercise of one’s fiduciary duties, the right of directors to inspect a corporation’s books and records is...more

Court Of Chancery Dismisses Derivative Complaint Alleging Disclosure Violations

Steinberg v. Bearden, C.A. No. 2017-0286-AGB (Del. Ch. May 30, 2018) - This is an interesting decision for its discussion of when pre-suit demand on the board is not excused for a derivative complaint alleging the...more

Court Of Chancery Stresses Proper Procedure When Relying On A Contractual Safe Harbor In The MLP Context

In Re Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. Unitholder Litigation, C.A. No. 12197-VCG (Del. Ch. May 17, 2018) - Conflicted transactions are commonplace in the master limited partnership (MLP) context. The entity’s operating...more

Court of Chancery Declines To Restrain Controller In Proposed Viacom-CBS Deal

CBS Corp., et al. v. National Amusements, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 2018-0342-AGB (Del. Ch. May 17, 2018) (Letter Op.) - Arising out of the highly-publicized dispute over the proposed transaction involving CBS and Viacom,...more

Court Of Chancery Explains When A Minority Stockholder Has Control

In re Tesla Motors Inc. Stockholder Litigation, C.A. No. 12711-VCS (Del. Ch. Mar. 28, 2018) - Under Delaware law, a controlling stockholder need not be a majority stockholder. Rather, a controlling stockholder might be a...more

Court Of Chancery Explains When Directors Lack Independence To Consider Pre-Suit Demand

In Re Oracle Corporation Derivative Litigation, C.A. No. 2017-037-SG (Del. Ch. Mar. 19, 2018) - Delaware law requires a derivative plaintiff to make a pre-suit demand on the board unless excused as futile. Because some...more

Court of Chancery Applies Revlon to a Warrant to Buy

Carr v. New Enterprise Associates, Inc., C.A. No. 2017-0381-AGB (Del. Ch. Mar. 26, 2018) - This decision addresses a host of interesting topics. First, it declines to invoke the so-called step-transaction doctrine under...more

Court Of Chancery Awards Nominal Damages For Breach Of Fiduciary Duty

The Ravenswood Investment Company LP v. The Estate Of Bassett S. Winmill, C.A. No. 3730-VCS (Del. Ch. Mar. 21, 2018) - It is easy to assume that some form of meaningful relief must be available when a fiduciary bears the...more

Court Of Chancery Explains When A Prediction Is A Misleading Disclosure

Chatham Asset Management LLC v. Papanier, C.A. No. 2017-0088-AGB (Dec. 22, 2017) - It is often said that a mere prediction of some future event cannot be misleading because such predictions are speculations that cannot be...more

Court Of Chancery Issues A Definitive Opinion on Aronson

Lenois v. Lawal, C.A. No. 11963-VCMR (Nov. 7, 2017) - This case illustrates the power of well-functioning special committee to diffuse the potentially corruptive influence of a self-interested controller on a transaction....more

Court Of Chancery Explains When Side Deals Are Actionable Under A Bad Faith Theory

Kahn v. Stern, C.A. No. 12498-VCG (Aug. 28, 2017) - It is not easy to sufficiently plead a bad faith breach of fiduciary duty by a board in approving a merger when a majority of the directors were disinterested and...more

Court Of Chancery Gives Guidance On What Constitutes Bad Faith

In Re Meadwestvaco Stockholders Litigation, C.A. No. 10617-CB (August 17, 2017) - As this decision explains, to state a claim attacking a merger on the basis that the Board acted in bad faith you need more than ...more

Court Of Chancery Upholds Duty Of Care and Loyalty Claims

H&N Management Group Inc. v Couch, C.A. No. 12847-VCMR (Del. Ch. Aug. 1, 2017) - This is a rare case involving apparent lack of care in approving a conflicted transaction and a failure to employ almost any safeguards to...more

Court Of Chancery Explains Stock Restriction Law

Henry v. Phixios Holdings Inc., C.A. No. 12504-VCMR (July 10, 2017) - This is the rare decision explaining when restrictions on stock transfers (permitted by Section 202 of the DGCL) can be enforced. While the statute...more

Court Of Chancery Explains When Entire Fairness Applies To Option Grants And Voting Agreements

While directors have the right to issue options, when the grant is to themselves and there are specific facts suggesting unfairness, those directors will have the burden of proving the grants were entirely fair in a...more

Court Of Chancery Declines To Hold Unocal Claim Automatically Excuses Demand

A derivative plaintiff who fails to make a pre-suit demand on the board must show why demand is excused using particularized facts. Here, the plaintiff argued that demand was automatically excused by sufficiently pleading a...more

Court Of Chancery Rejects Novel Breach Of Appraisal Rights Claim

This decision begins with a conventional analysis of a claim that disclosure violations and director self-interest have tainted a merger vote. That claim was rejected for want of factual support. More unusual, the decision...more

Court Of Chancery Explains The “Known Looter” Theory For Controllers

This is an interesting decision because it examines an intriguing legal theory for holding a controlling stockholder liable in a sale: the “known looter” theory. Generally speaking, controllers can sell their stock to whoever...more

Court Of Chancery Denies Corwin Defense

This is a significant decision because it is the first to find that a stockholder vote did not invoke business judgment review under Corwin because the vote was coerced and not fully informed. Under Corwin, a transaction...more

Court Of Chancery Explains When To Appoint Corporate Custodian

On the same day the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the widely-reported TransPerfect decision, which ordered the sale of a successful company by custodian under Section 226 of the DGCL in order to break deadlock, the Court of...more

Delaware Supreme Court Affirms The TransPerfect Decision

The Supreme Court has affirmed the Court of Chancery decision that Section 226 of the DGCL permits the Court to appoint a custodian to sell a Delaware corporation when the board of directors and stockholders are deadlocked...more

Court Of Chancery Explains Pleading Rules For A Caremark Claim

At first look, this decision seems to involve just another unsuccessful failure of oversight Caremark claim against directors. But it is worth reading because it outlines the various theories of a Caremark case and then...more

Delaware Corporate and Commercial Case Law Year In Review – 2016

Morris James attorneys Lewis Lazarus, Albert Manwaring and Albert Carroll authored an article published in Transaction Advisors titled Delaware Corporate and Commercial Case Law Year in Review – 2016. The article summarizes...more

Delaware Supreme Court Finds Pre-Suit Demand Was Excused

When a stockholder files a derivative suit she can avoid dismissal under Rule 23.1’s pre-suit demand-on-the-board requirement by showing that a majority of the directors were not independent enough to fairly consider her...more

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