In Segway Inc. v. Hong Cai, 2023 Del. Ch. LEXIS 643 (Del. Ch. Dec. 14, 2023), the Delaware Court of Chancery (Will, V.C.) dismissed a claim for breach of fiduciary duty brought by Segway Inc. (the “Company”) against its...more
12/28/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Litigation ,
Caremark claim ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Officers ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Mergers ,
Oversight Duties
In Anderson v. Magellan Health, Inc., No. 2021-0202, — A.3d —-, 2023 WL 4364524 (Del. Ch. July 6, 2023) (McCormick, C.), the Delaware Court of Chancery addressed the circumstances under which the Court will award a...more
7/18/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Litigation ,
Corporate Governance ,
Delaware ,
Disclosure ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Mergers ,
Proxy Statements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
In In re McDonald’s Corp. Stockholder Derivative Litigation, No. 2021-0324 (Del. Ch. Jan. 26, 2023), the Delaware Court of Chancery (Laster, V.C.) held that officers of a Delaware corporation are subject to a fiduciary duty...more
In Crest v. Padilla, No. 19STCV27561, 2022 WL 1565613 (Cal. Super. May 13, 2022), the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles (Duffy-Lewis, J.) issued a decision following a bench trial finding that Senate...more
5/24/2022
/ Board of Directors ,
Business Litigation ,
California ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Gender Equity ,
Legislative Agendas ,
State Constitutions ,
State Legislatures ,
Woman Board Members
In Crest v. Padilla, No. 20STCV37513 (Cal. Super. Apr. 1, 2022), the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles (Green, J.) declared that Section 301.4 of the California Corporations Code is unconstitutional...more
4/13/2022
/ Appeals ,
Board of Directors ,
California ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporations Code ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Governor Newsom ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Constitutions ,
Summary Judgment
In Tola v. Bryant, No. 16150, 2022 Cal. App. LEXIS 241 (Cal. App. Mar. 24, 2022), the First Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal applied Delaware’s new formulation of the test for determining whether a...more
4/7/2022
/ Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Board of Directors ,
California ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Governance ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Delaware ,
Derivative Tort Claims ,
Securities Litigation ,
Standing ,
State and Local Government
Rule 23.1 of the Delaware Court of Chancery Rules requires a plaintiff asserting a shareholder derivative action to plead “with particularity the efforts, if any, made by the plaintiff to obtain the action the plaintiff...more
5/14/2020
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Burden of Proof ,
Demand Futility ,
Derivative Suit ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Local Rules ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pleading Standards ,
Pleadings ,
Quid Pro Quo ,
Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Section 220 Request ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
In a shareholder derivative action, to survive a motion to dismiss for failure to plead facts showing demand futility, a derivative plaintiff must plead particularized facts showing either actual involvement by a majority of...more
7/17/2017
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Bribery ,
Demand Futility ,
Derivative Suit ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Official ,
Illegal Conduct ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pleading Standards ,
Qualcomm ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
White Collar Crimes
Stockholder claims alleging wrongful dilution are typically considered to be derivative in nature. Several decisions out of Delaware, however, have created exceptions to this general rule allowing stockholders to sue...more
1/20/2017
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Appeals ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Derivative Suit ,
Dilution ,
Direct Suit ,
Master Limited Partnerships ,
Mergers ,
Mootness ,
Parent Corporation ,
Partnership Agreements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reversal ,
Self-Dealing ,
Shareholders ,
Standing ,
Tortious Interference
In Houseman v. Sagerman, C.A. No. 8898-VCG, 2014 WL 1478511 (Del. Ch. Apr. 16, 2014), the Delaware Court of Chancery (Glasscock, V.C.) granted, in part, a motion to dismiss filed by certain directors and the financial advisor...more
5/13/2014
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Mergers ,
Pleading Standards ,
Pleadings ,
Professional Liability ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
In In re Answers Corp. Shareholders Litigation, C.A. No. 6170-VCN, 2014 WL 463163 (Del. Ch. Feb. 3, 2014), the Delaware Court of Chancery (Noble, V.C.) granted summary judgment in favor of defendants in a stockholder class...more
In In re MFW Shareholder Litigation, C.A. No. 6566-CS, 2013 WL 2436341 (Del. Ch. May 29, 2013), the Delaware Court of Chancery analyzed one of the most important open questions of Delaware corporate law: whether it is...more
In Scheenstra v. California Dairies, Inc., No. F062768, ___ Cal. Rptr. 3d ___, 2013 WL 363148 (Cal. App. 5th Dist. Jan. 30, 2013), the California Court of Appeal, Fifth District, affirmed the judgment of the California...more