The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently joined a growing consensus among federal appellate courts: short-seller reports, without more, rarely suffice to plead loss causation under the federal...more
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 Juul Labs, Inc. v. Grove, 2020 Del. Ch. LEXIS 264 (Del. Ch. Aug. 13, 2020) (Laster, V.C.), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that the “internal affairs doctrine” bars a stockholder of a Delaware corporation headquartered...more
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 Flood v. Synutra Int’l, Inc., No. 101, 2018, 2018 Del. LEXIS 460 (Del. Oct. 9, 2018), the Delaware Supreme Court (Strine, C.J.) held that a controlling stockholder who pursues a merger with the controlled company will have...more
10/18/2018
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Breach of Duty ,
Bright-Line Rule ,
Business Judgment Rule ,
Buyouts ,
Class Action ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Due Care ,
Duty of Care ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Mergers ,
Minority Shareholders ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Shareholder Litigation
In Parametric Sound Corp. v. The Eighth Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada, ___ P.3d ___, 2017 WL 4078845 (Nev. Sept. 14, 2017), the Nevada Supreme Court addressed the circumstances under which breach of fiduciary...more
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
As recently as 2014, nearly 95% of all mergers of public companies valued at $100 million or more triggered stockholder class action litigation. Historically, a large number of merger-related stockholder litigation settled...more
In Arduini v. Hart, 2014 WL 7156764 (9th Cir. Dec. 17, 2014), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit considered whether the doctrine of issue preclusion prevents a stockholder from relitigating a prior...more
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