In Solak v. Mountain Crest Capital, the Delaware Court of Chancery found that a stockholder plaintiff pleaded a viable breach of fiduciary duty claim based on an alleged failure of the board of directors of a SPAC to disclose...more
In Jacobs v. Akademos, the Delaware Chancery Court ruled that a cash-out merger that provided common shareholders in a privately held corporation, Akademos, Inc., with no value was nonetheless entirely fair. This decision...more
Below is our Corporate / M&A decisions update covering decisions in the second quarter of 2024. Decisions from the Delaware Court of Chancery this quarter included further development of the jurisprudence around the validity...more
In In re Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. IV Stockholder Litigation, the Delaware Court of Chancery for the first time dismissed breach of fiduciary duty claims against directors involved in a merger with a special purpose...more
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
In In re Match Group Deriv. Litig., the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the lower court’s decision on the appropriate standard of review and the application of Kahn v. M & F Worldwide Corp., 88...more
In Palkon v. Maffei, the Delaware Court of Chancery permitted stockholders to pursue claims that the board of directors of TripAdvisor breached their fiduciary duties in converting TripAdvisor from a Delaware corporation to a...more
2023 was a busy year, with both the Delaware courts and others, including the U.S. Supreme Court, weighing in on shareholder and M&A litigation issues. The Delaware Court of Chancery issued several notable decisions on issues...more
This quarter, Delaware courts issued several notable opinions in unique contexts. For example, in a rare reversal, the Delaware Supreme Court rejected the Court of Chancery’s use of “judicial notice” of another court’s ruling...more
In Segway, Inc. v. Cai, the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed a breach of fiduciary duty claim for failure to allege “sufficient facts to support a reasonable inference that the fiduciary acted in bad faith.” The plaintiff...more
The Delaware courts issued a range of decisions this quarter, addressing topics from mootness fees to demand futility. Two key opinions addressed compliance with Delaware statute and court orders. In Seidman, the court...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 Gandhi-Kapoor v. Hone Capital, LLC, No. 2022-0881-JTL (Del. Ch. July 19, 2023), the Delaware Court of Chancery held respondents Hone Capital LLC and certain related companies in contempt for failing to either object to or...more
Shareholder activism has always been a relevant issue for companies, but in recent years a new variety has emerged and taken hold in the form of ESG shareholder activism. In detail, the approaches and impact of ESG campaigns...more
This quarter we are covering some key court decisions regarding securities and corporate governance issues. The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed a majority of lower court decisions to require traceability in defining the term...more
In In re Edgio Stockholders Litigation, No. 2022-0624-MTZ (Del. Ch. May 1, 2023) the Delaware Court of Chancery, in denying a motion to dismiss, evaluated a stockholder action to enjoin a transaction in light of one party’s...more
In New Enterprise Associates 14. v. Rich, the court held that a covenant not to sue in a voting agreement executed by sophisticated stockholders was facially enforceable even though it limited claims for breach of fiduciary...more
M&A and shareholder litigation is off to a busy start in 2023, with Delaware courts issuing several interesting opinions. The Delaware Supreme Court reversed a Delaware Court of Chancery decision, finding that the “maximum...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery, in Teamsters Local 677 Health Services & Insurance Plan v. Martell, C.A. No. 2021-1075-NAC (Del. Ch. January 31, 2023), granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss under Corwin. The court found...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery, in In re Carvana Co., No. 2020-0415-KSJM (Del. Ch. June 30, 2022), applied the recently adopted Zuckerberg test for demand futility and denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss. The court found...more
In Manti Holdings, LLC v. Carlyle Group Inc., C.A. No. 2020-0657-SG (Del. Ch. June 3, 2022), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that minority investor claims could proceed against a private equity firm, Carlyle, and related...more
In Cellular Telephone Partnership Litigation, C.A. No. 6885-CVL, the Chancery Court held that AT&T breached its duty of loyalty to its minority partners when it enacted a Freeze-Out transaction that dissolved a cellular...more
In Brown v. Matterport, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 2021-0595-LWW (Del. Ch. Jan. 10, 2022), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that transfer restrictions restricting trade of stock “outstanding immediately” after a de-SPAC merger...more
In re Kraft Heinz Company Derivative Litigation addresses demand futility in a case involving an insider stock sale. 3G Capital, Inc., a 24.2 percent shareholder in Kraft Heinz, sold 7 percent of its stake in August 2018...more
Below is our Corporate / M&A decisions update covering decisions in the third quarter of 2021. This update is designed to highlight selected important M&A, corporate, and commercial court decisions on a quarterly basis.
The...more
11/23/2021
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Caremark claim ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Governance ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Merger Agreements ,
Mergers ,
Section 220 Request ,
Shareholder Litigation