In Firefighters’ Pension System of the City of Kansas City, Missouri Trust v. Presidio, Inc., Vice Chancellor Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed claims against directors of Presidio, Inc. (Presidio) and...more
This issue covers important, developing areas of Delaware corporation law and deal litigation, including an increased focus on officer-related actions in merger litigation, the treatment of Caremark claims after Marchand and...more
More than a decade ago in the seminal case Gantler v. Stephens, the Delaware Supreme Court clarified that officers of Delaware corporations owe the same fiduciary duties of care and loyalty that directors owe to the...more
12/23/2020
/ Board of Directors ,
Books & Records ,
Breach of Duty ,
CEOs ,
Certificates of Incorporation ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Officers ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Duty of Care ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Gross Negligence ,
Mergers
Consistent with trends in recent years, in 2019 Delaware corporation law largely was shaped by post-closing suits for money damages against directors who had approved mergers and acquisitions. Two Delaware Supreme Court...more
1/24/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Board of Directors ,
Books & Records ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Judgment Rule ,
Caremark claim ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corwin Doctrine ,
Damages ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Derivative Suit ,
Discovery ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Independent Director ,
Inspection Rights ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Mergers ,
MFW ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Oversight Duties ,
Section 220 Request ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Void ab initio
Recently, the frequency of stockholder demands to inspect corporate books and records pursuant to Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law has increased. In turn, the case law concerning Section 220 demands is...more
1/21/2020
/ Activist Investors ,
Appeals ,
Board of Directors ,
Books & Records ,
Breach of Duty ,
Confidential Documents ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Discovery ,
Document Productions ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Email ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Mergers ,
Proxy Contests ,
Scope of Discovery Requests ,
Section 220 Request ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
This issue focuses on important, developing areas of Delaware corporation law and deal litigation, including recent trends in Delaware corporate disclosure law, the Delaware Supreme Court’s important ruling in Marchand v....more
11/20/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Appraisal Rights ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Board of Directors ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Executives ,
Corporate Officers ,
Corwin Doctrine ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Deal Price ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Directors ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Entire Fairness Standard ,
Fair Valuation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Adviser ,
Good Faith ,
Market Price ,
Material Misstatements ,
Mergers ,
MFW ,
Mootness Fee Applications ,
Omissions ,
Oversight Committee ,
Oversight Duties ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
Shareholder Votes
Over the last few years, significant developments in Delaware law and practice have changed the traditional M&A litigation landscape. These developments resulted in a dramatic reduction in pre-closing applications for...more
11/30/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Aiding and Abetting ,
Appraisal ,
Appraisal Rights ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Damages ,
Deal Price ,
Defense Strategies ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Discovery ,
Fair Valuation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Adviser ,
Investment Banks ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Mergers ,
Motion to Compel ,
Pleading Standards ,
Popular ,
Remedies ,
Scienter ,
Shareholders ,
Subpoenas
Developments in appraisal law, the application of Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC in post-closing damages actions and the potential expansion of Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corporation (MFW) — a case examining the standard of...more
1/26/2018
/ Appraisal Rights ,
Arms Length Transactions ,
Books & Records ,
Breach of Duty ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corwin Doctrine ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Deal Price ,
Fair Market Value ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Merger Agreements ,
Mergers ,
Post-Closing Money Damages ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Revlon Standard ,
Standard of Review ,
Trulia
Over the past two years, the deal litigation landscape has changed dramatically. In early 2016, the Delaware Court of Chancery announced a new rule for evaluating disclosure-based settlements in deal litigation — the “plainly...more
11/27/2017
/ Acquisitions ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure-Based Settlements ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Forum Selection ,
Mergers ,
Mootness ,
Non-GAAP Financial Measures ,
Plainly Material Standard ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Standard of Review ,
Trulia
The Delaware Supreme Court recently ruled on two appeals from Court of Chancery decisions involving "conflicts committees" of Delaware limited partnerships. Both decisions arise out of challenges to "drop-down" transactions...more
1/6/2017
/ Bad Faith ,
Breach of Duty ,
Committee Meetings ,
Conflicts Committee ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Derivative Suit ,
Drop-Down Transactions ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Independent Directors ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Master Limited Partnerships ,
Mergers ,
Parent Corporation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
Subsidiaries
This issue focuses on important, developing areas of Delaware corporation law and deal litigation, including the Court of Chancery’s clarification of its evolving views about disclosure-based deal litigation settlements;...more
5/21/2016
/ Acquisitions ,
Aiding and Abetting ,
Board of Directors ,
Books & Records ,
Buyouts ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Demand Futility ,
Derivative Suit ,
Disclosure-Based Settlements ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Adviser ,
Mergers ,
Plainly Material Standard ,
Pleadings ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholder Demands ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Standard of Review
As previously discussed in Insights: The Delaware Edition, throughout the second half of 2015, the Delaware Court of Chancery began to question its long-standing practice of approving deal litigation settlements involving...more
5/21/2016
/ Acquisitions ,
Disclosure-Based Settlements ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Forum Selection ,
Mergers ,
Mootness ,
Plainly Material Standard ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Stock Deals ,
Supplemental Disclosures ,
Trulia ,
Zillow
In a series of rulings issued over the last few months, the Delaware Court of Chancery has shaken up decades of well-settled authority in the area of deal litigation settlements. The Court of Chancery historically has...more