In re Fox Corporation/Snap Inc. Section 242 Litigation, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that corporations do not need to seek votes from each separate stockholder class to approve charter amendments exculpating corporate...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
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 Anderson v. Magellan Health, Inc., the Delaware Court of Chancery raised the standard for awarding mootness fees in settled M&A disclosure cases that resulted in supplemental disclosures, holding that fees can be awarded...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
In re Mindbody Inc., Stockholder Litigation, C.A. No. 2019-0442-KSJM (Del. Ch. Mar. 15, 2023), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that a CEO breached his fiduciary duties by taking steps the court found tilted a merger sale...more
In this past year, we saw an uptick in in-person court proceedings as the effects of the pandemic subsided, a decrease in pandemic-related litigation, and a return to many of the core issues facing Delaware companies...more
4/25/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Caremark claim ,
Cybersecurity ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Derivative Suit ,
Freeze-Out Mergers ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
In Construction Industry Laborers Pension Fund v. Bingle, (C.A. No. 2021-0940-SG (Del. Ch. Sept. 6, 2022)) (SolarWinds), the Delaware Court of Chancery granted a motion to dismiss a derivative suit against the directors of...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
Tesla Motors Stockholder Litigation arises out of Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity, a market leader in manufacturing and installing solar energy generation systems. On two occasions in 2015 and 2016, Elon Musk suggested to...more
8/23/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Board of Directors ,
Business Judgment Rule ,
Corporate Governance ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Derivative Suit ,
Elon Musk ,
Entire Fairness Standard ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Tesla
In Lee v. Fisher, 34 F.4th 777 (9th Cir. 2022), the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a shareholder derivative suit against The Gap Inc. (Gap), alleging violations of Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of...more
Below is our Corporate / M&A decisions update covering decisions in the first quarter of 2022. This update is designed to highlight selected important M&A, corporate, and commercial court decisions on a quarterly basis....more
In Level 4 Yoga, LLC v. CorePower Yoga, LLC, C.A. No. 2020-0249 (Del. Ch. March 1, 2022), the Delaware Court of Chancery granted Level 4, the owner of franchised yoga studios, an order of specific performance and compelled...more
In Arwood v. AW Site Services LLC, C.A. No. 2019-0904-JRS (Del. Ch. March 9, 2022), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that “Delaware is a ‘pro-sandbagging jurisdiction,’” meaning that, absent a provision to the contrary, an...more
On March 23, 2022, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the challenges to whether international arbitrations, including private commercial arbitration and investor-state arbitration, qualify as “foreign or international...more
As the U.S. Supreme Court considers two cases involving the availability of discovery in international arbitration proceedings, a district court puts discovery in aid of arbitration on hold. What has happened U.S. courts...more
Below is our Corporate / M&A decisions update covering decisions in the fourth quarter of 2021. This update is designed to highlight selected important M&A, corporate, and commercial court decisions on a quarterly basis....more
2/3/2022
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Contract ,
Bylaws ,
Caremark claim ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Demand Futility ,
Derivative Suit ,
Indemnification ,
Pensions ,
Shareholder Litigation
In Blue Cube Spinco LLC v. The Dow Chemical Company, C.A. No. N21C-01-214 PRW CCLD (Del. Sup. Ct. Sept. 29 2021), the Delaware Superior Court found that an M&A buyer had adequately alleged breach of contract claims for a...more
In AB Stable VIII LLC v. MAPS Hotels and Resorts One LLC, et al., No. 71, 2021 (Del. Dec. 8, 2021), the Delaware Supreme Court, sitting en banc, affirmed a Court of Chancery judgment finding that a hotel owner violated its...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
The Delaware Court of Chancery in Online HealthNow, Inc., et al. v. CIP OCL Investments, LLC, et al., C.A. No. 2020-0654-JRS (Del. Ch. August 12, 2021) extended a recent line of cases declining to enforce seller-friendly...more
In In re The Boeing Company, the Delaware Court of Chancery held that Boeing stockholders that sued the company over losses relating to safety problems with Boeing’s 737 MAX airplane had adequately pleaded that a majority of...more
In United Food & Com. Workers Union v. Zuckerberg, No. 404, 2020 (Del. Sup. Sep. 23, 2021), the Delaware Supreme Court adopted a new, three-part test for determining when a shareholder is required to make a pre-suit demand on...more
11/9/2021
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Demand Futility ,
Derivative Suit ,
Duty of Care ,
Exculpatory Clauses ,
Facebook ,
Mark Zuckerberg ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
In a 200+ page decision, the Court of Chancery in In re Pattern Energy Group Inc. Stockholders Litigation, (C.A. No. 2020-0357-MTZ (Del. Ch. May 6, 2021)) declined to dismiss putative shareholder class claims for breach of...more
In LDC Parent, LLC v. Essential Utilities, Inc. (C.A. No. N20C-08-127-MMJ-CCLD (Del. Super. Apr. 28, 2021)), the Delaware Superior Court held that a post-closing purchase price adjustment dispute had to be resolved by an...more