On July 17, 2024, Delaware Governor John Carney signed into law amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) from Senate Bill 313 that had sparked considerable controversy within the corporate law and governance...more
In this midyear update, we cover a number of significant corporate governance developments that have taken place over the first half of the year and since our Corporate Governance 2023 Year-End Review....more
On June 27, 2024, in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, the Supreme Court held that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC or the Commission) administrative process for adjudicating fraud-based enforcement...more
7/19/2024
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Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Enforcement Actions ,
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Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Regulation ,
Seventh Amendment
On June 10, 2024, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Facebook, Inc. v. Amalgamated Bank to review a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals holding that Facebook could be held liable under Section 10(b) and Rule...more
On April 30, 2024, the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed a stockholder lawsuit against social media giant Meta Platforms, Inc., its board of directors and company founder, Mark Zuckerberg. The decision rejected novel...more
On April 12, a unanimous Supreme Court held in Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. v. Moab Partners, L.P. that material omissions are actionable under Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and its enabling SEC Rule 10b-5 only if the...more
4/23/2024
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Macquarie Infrastructure Corp v Moab Partners LP ,
Omissions ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations
On April 5, 2024, a federal jury in San Francisco returned a verdict in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Panuwat. The jury found that a corporate executive had...more
The Fifth Circuit has vacated the opinion we discussed in our Oct. 30, 2023, client alert Diversity in the Boardroom: Fifth Circuit Rejects Challenge to the SEC Nasdaq Board Diversity Rules; En Banc Petition Quickly Filed and...more
In a significant recent decision, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Govil, the Second Circuit substantially narrowed the scope of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) disgorgement powers to cases in which the...more
Forum-selection provisions have become an increasingly common tool for managing corporate litigation risks. By including these provisions in their charters or bylaws, corporations can designate an exclusive forum — most...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Court) recently rejected challenges to Nasdaq’s “Board Diversity” framework. Those rules require Nasdaq-listed companies to report that they have, or explain why they do not...more
On Sept. 29, 2023, Southern District of New York Judge Andrew L. Carter issued a decision denying Elon Musk’s motion to dismiss a securities fraud class action brought against him. The gravamen of the claim was that Musk...more
On Sept. 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. v. Moab Partners, L.P. to review a decision by the Second Circuit reviving an investor lawsuit alleging Section 10(b) and Rule...more
On June 30, 2023, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy to review a decision by the Fifth Circuit rejecting key aspects of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC or the...more
7/10/2023
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Administrative Procedure ,
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SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
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Seventh Amendment
In a recent 6-5 ruling, an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a derivative suit asserting Exchange Act violations against The Gap, Inc. and its directors. The district court had dismissed the suit —...more
In Slack Technologies, LLC v. Pirani,1 the Supreme Court on June 1, 2023, unanimously held that even in a case involving direct listing of both registered and unregistered securities, to state a claim under Section 11(a) of...more
In a recent post-trial decision, Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick found a CEO personally liable for breaching his fiduciary duties for tilting the company’s sale to his preferred acquiror. The court further held...more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently agreed to rehear en banc the dismissal—based on a Delaware exclusive forum selection bylaw provision—of a shareholder derivative suit asserting violations of Section 14(a) of the...more
Efforts to increase diversity at the top of public companies remain at the forefront of corporate consciousness and governance. As we have previously reported , stakeholder interest in diversified leadership has led to a...more
On May 13, the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, issued a verdict following a bench trial that effectively struck down SB 826, a California statute requiring the boards of public corporations based in the...more
As we have previously discussed, Lee v. Robert J. Fisher et al., Case No. 20 Civ. 6163 (N.D. Ca.), is one of a growing number of derivative lawsuits brought against public companies (in this case, The Gap Inc.) alleging...more
On April 28, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against the Brazilian mining company Vale S.A., alleging that the company made false and misleading statements to investors about the company’s...more
As previously discussed in our Sept. 10, 2020, client alert, in Wong v. Restoration Robotics, Inc., Case No. 18-CIV-02609 (Cal. Super. Ct. Sept. 1, 2020), the Superior Court of California for the County of San Mateo dismissed...more
On April 1, 2022, the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, granted a summary judgment motion that effectively struck down AB 979, a California statute requiring the boards of public corporations based in the...more
As noted in previous client alerts (including here), boardroom diversity continues to be an increasing focus of stakeholders ranging from legislators to institutional investors to retail stockholders. In recent years, their...more