The electric vehicle company Canoo went public in a de-SPAC transaction in December 2020. After its stock price fell, a stockholder in the SPAC who chose not to redeem his stock sued the SPAC board and its controller for...more
6/20/2024
/ Breach of Duty ,
Business Litigation ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Entire Fairness Standard ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment ,
Manufacturers ,
Merger Agreements ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Shareholders ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Stock Prices
The Situation: When the Delaware Supreme Court decided Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp. (MFW) in 2014 (88 A.3d 635 (Del. 2014)), it provided a pathway for business judgment review for "freeze-out" merger transactions involving...more
TripAdvisor and its controlling corporation, both publicly traded Delaware companies, announced plans to convert to Nevada corporations. Shareholders sued to enjoin the conversions, alleging that the boards of directors had...more
The Case: A Tesla stockholder sued Tesla's board of directors to rescind a performance-based stock option grant awarded to Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO. The option award was worth a total of $56 billion and offered the opportunity...more
2/19/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Delaware ,
EBITDA ,
Elon Musk ,
Entire Fairness Standard ,
Equity Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Tesla
The Delaware Supreme Court recently confirmed that the adoption of an exculpatory charter amendment does not require a class vote under the Delaware General Corporation Law ("DGCL")....more
In Short -
The Situation: The Delaware Court of Chancery recently held that supplemental disclosures must be "material" to warrant mootness fees in litigation challenging the disclosures for M&A transactions. Anderson v....more
A unanimous Supreme Court has confirmed that a claim brought under section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 ("1933 Act") requires that a plaintiff plead and prove that the shares purchased were issued pursuant to an allegedly...more
In Short -
SPAC Deals: Special purpose acquisition companies ("SPACs") boomed in 2020 as a means of taking early-stage private companies public. Following enhanced scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission and...more
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has ruled that a creditor or trustee seeking to recover a subsequent transfer under Section 550(a) of the Bankruptcy Code need not obtain a judgment of...more
On October 14, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a long-awaited ruling on whether Ultra Petroleum Corp. (“UPC”) must pay a $201 million make-whole premium to noteholders under its confirmed chapter...more
On October 14, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a long-awaited ruling on whether Ultra Petroleum Corp. ("UPC") must pay a $201 million make-whole premium to noteholders under its confirmed chapter...more
In Short -
The Situation: Courts have disagreed over whether a make-whole premium triggered by a borrower's bankruptcy filing must be disallowed as unmatured interest. They have also disputed whether the "solvent-debtor...more
In Short -
The Situation: Bankruptcy courts have split on what rate of post-petition interest unimpaired creditors of a solvent debtor are entitled to receive. Bankruptcy courts have variously ruled that such creditors...more
In Short -
The Situation: Until now, Delaware corporations could eliminate or limit monetary liability for breaches of the duty of care only by directors—but not officers. ...more
On March 9, 2022, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a post-trial decision in Arwood v. AW Site Services, LLC, subsequently amended on March 24, 2022. The plaintiff, John Arwood, had spent decades building a waste...more
3/30/2022
/ Breach of Contract ,
Buyers ,
Contract Negotiations ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Post-Closing Rights ,
Purchase Agreement ,
Representations and Warranties ,
Sandbagging ,
Sellers ,
Sua Sponte
Before the pandemic, it was generally accepted that establishing an MAE was very difficult—indeed, only one case in Delaware, 2018's Akorn v. Fresenius Kabi, had ever found that an MAE occurred. Following the pandemic, this...more