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
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)
Below is our Corporate / M&A decisions update covering decisions in the fourth quarter of 2022. This update is designed to highlight selected important M&A, corporate, and commercial court decisions on a quarterly basis....more
In Joseph Lawrence Ligos v. Isramco, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 2020-0435-SG (Del. Ch. Nov. 30, 2022), the Delaware Court of Chancery granted a motion to dismiss a shareholder class action complaint alleging that the members of...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
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 In re MultiPlan Corp. Stockholders Litigation, C.A. No. 2021-0300-LWW, the Delaware Court of Chancery denied motions to dismiss a shareholder complaint filed against a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), its...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 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
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
In Hollywood Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Malone Inc., C.A. No. 2020-0880-SG (Del. Ch. Nov. 18, 2021), the Delaware Court of Chancery awarded a US$9.35 million mootness fee on the ground that a preliminary injunction...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
In Manti Holdings, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed a decision that a corporation can enforce an advance waiver of appraisal rights against its stockholders. In a stockholders agreement, the petitioners agreed to “refrain...more
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 Flannery v. Genomic Health, Inc., et al. (C.A. No. 2020-0492-JRS (Del. Ch. Aug. 16, 2021)), the Delaware Chancery Court made three key holdings regarding a merger involving mixed consideration of 58 percent stock and 42...more
The court’s decision in Yatra Online, Inc. v. Ebix, Inc. et al (C.A. No. 2020-0444-JRS (Del. Ch. May 13, 2021)) underscores the importance of carefully considering the language of a contract’s termination provisions when...more
In Snow Phipps Group, LLC v. KCAKE Acquisition, Inc. (C.A. No. 2020-0282-KSJM), the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered specific performance of a US$550 million acquisition, rejecting the buyer’s argument that the impact of...more
The court’s decision in In re Appraisal of Regal Entertainment Group (C.A. No. 2018-0266-JTL (Del. Ch. May 13, 2021)) is the most recent in a line of cases confirming that the deal-price-less-synergies valuation method is the...more
In Manichaean Capital, LLC v. Exela Tech., Inc. (C.A. No. 2020-0601-JRS (Del. Ch. May 25, 2021)), the Court of Chancery ruled as a matter of first impression in Delaware that plaintiffs could pursue “reverse veil piercing”...more
This update is designed to highlight selected important M&A, corporate, and commercial court decisions. Below is an update to a decision that we have been following....more
We’ve asked lawyers from our offices in Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.S. to talk about when directors and officers get caught up in M&A litigation....more
11/14/2018
/ Board of Directors ,
Business Judgment Rule ,
Bylaws ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Corporate Officers ,
D&O Insurance ,
Directors ,
Indemnification ,
Mergers ,
Personal Liability ,
Representations and Warranties ,
Risk Mitigation