In Booth Family Trust v. Jefferies, No. 09-3443, 2011 WL 1237583 (6th Cir. Apr. 5, 2011), the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the district court dismissal of a shareholder derivative action, holding that the special litigation committee (“SLC”) of the board of directors, which recommended the dismissal, was not sufficiently independent of management. The Court reached its decision despite the fact that one of the two members of the SLC recused himself from considering claims against the defendant Robert S. Singer (“Singer”), CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (“Abercrombie”), with whom the SLC member had a personal relationship. In fact, the Court held that the SLC member’s recusal constituted an admission that he, and thus the SLC as a whole, lacked independence. This decision, which applies Delaware law, reinforces the high standard of independence imposed on members of SLCs.

Plaintiffs were shareholders of Abercrombie. They filed a shareholder derivative suit against certain of Abercrombie’s officers and directors based upon allegations that they caused Abercrombie to make misleading public statements regarding the company’s business model of selling products with low manufacturing costs at high retail prices, resulting in a high per-unit margin. Plaintiffs alleged that while defendants were making the misleading statements, Abercrombie was amassing a large surplus of inventory such that the company would have to dramatically mark down its merchandise to clear out its inventory. The complaint alleges that insiders, including Singer, were aware that share prices would soon fall and sold a large number of their personally held shares on insider information.