On November 15, 2024, the Delaware Chancery Court ruled that a creditor aided and abetted a breach of fiduciary duty. The lawsuit came after Versa Capital Management LLC bought debt owed by BridgeStreet Worldwide, Inc., with...more
In this issue, we explore ongoing corporate law issues involving controlling stockholders, with significant decisions anticipated from the Delaware Supreme Court in 2025; the rise in litigation over earnout provisions in...more
On September 12, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed a trial court decision that had rejected a bank’s assertion of the in pari delicto defense to aiding and abetting claims brought by the...more
In re Columbia Pipeline Grp. Inc. Merger Litig., Consol. C.A. No. 2018-0484-JTL (Del. Ch. May 15, 2024) - In this post-trial decision, the Court addressed an acquirer’s responsibility for damages suffered by a stockholder...more
In In re Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc. Merger Litigation, C.A. No. 2018-0484-JTL, the Delaware Court of Chancery allocated liability among two sell-side officers and a third-party acquirer under the Delaware Uniform...more
Urvan v. AMMO, Inc., Consol. C.A. No. 2023-0470 PRW (Del. Ch. Feb. 27, 2024, corrected Mar. 14, 2024) - It is an axiom of Delaware law that a corporation acts through its human agents. This principle informs the causes of...more
In a recent opinion, In re Pack Liquidating, LLC (Pack Liquidating), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware held that under Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Cybergenics Corp. v. Chinery...more
When representing an aggrieved plaintiff in a commercial matter, there are certain business torts that I tend to rely on more heavily than others. If business torts were foods, for example, a claim like breach of contract...more
On April 26, 2023, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware denied in part and granted in part motions to dismiss a chapter 7 trustee’s breach of fiduciary duty and aiding and abetting claims. The defendants...more
In In re Sanchez, a plaintiff filed suit against a defendant for (1) conspiracy; (2) fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud; (3) aiding and abetting/conspiracy; (4) breach of fiduciary duty; and (5) Texas Theft Liability Act...more
In a case of first impression, the Court of Chancery held recently that officers, like directors, owe their companies a duty of oversight, although the scope of that will vary with their responsibilities. Two other Chancery...more
In March 2023, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a rare decision holding an officer personally liable for damages for breach of fiduciary duty under a post-closing Revlon enhanced scrutiny analysis. Specifically, the...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
On March 23, 2023, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida partially denied summary judgment to Deutsche Bank on, among others, claims for aiding and abetting conversion and breach of fiduciary duty,...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
A recent Court of Chancery case discusses the difference between pleading the knowledge element in complaints asserting claims for tortious interference with contract and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty....more
On August 17, 2022, Judge Steven D. Grimberg of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted a motion to dismiss a putative class action alleging an investment bank (the “Company”), certain of...more
On May 27, 2022, Plaintiff Melanie E. Damian, in her capacity as the Court-Appointed Receiver for Today’s Growth Consultant, Inc. d/b/a The Income Store (“TGC”) (the “Receiver”) filed a complaint against Defendant...more
In Ahmed v. Bank of Whittier, a party sued a bank for aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty by assisting the plaintiff’s attorney in improperly depositing settlement funds. No. 05-21-00058-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 2987...more
Disputes over capital accounts and equity percentages are frequent fodder for business divorce litigation — especially in LLCs without operating agreements. Exemplars previously treated on this blog include Chiu v Chiu, an...more
A few weeks ago, we wrote an article discussing two enforcement actions by the Federal Trade Commission in the Central and Southern Districts of California that highlighted the risks to payment processors and financial...more
FTI sued three of its former employees who went to work for Berkeley Research Group (Berkeley), an FTI competitor. The former employees, FTI alleged, breached their FTI employment contracts and their fiduciary duty of loyalty...more
Tu Le et al. v. Prestige Community Credit Union, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on February 18, 2022, is the second putative class action filed in connection with a...more
Delaware Court of Chancery Declines to Dismiss Investment Firm from Stockholder Derivative Suit; Delaware Chancery Court Dismisses Majority of Claims Alleging that California Biotech Firm Profited from Nonpublic Information...more
LLC managers owe fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and good faith and fair dealing to both the LLC and the LLC’s members. (Corp Code §17704.09.) One of the most common claims in LLC litigation is “breach of fiduciary duty”...more