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Board of Directors Conflicts of Interest Breach of Duty

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP

Governance Insights: Dual Fiduciaries – A Cautionary Tale for Nominee Directors

The latest edition of Davies’ Governance Insights is now available. In this issue, we review the Manti Holdings decision from Delaware. For boards, nominees and nominating shareholders, the decision is a reminder of the...more

King & Spalding

Delaware Chancery Court Rules that Creditor Aided and Abetted a Breach of the Fiduciary Duty of Loyalty

King & Spalding on

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

Goodwin

Delaware Court of Chancery Rescinds Elon Musk’s $55.8 Billion Compensation Package in Cautionary Tale About Director Independence...

Goodwin on

On January 30, 2024, the Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery struck down the $55.8 billion compensation plan that Tesla, Inc.’s board of directors had granted to Tesla’s well-known CEO, Elon Musk, finding that the...more

Goodwin

Delaware Court of Chancery Declines to Dismiss Investment Firm from Stockholder Derivative Suit

Goodwin on

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

Morris James LLP

Chancery Rejects Inadequate Disclosure Contentions and Grants Corwin Dismissal

Morris James LLP on

Kihm v. Mott, C.A. No. 2020-0938-MTZ (Del. Ch. Aug. 31, 2021) - Under the Corwin doctrine, a fully informed and uncoerced approval of a board decision by the corporation’s disinterested stockholders can downgrade an...more

Goodwin

SCOTUS Vacates Class Certification In Suit Against Goldman Sachs And Clarifies Appropriate Scope Of Price Impact Evidence

Goodwin on

SCOTUS Vacates Class Certification In Suit Against Goldman Sachs And Clarifies Appropriate Scope Of Price Impact Evidence; Stockholders Strike $110 Million Settlement In Suit Alleging Breaches Of Fiduciary Duties By Former...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Delaware Decisions Highlight Pleading Requirements for Fiduciary Duty Claims in the Face of Disinterested Director Approval

Several recent Delaware decisions have analyzed allegations attempting to plead breach of fiduciary duty claims against executive directors even though the underlying transaction was approved by a...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Fraud on the Board: Material Conflicts Must Be Disclosed to the Board to Warrant Business Judgment Review

Troutman Pepper Locke on

A recent decision by the Delaware Supreme Court emphasizes the importance of fully disclosing material director and officer conflicts of interest in connection with proposed M&A transactions. Indeed, as the Court’s ruling...more

White and Williams LLP

Delaware Chancery Court Holds That a Transaction Involving a Conflicted Board Majority Can Be Cleansed If Appropriate Safeguards...

White and Williams LLP on

In a legal challenge to a corporate transaction, the applicable standard of review is often outcome determinative. The deferential business judgment rule applies where the board is not majority conflicted. The burden is on...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

2019 Delaware Corporate Law and Litigation Year In Review

In 2019, the Delaware courts issued a broad range of important decisions addressing various corporate law and governance issues—including board compensation, controlling stockholder conflicts, board oversight obligations, M&A...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Key Developments in Delaware Corporation Law

Consistent with trends in recent years, in 2019 Delaware corporation law largely was shaped by post-closing suits for money damages against directors who had approved mergers and acquisitions. Two Delaware Supreme Court...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Hong Kong Regulatory Update - January 2020

This update provides an overview of key regulatory developments in the past three months relevant to companies listed, or planning to list, on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (HKEx), and their advisers. In particular,...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Delaware Litigation Developments Impacting Financial Advisors

Over the last few years, significant developments in Delaware law and practice have changed the traditional M&A litigation landscape. These developments resulted in a dramatic reduction in pre-closing applications for...more

Poyner Spruill LLP

Recent Decision Highlights Potential Personal Liability of Hospital Directors Based on Breach of Fiduciary Duty

Poyner Spruill LLP on

In a recent case, a federal bankruptcy court in Michigan reviewed important questions involving breach of fiduciary duty and the application of the business judgment rule to both management and volunteer board members of a...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Delaware Court of Chancery Addresses Duties and Exposure of Activist Stockholder and Its Board Designee

In a 137-page post-trial opinion, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that an activist stockholder of PLX Technology (PLX) had acted through a principal who served on the PLX board of...more

The Volkov Law Group

The Pernicious Effect of Conflicts of Interest

The Volkov Law Group on

Lawyers know about conflicts of interest. They face significant risks when handling clients and have to scrupulously follow principles surrounding conflict of interest. The two categories of conflicts of interest are...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Commercial Division Allows Stockholder Challenge to Merger to Proceed Due to Allegations that the Special Committee Had a Conflict...

On May 9, 2018, Judge Barry R. Ostrager of the Commercial Division denied a motion to dismiss a shareholder complaint in the Matter of Handy & Harman Ltd. Stockholder Litig., No. 654747/2017, 2018 BL 172083 (Sup. Ct. May 9,...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Venture Capital Firms and Their Portfolio Company Directors Face Risk of Liability for Conflicts of Interest

Foley & Lardner LLP on

Venture capital firms and their director designees on portfolio company boards can find themselves stuck between their fiduciary duty to common shareholders and the terms of preferred investment documents. Before any other...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

"After Corwin, Court of Chancery Provides Additional Guidance on Application of Business Judgment Rule to Post-Closing Damages...

As previously reported in Insights: The Delaware Edition, the Delaware Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC, 125 A.3d 304 (Del. 2015) articulated a new defendant-friendly rule for...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Corporate Law & Governance Update - August 2016

The Hershey Governance Settlement - On Friday, July 29, the Pennsylvania Attorney General, the Hershey Trust Company and the Milton Hershey School, entered into a written settlement resolving an investigation conducted...more

McGuireWoods LLP

The Importance of Oversight: Recent Trends in Delaware Financial Advisor Liability

McGuireWoods LLP on

The Delaware Court of Chancery recently made a series of rulings that underscore the importance of oversight by directors in performing their fiduciary duty of care, particularly as it pertains to financial advisors and their...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

A Compilation of Enforcement and Non-Enforcement Actions

Foley & Lardner LLP on

Non-Enforcement - SEC Decides Against Mounting an Appeal in Koch Ruling - The July 2015 ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court in Koch v. SEC will apparently not be challenged by the SEC. The Court ruled in that...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Inside M&A - October 2015

McDermott Will & Emery on

Overview of SPACs and Latest Trends - A number of recent successful business combination transactions involving special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) led by prominent sponsors have driven a resurgence in the SPAC...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Chancery Court Provides Lessons on Conflicts of Interest in a Sales Process – Holds Only Financial Advisor Open to Liability

In an October 1st decision (In re Zale Corporation), the Delaware Chancery Court dismissed claims that Zale Corporation’s directors breached their fiduciary duties in connection with Zale’s agreement to merge with Signet. ...more

Morris James LLP

Court Of Chancery Explains Investment Banker Conflict Leads To Aiding And Abetting Claim

Morris James LLP on

Here the banker failed to make a timely disclosure to its client that it had previously pitched the buyer to make a bid for the client. The Court found that in the context of a motion to dismiss the Board may have breached...more

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