News & Analysis as of

Breach of Duty Entire Fairness Standard

Morris James LLP

Chancery Grants Motion to Dismiss Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims Against Officers in Controlling Stockholder Transaction Subject...

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Kormos v. Playtika Hldg. UK II Ltd., C.A. 2023-0396-SG (Del. Ch. May 3, 2024) - In this decision involving breach of fiduciary duty claims against two officers, the Court granted the individual defendants’ motions to...more

Hogan Lovells

Delaware Supreme Court clarifies entire fairness standard for controlling stockholder transactions

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In In re Match Group Deriv. Litig., the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the lower court’s decision on the appropriate standard of review and the application of Kahn v. M & F Worldwide Corp., 88...more

Jones Day

Court of Chancery Grants Rare Motion to Dismiss Suit Governed by Entire Fairness Standard

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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

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Expands MFW Applicability in Conflicted Controller Transactions

On April 4, 2024, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated decision, In re Match Group Derivative Litigation (“In re Match Group”), extending the MFW doctrine more broadly to all conflicted controller...more

Mayer Brown

In re Match Group, Inc.: Delaware Supreme Court Clarifies Standard of Review for Controlling Stockholder Transactions

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In a recent decision, the Delaware Supreme Court clarified the proper standard to apply to a non-freeze-out merger transaction involving a controlling stockholder. Litigators who practice in the Delaware Court of Chancery are...more

Venable LLP

Fiduciary Liability Limitations Under Nevada Law Trigger Entire Fairness Review of Conversion from Delaware Due to Controlling...

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The Delaware Court of Chancery, in Palkon v. Maffei, et al., C.A. No. 2023-0449-JTL (Del. Ch. Feb. 20, 2024), determined that a reduction in the liability exposure of a fiduciary due to the conversion of a Delaware...more

BCLP

Tesla’s Super-charged Equity Award to Elon Musk Unplugged by Delaware Court Cautionary Tale for Boards and Executives

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The Delaware Chancery Court invalidated a substantial equity award to Elon Musk – the largest in history. It applied the entire fairness test instead of the more deferential business judgment rule, finding that Musk...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

The First State Defines the Scope of Majority Shareholder Fiduciary Duties

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

More often than not, the centerpiece of an intra-owner business dispute is a claim that those in control of the business breached their fiduciary duties to the company or the minority owners.  While often easy to assert, the...more

Goodwin

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

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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

Fishman Haygood LLP

A Brief Look at Direct SPAC Cases

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Special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) have been in the litigation spotlight recently. As SPAC disputes play out in courts nationwide, one especially interesting field of play is in the Delaware Chancery courts where...more

Morris James LLP

Controlling Stockholder Avoids Liability Despite Overreach Into Special Committee Brokered-Settlement

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Triggering Delaware’s entire fairness review in stockholder litigation was once considered outcome determinate, but that view has waned. Numerous decisions have shown that defendants can overcome the unified fair process and...more

Barnea Jaffa Lande & Co.

The Business Judgment Rule – a Director’s Best Friend

In corporate law, it is customary to identify three organs through which a business company operates: the shareholders, the company’s management, and the board of directors. While the duties and rules by which shareholders...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Finds SPAC’s Sponsor and Board Potentially Violated Fiduciary Duties by Depriving Public Stockholders of the Information...

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Delman v. GigAcquisitions3 LLC, C.A. No. 2021-0679-LWW (Del. Ch. January 4, 2023) - Delaware law establishes that fiduciaries of a corporation cannot be exempted from "their loyalty obligation and the attendant equitable...more

Hogan Lovells

Joseph Lawrence Ligos v. Isramco, Inc.: Court dismisses breach of fiduciary duty claims

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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

Morris James LLP

Chancery Applies Schnell and Blasius Review and Upholds Deadlock-Breaking Stock Issuance

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Diamond Fortress Techs., Inc. v. Everid, Inc., C.A. No. N21C-05-048 PRW CCLD (Del. Super. Ct. Apr. 14, 2022) - Plaintiff Diamond Fortress contracted with the defendant company to provide its software to develop a trading...more

Hogan Lovells

Manti v. Carlyle: Allegations of rushed private equity exit trigger entire fairness sale scrutiny - Corporate / M&A Decisions...

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In Manti Holdings, LLC v. Carlyle Group Inc., C.A. No. 2020-0657-SG (Del. Ch. June 3, 2022), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that minority investor claims could proceed against a private equity firm, Carlyle, and related...more

Hogan Lovells

In re Cellular: AT&T breached duty to minority partners with unfair and self-interested freeze out - Corporate / M&A Decisions...

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In Cellular Telephone Partnership Litigation, C.A. No. 6885-CVL, the Chancery Court held that AT&T breached its duty of loyalty to its minority partners when it enacted a Freeze-Out transaction that dissolved a cellular...more

Dechert LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Finds Tesla’s Acquisition of SolarCity “Entirely Fair”

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The Delaware Court of Chancery issued its decision in In re Tesla Motors, Inc., on April 27, 2022, rejecting claims that Tesla, Inc. CEO Elon Musk breached his fiduciary duties to Tesla’s stockholders as a director and an...more

Gray Reed

Delaware Court Subjects de-SPAC Transaction to Entire Fairness Standard of Review

Gray Reed on

In In re MultiPlan Corp. Stockholders Litigation, the Delaware Court of Chancery denied defendants’ motions to dismiss and ruled that the plaintiffs’ may proceed with their claims that a the insiders of a special purpose...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Despite Last Year’s Decline in Filings, Securities Litigation Will Likely Pick Up in 2022 Due to Plaintiffs’ Continued Focus on...

Takeaways - Despite a decline in securities class action filings in 2021, we saw a spike in SPAC-related lawsuits and continued activity in event-driven suits focused on issues of cybersecurity, the pandemic and...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Delaware Chancery Court Signals Heightened Scrutiny of SPAC Boards and Sponsors

The Delaware Chancery Court has issued a decision with major implications for sponsors and directors of Delaware incorporated special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).  In re MultiPlan Corp. Stockholders Litigation is a...more

Jones Day

Delaware Redemption Actions—A New Frontier in SPAC Litigation?

Jones Day on

The Delaware Court of Chancery's application of the "entire fairness" standard in In re MultiPlan Stockholders Litigation is an important development for SPACs incorporated in Delaware, and it could result in more...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Applies Entire Fairness Review in Novel SPAC Lawsuit

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A year ago, as the SPAC wave continued to build, we wrote that lawsuits challenging de-SPAC transactions would likely pose a question that had thus far received little attention from courts or commentators: is a de-SPAC...more

Mayer Brown Free Writings + Perspectives

Delaware Court of Chancery Allows deSPAC Litigation to Proceed Applying “Entire Fairness” Standard

On January 3, 2022, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an opinion denying motions to dismiss in In re Multiplan Corp. Stockholders Litigation, a stockholder action arising out of the completed business combination for...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Court of Chancery Issues SPAC-Related Decision of First Impression

On January 3, 2022, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a novel decision arising from a challenge to a transaction involving a special purpose acquisition company, commonly referred to as a SPAC, in In re MultiPlan Corp....more

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