News & Analysis as of

Breach of Duty Mergers

Morris James LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Reverses MFW Dismissal Due to Inadequate Disclosures Regarding Special Committee’s Advisors’ Material...

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City of Sarasota Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Inovalon Holdings Inc., No. 305, 2023 (Del. May 1, 2024). The Delaware Supreme Court’s decision in Khan v. M & F Worldwide Corp. (“MFW”) established a cleansing process for a...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Seventh Circuit Clarifies Parties’ Rights to a Jury Trial When Pursuing Equitable Aiding and Abetting Breach of Fiduciary Duty...

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The Seventh Circuit recently analyzed when a party has a right to a jury trial for claims of aiding and abetting breaches of fiduciary duties arising out of a merger. The Court acknowledged that the Delaware-law claims at...more

Cooley LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Finally Dismisses a de-SPAC Complaint

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Since Vice Chancellor Lori Will’s seminal decision in In re MultiPlan Corp. Stockholders Litigation in January 2022, the Delaware Court of Chancery has seen a wave of lawsuits accusing special purpose acquisition companies...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Addresses Acquirer’s Request For Joint Tortfeasor Settlement Credit

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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

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

Morris James LLP

Chancery Reviews SPAC Precedents and Dismisses Complaint for Failure to Show Impairment of Stockholders’ Redemption Rights

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In In re MultiPlan Stockholders Litigation, the Delaware Court of Chancery reasoned that common special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) governance and compensation structures create potential conflicts between on the one...more

Morris James LLP

Court of Chancery Dismisses Aiding And Abetting Fraud Claim Against Corporate Officers And Directors On Grounds That A Corporation...

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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

A&O Shearman

New York Court Of Appeals Clarifies Application Of Internal Affairs Doctrine But Reverses Dismissal Of Fiduciary Duty Breach...

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On May 23, 2024, the New York Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of breach of fiduciary duty claims brought by former shareholders of a fantasy sports company (the “Company”) against its directors and other defendants...more

Hogan Lovells

2024 Securities, Shareholder, and M&A Litigation Outlook

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2023 was a busy year, with both the Delaware courts and others, including the U.S. Supreme Court, weighing in on shareholder and M&A litigation issues. The Delaware Court of Chancery issued several notable decisions on issues...more

Proskauer - Corporate Defense and Disputes

SEC Wins Insider-Trading Suit Alleging “Shadow Trading”

A federal jury in California agreed with the SEC that a corporate official engaged in insider trading when he purchased securities of a company based on material nonpublic information (“MNPI”) about a different company. The...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Evaluates Supplemental Disclosures to Determine the Corporate Benefit and Awards Plaintiffs a Proportional Fee

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Allen v. Harvey, C.A. No. 2022-0248-MTZ (Del. Ch. Oct. 30, 2023) - Delaware cases provide guidance on the standard for evaluating the “corporate benefit” from supplemental disclosures in advance of a stockholder vote – and...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Awards Mootness Fee Applying Recently Adopted Standard

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Assad v. Botha, et al., C.A. No. 2022-0691-LWW (Del. Ch. Oct. 30, 2023) - Here, Vice Chancellor Will awarded a $100,000 mootness fee for “material—and unremarkable—disclosures” following the recently heightened mootness...more

Morris James LLP

2023 Delaware Corporate and Commercial Case Law Year in Review

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This top ten list summarizes significant decisions of the Delaware Supreme Court and the Delaware Court of Chancery over the past calendar year. Our criteria for selection are that the decision either meaningfully changed...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Declines to Defer to the Deal Price in Appraisal Proceeding Involving a Controller Squeeze-Out Subject to MFW Protections

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HBK Master Fund L.P. v. Pivotal Software Inc., C.A. No. 2020-0165-KSJM (Del. Ch. Aug. 14, 2023) - The Delaware Court of Chancery engages in an independent valuation process when determining the fair value of petitioners'...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Upholds Claims Against LLC Officers and Others Arising from Squeeze-Out of Minority Unitholders

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Cygnus Opportunity Fund, LLC v. Washington Prime Group, LLC, C.A. No. 2022-0718-JTL (Del. Ch. Aug. 9, 2023) - An Indiana corporation reorganized via bankruptcy into a Delaware LLC, and a senior note holder negotiated for...more

Hogan Lovells

Q3 2023 Quarterly Corporate / M&A decisions updates

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The Delaware courts issued a range of decisions this quarter, addressing topics from mootness fees to demand futility. Two key opinions addressed compliance with Delaware statute and court orders. In Seidman, the court...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

The Delaware Court of Chancery Confirms that Duty of Oversight Claims Against Corporate Officers Are Subject to the Same High...

In Segway Inc. v. Hong Cai, 2023 Del. Ch. LEXIS 643 (Del. Ch. Dec. 14, 2023), the Delaware Court of Chancery (Will, V.C.) dismissed a claim for breach of fiduciary duty brought by Segway Inc. (the “Company”) against its...more

Hogan Lovells

Q2 2023 Quarterly Corporate / M&A decisions updates

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This quarter we are covering some key court decisions regarding securities and corporate governance issues. The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed a majority of lower court decisions to require traceability in defining the term...more

Pillsbury - Policyholder Pulse blog

Say What You Mean: Delaware Court Finds Bump-Up Exclusion Ambiguous as Applied to Mergers Versus Acquisitions

Long a feature of directors’ and officers’ (D&O) liability insurance policies, the so-called “Bump-Up” Exclusion has gotten significant attention over the last few years. Because of the recent escalation in securities...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Court Again Applies Entire Fairness to Claims Challenging SPAC Transaction

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Laidlaw v. GigAcquisitions2, LLC, C.A. No. 2021-0821-LWW (Del. Ch. Mar. 1, 2023) - In the aftermath of a SPAC merger, the plaintiff (a public stockholder) brought claims for breaches of fiduciary duty against the SPAC's...more

Dechert LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Awards Upwards of US$400 Million in Damages for Aiding and Abetting Claim Against Acquiror

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The Delaware Court of Chancery penned the latest chapter, on June 30, 2023, in a long-running dispute concerning TC Energy Corporation’s (“TransCanada”) July 2016 acquisition of Columbia Pipeline Group (“Columbia”), holding...more

Proskauer - Minding Your Business

Negotiating with a Noob M&A Target? Go Easy on Them, says Delaware Chancery

Buy-side executives in an M&A deal negotiate with their sell-side counterparts for months, plying them for information, assessing the seller’s weaknesses and pressure points, and even making informal entreaties when the...more

Morris James LLP

Covenant Not to Sue for Loyalty Breaches in an Agreement Among Stockholders May Operate Within the Space for Fiduciary Tailoring

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The fiduciary duty of loyalty may be modified or eliminated in the LLC context, where freedom of contract is paramount. For corporations governed by the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL), however, many Delaware...more

Cooley LLP

Keeping Up With M&A Case Law – Spotlight on Recent Delaware Decisions

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The mergers & acquisitions market may wax and wane, but one thing in M&A is consistent from year to year: The Delaware courts issue opinions that impact M&A dealmaking. And this year is certainly no exception – Delaware...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Clarifies Heightened Standard for Recovery of Attorneys’ Fees in Disclosure-Based Deal Litigation

In Anderson v. Magellan Health, Inc., No. 2021-0202, — A.3d —-, 2023 WL 4364524 (Del. Ch. July 6, 2023) (McCormick, C.), the Delaware Court of Chancery addressed the circumstances under which the Court will award a...more

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