Episode 322 -- Checking in on Caremark Cases
Over the last ten years, we have seen a marked shift from the Delaware Chancery Court chipping away at corporate board member liability claims. In a number of seminal cases involving Boeing airplane crashes (In re the Boeing...more
In re McDonald's Corp. Stockholder Derivative Litig., CA No. 2021-0324-JTL (Del. Ch. March 1, 2023) - A plaintiff can plead an oversight claim against a board by alleging particularized facts to support an inference that...more
A claim for breach of the duty of oversight is known as a Caremark claim, after the landmark Delaware Court of Chancery decision in In re Caremark International Inc. Derivative Litigation (1996). Since then, Delaware courts...more
Since the “Blue Bell Creameries” case in 2019, directors have been justifiably concerned about the rise in popularity of Caremark claims (breaching the duty of oversight in a way that implicates the duty of loyalty)....more
In a far-reaching decision with significant implications, the Delaware Chancery Court recently issued a decision confirming that Caremark duty of oversight obligations extends to senior officers. This will have an immediate...more
On January 25, 2023, in In re McDonald’s Corporation Stockholder Derivative Litigation, Vice Chancellor Travis Laster of Delaware’s Court of Chancery denied a motion to dismiss a derivative lawsuit against David Fairhurst,...more
Recent rulings underscore the attention boards of directors and management must continue to pay to the risks faced by companies across all sectors of the economy and their potential impact on business operations...more
Corporate boards are subject to a duty of oversight, as part of their duty of loyalty to their company. As outlined by Delaware’s famously stringent Caremark standard, pleading a violation of that duty is often difficult....more
In Firemen’s Ret. Sys. of St. Louis v. Sorenson, C.A. No. 2019-0965-LWW (Del. Ch. Oct. 5, 2021), the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed a derivative lawsuit against Marriott executives and directors for breaches of the duty...more
In 1996, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued its seminal decision in In re Caremark International Inc. Derivative Litigation, establishing the conditions for director oversight liability under Delaware law. Adopted a decade...more
The role of the Board of Directors has always been a key part of any best practices compliance program. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have consistently said that a Board’s role...more
On April 27, 2020, the Delaware Court of Chancery for the third time in a year denied a motion to dismiss a Caremark claim. The case, Hughes v. Hu, involves a derivative claim against the audit committee and officers of a...more
Over the past couple of blog posts, we have considered the guilty pleas by Blue Bell Creameries to charges that they distributed adulterated ice cream products and paid a criminal fine and forfeiture amount totaling $17.25...more
Kandi Technologies Group, Inc. is a publicly traded Delaware corporation based in China. The Company struggled persistently with its financial reporting and internal controls, encountering particular difficulties with...more
The current COVID-19 crisis has rapidly re-shaped everyday life around the world, and our understanding of the impact this disruption to daily interactions and routines has had on business is constantly evolving....more
In Salladay v. Lev, the Delaware Chancery Court elaborated on how early a corporate board must take protective measures to shield a conflicted transaction from entire fairness review. Salladay involved a motion to dismiss a...more
In a recent post-trial opinion, Vice Chancellor Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an important decision regarding stockholder books and records demands under Section 220(b) of the Delaware General Corporation...more
Health care provider boards of directors have been put on notice—given these two recent Delaware court decisions - Clovis and Marchand—that courts may be willing to significantly extend a corporate board’s Caremark duty to...more
On October 1, 2019, in In re Clovis Oncology, Inc. Derivative Litigation, a Delaware Chancery Court denied a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims under the Caremark decision against individual directors for failing to...more
Board oversight of significant company risk areas and legal compliance deserves renewed attention, as the Delaware Supreme Court recently ruled that monitoring practices that have previously been considered acceptable may...more
The following update highlights recent corporate governance hot topics and trends for directors of public companies. Board Oversight of Mission-Critical Risks - In June 2019, the Delaware Supreme Court allowed a Caremark...more
The Delaware Supreme Court recently sounded a warning bell for directors, reminding that as part of their duty of loyalty, they “must make a good faith effort to implement an oversight system and then monitor it.” The case...more
The Situation: Directors of Blue Bell Creameries USA, Inc. ("Blue Bell") were sued for breach of fiduciary duty following a lethal listeria outbreak in its ice cream facilities. Applying the duty of oversight first...more
In Marchand v. Barnhill, No. 533, 2018, 2019 Del. LEXIS 310 (Del. June 18, 2019), the Delaware Supreme Court (Strine, C.J.) reversed a Delaware Court of Chancery (Slights, V.C.) order dismissing a derivative claim alleging...more
On June 18, in Marchand v. Barnhill, the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a ruling by the Delaware Court of Chancery in a shareholder derivative suit alleging a breach of the duty of loyalty. While the standard for a...more