In In re Edgio Stockholders Litigation, No. 2022-0624-MTZ (Del. Ch. May 1, 2023) the Delaware Court of Chancery, in denying a motion to dismiss, evaluated a stockholder action to enjoin a transaction in light of one party’s...more
M&A and shareholder litigation is off to a busy start in 2023, with Delaware courts issuing several interesting opinions. The Delaware Supreme Court reversed a Delaware Court of Chancery decision, finding that the “maximum...more
With all the SPAC activity and scrutiny over the past several years, it was only a matter of time before the Delaware courts had an opportunity to weigh in on SPAC stockholder litigation. Early last year, in January...more
Teamster Members Ret. Plan v. Randall S. Dearth et al., C.A. No. 2020-0807-MTZ (Del. Ch. May 31, 2022) - Under the Supreme Court’s decision in Corwin and its progeny, a transaction approved by a fully informed, uncoerced...more
Ryan v. Buckeye Partners L.P. et al., C.A. No. 2021-0432-JRS (Del. Ch. Feb. 9, 2021) - Delaware is a notice pleading jurisdiction. But, even under this forgiving standard, the Court of Chancery Rule 8 still requires that...more
Galindo v. Stover, C.A. No. 2021-0031-SG (Del. Ch. Jan. 26, 2022) - If a majority of fully informed, uncoerced, disinterested stockholders vote to approve a merger not involving a conflicted controlling stockholder, then...more
Delaware Chancery Court Dismisses Derivative Claim for Failure to Show Demand Futility; Federal Illegality of Marijuana Industry Bars Relief for Numerous Investor Claims; LIBOR Convictions of Former Deutsche Bank Traders...more
Takeaways - The Delaware Supreme Court simplified the pleadings-stage test applied to derivative suits where no demand has first been made on the board. Disputes about stockholder books-and-records requests focus...more
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
In a 200+ page decision, the Court of Chancery in In re Pattern Energy Group Inc. Stockholders Litigation, (C.A. No. 2020-0357-MTZ (Del. Ch. May 6, 2021)) declined to dismiss putative shareholder class claims for breach of...more
In In re Mindbody, Inc. Stockholders Litigation, the Delaware Court of Chancery declined to dismiss breach of fiduciary duty claims against the chief executive officer of MINDBODY, Inc. (the Company) arising out of the...more
This quarter’s issue includes summaries and associated court opinions of selected cases principally decided between February and June 2020....more
The fiduciary duty of care has become more aspirational than a real legal basis for potential director liability in M&A in the Age of DGCL Section 102(b)(7), Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC (Del. 2015) and In re Volcano...more
Garfield v. BlackRock Mortgage Ventures, LLC, C.A. No. 2018-0917-KSJM (Del. Ch. Dec. 20, 2019). Under Delaware law, when a controlling stockholder benefits personally from the transaction in a manner not shared by minority...more
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
Following Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings and other Delaware cases that have reinforced the standards that stockholder suits must meet to survive dismissal, would-be litigants have increasingly invoked Section 220 of the...more
This issue focuses on important, developing areas of Delaware corporation law and deal litigation, including recent trends in Delaware corporate disclosure law, the Delaware Supreme Court’s important ruling in Marchand v....more
This quarter’s issue includes summaries and associated court opinions of selected cases principally decided between May and August 2019....more
2018 M&A Numbers - Following 2017’s market decline, overall M&A volume trended in a positive direction in 2018. While the almost 20,000 transactions closed globally in 2018 did represent a 15 percent drop from the previous...more
Chester Cty. Emps.’ Ret. Fund v. KCG Holdings, Inc., C.A. No. 2017-0421-KSJM (Del. Ch. June 21, 2019). Under Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC, 125 A.3d 304 (Del. 2015), Delaware courts generally will dismiss...more
Disclosure-based strike suits have died an inglorious and richly-deserved death in Delaware. Lest deal practitioners and their clients be lulled into a false sense of security, recent decisional law drives home the point...more
On June 21, 2019, Vice Chancellor Kathaleen S. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an opinion addressing a number of significant issues relating to the proper conduct of an M&A process. In denying all...more
English v. Narang, C.A. No. 2018-0221-AGB (Del. Ch. Mar. 20, 2019). Under the well-known Corwin doctrine, when a transaction not subject to the entire fairness standard of review is approved by a fully informed, uncoerced...more
On December 11, 2018, Vice Chancellor Joseph R. Slights III of the Delaware Court of Chancery denied a motion to dismiss breach of fiduciary duty claims against the former CEO of a technology company (the “Company”) in...more
Under Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC1 and its progeny, “when disinterested, fully informed, uncoerced stockholders approve a transaction absent a looming conflicted controller,” the irrebuttable business judgment rule...more