On July 6, 2023, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a written opinion explaining a prior bench ruling on a mootness fee awarded to plaintiff’s counsel in connection with a putative...more
In a recent decision from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a federal Judge pushed back against the common but abusive practice of “mootness fee” payoffs in public M&A deals. In the...more
How can you be an effective trustee appointed in a chapter 11 case if you cannot retain counsel when the case first begins? Well one bankruptcy court in North Carolina explained that a trustee’s retention of counsel is not an...more
In 2016, the Delaware Court of Chancery famously put the brakes on disclosure only settlements, warning "to the extent that litigants continue to pursue disclosure settlements, they can expect that the Court will be...more
On January 4, 2019, the United States Supreme Court granted a petition for writ of certiorari concerning whether Section 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 includes an implied private right of action for negligent...more
In the past few years, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of M&A disclosure lawsuits filed in federal court. Recently, courts have begun to fight back against this nuisance litigation using different approaches. ...more
Class actions challenging corporate merger transactions often result in settlement agreements in which the only remedy obtained by the plaintiff class is the company defendants’ additional disclosure of information related to...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery fundamentally altered the M&A litigation landscape when it expressed its skepticism of disclosure-only settlements in the case of In re Trulia, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, 129 A.3d 884 (Del....more
On February 8, 2018, Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich of the Commercial Division rejected a disclosure-only class action settlement in City Trading Fund v. Nye, 2018 BL 44689 (Sup. Ct. Feb. 08, 2018)....more
Takeaway: Strike suits against corporate mergers are often resolved in worthless “disclosure-only” settlements. Derided as a “peppercorn and a fee,” a disclosure-only settlement provides no monetary relief to the...more
On February 8, 2018, Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich of the New York Supreme Court denied a motion for final approval of a disclosure-only settlement in a class action suit brought by shareholders of Martin Marietta...more
The North Carolina Business Court recently approved a “disclosure settlement” of a merger challenge, suggesting that in North Carolina such settlements may remain a viable means of resolving merger lawsuits – at least where...more
Judge Gale's approval last week of a class action settlement, in In re Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. Shareholder Litigation, 2018 NCBC 1 gives me another opportunity to rail against disclosure only settlements. You know that I...more
Over the past two years, the deal litigation landscape has changed dramatically. In early 2016, the Delaware Court of Chancery announced a new rule for evaluating disclosure-based settlements in deal litigation — the “plainly...more
Silicon Valley court signals increased scrutiny of disclosure-only settlements of merger objection litigation. Delaware Courts have become reluctant to approve settlements of merger objection lawsuits based on...more
In May, I wrote about Judge Peter H. Kirwan’s ruling in Drulias v. 1st Century Bancshares, Inc., (Cal. Super. Ct. Case No. 16-CV-294673, Nov. 18, 2016). As readers may recall, Judge Kirwan declined to approve a disclosure...more
Kevin LaCroix recently tackled the question Is Deal Litigation in Delaware Done? According to Kevin, “deal litigation has been shifting from Delaware Chancery Court to courts in other states and to federal courts”. He...more
The Delaware Courts took a significant step in 2016 to reduce the filing in Delaware of lawsuits aimed at procuring disclosure only settlements (meaning settlements that involve only the provision of additional information...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On February 2, 2017, the Appellate Division for the First Department in New York entered an order approving a “disclosure-only” settlement. While acknowledging the “increasingly negative view” of...more
It has become a common phenomenon for the announcement of a significant merger transaction to be quickly followed by shareholder class action or derivative litigation challenging the terms of the transaction and the accuracy...more
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is pleased to present its 2016 Securities and M&A Litigation Year in Review. This report covers some of the major developments in securities and M&A litigation over the past year. ...more
On February 2, 2017, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, approved a “disclosure-only” settlement agreement in Gordon v. Verizon Communications, Inc., 2017 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 740 (1st Dep’t Feb....more
On February 2, 2017, the Appellate Division, First Department issued a unanimous decision in Gordon v. Verizon Communications, Inc., No. 653084/13, 2017 BL 31251 (1st Dep’t Feb. 2, 2017) that may have significant consequences...more
Rolling into the new year, North Carolina attorneys are on notice that the ability to gain approval of class action settlements and related attorneys’ fees may become more difficult in some cases. In recent years, we have...more
Significant changes in Delaware merger litigation and settlement practice in 2016, as well as noteworthy case law developments and trends, will continue to affect merger parties and litigants in 2017 and beyond....more