Nonprofit Basics: Director Duties and Best Practices for the Typical Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 167: Listen and Learn -- Direct and Derivative Actions (Corporations)
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 124: Listen and Learn -- Duty of Loyalty (Corporations)
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 282: Listen and Learn -- Duty of Loyalty (Corporations)
Looking for compliance education and networking in your area? SCCE & HCCA’s Regional Compliance & Ethics Conferences bring compliance practitioners from all disciplines together for convenient, local compliance education....more
It is well understood that directors of Delaware corporations are subject to the fiduciary duties of care and loyalty. In general, the duty of care requires directors to base their decisions on all material information...more
An often overlooked and critical function of operating a successful business is sound corporate governance. But what is corporate governance? Generally stated, corporate governance encompasses the rules, mechanisms and...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
When evaluating an investment opportunity, a would-be investor’s risk analysis is usually limited to the potential loss of principal and related opportunity costs of the investment. But substantial investments in startups or...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, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery denied a motion to dismiss a derivative suit brought by stockholders asserting breach of fiduciary duty claims against a former officer...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
On November 30, 2022, Vice Chancellor Glasscock of the Delaware Court of Chancery granted a motion to dismiss claims asserted against directors who served as members of the special committee (the “Special Committee”) of...more
For more than 35 years, Section 102(b)(7) of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (DGCL) has permitted a Delaware corporation to include a provision in its certificate of incorporation that eliminates or...more
How Are Fiduciary Duties Applicable to Decisions Authorizing Changes to Corporate Capital? The first post in this series analyzed whether shareholders may seek remedies in the context of charter amendments to facilitate...more
Key Points - In light of current economic uncertainty, directors, officers and other fiduciaries should stay abreast of material information, even absent a specific actionable transaction. An analysis of audits of financial...more
Harcum v. Lovoi, C.A. No. 2020-0398-PAF (Del. Ch. Jan. 3, 2022) - In Harcum, the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed all claims brought in a stockholder suit alleging fiduciary breaches in connection with the $1 billion...more
Investors filed a derivative suit claiming that the company knew about, and failed to mitigate known, existing cybersecurity risks and shortfalls prior to the security breach. In early November, pension funds and...more
A corporation operates through its board of directors. All corporate powers must be exercised by or under the direction of the board. In Texas, the Texas Business Organizations Code (TBOC) provides certain provisions...more
Special committees, by design, are created to address conflicts and to insulate the board of directors from liability for the very conflicts that may invite judicial scrutiny of the fairness of the board’s decision. A...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 this week’s episode, Andrea Cunha outlines some of the key considerations directors and officers should assess when their company is approaching insolvency, including how to evaluate financial distress of the company, the...more
In re Pattern Energy Grp. Inc. Stockholders Litig., C.A. No. 2020-0357-MTZ (Del. Ch. May 6, 2021) - This decision mostly denying a motion to dismiss examines several important issues in post-closing M&A fiduciary duty...more
Firefighters’ Pension System of The City of Kansas City, Missouri Trust v. Presidio, Inc., C.A. No. 2019-0839-JTL (Del. Ch. Jan. 29, 2021) Presidio illustrates potential pitfalls for parties in the M&A process, including...more
Background - As ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing recently has drawn the attention of governmental agencies that oversee the administration of qualified retirement plans and their trillions of dollars...more
A lot of attention has been paid to board diversity – or lack thereof – in recent months. California enacted AB-979, which expanded upon California’s earlier gender diversity law and requires boards to make strides in other...more
In In re USG Corp. S’holder Litig., 2020 WL 5126671 (Del. Ch. Aug. 31, 2020), the Court of Chancery granted the director-defendants’ motions to dismiss post-closing money damages claims arising out of the sale of USG...more