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)
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
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
What should our board do first when served with a stockholder demand under Rule 23.1? • Directors must determine the legal, financial and factual issues relevant to the board’s response. ...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
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 February 2009, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes made a toe tapping catch in the back corner of the end zone to secure a thrilling, come-from-behind win and crush the hearts of Arizona Cardinals fans in...more
As venture-backed companies increasingly face the prospect of a down round, directors, management and controlling shareholders must understand the lurking liabilities and follow appropriate procedures. Corporate boards...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
Directors and officers of corporations owe a duty of care and a duty of loyalty to both the corporation and its shareholders, although the duty of care for directors can be exculpated. A breach of these fiduciary duties can...more
In High River Ltd. P’ship v. Occidental Petroleum Corp., No. CV 2019-0403-JRS, 2019 WL 6040285 (Del. Ch. Nov. 14, 2019), the Court of Chancery of the state of Delaware recently refused to hold that Section 220 books and...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
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
Ellis v. Gonzalez, C.A. No. 2017-0342-SG (Del. Ch. July 10, 2018) - The pre-suit demand on the board requirement for derivative litigation usually is not excused solely by a sufficiently pled disclosure violation....more
Every court agrees that litigants must support their privilege claims with something other than naked assertions. But they disagree about the type of support required to justify withholding documents or testimony. ...more
CertiSign Holding Inc. v. Kulikovsky / Kulikovsky v. CertiSign Holding Inc., C.A. No. 12055-VCS (Del. Ch. June 7, 2018) - When a corporation accidentally issues defective stock or takes some other defective corporate act,...more
Several recent decisions applying Delaware law offer helpful insight about the impact that activist investor involvement has on board decision-making leading to a transaction and how those decisions will be reviewed by the...more
A recent decision of the Delaware Court of Chancery (the “Court”) places certain fiduciary constraints on a company’s ability to satisfy its obligations to its preferred equity holders. While investors often seek to acquire...more
A derivative plaintiff who fails to make a pre-suit demand on the board must show why demand is excused using particularized facts. Here, the plaintiff argued that demand was automatically excused by sufficiently pleading a...more
Public companies that are proactively working to mitigate “cyber” risks and prepare to respond to potential incidents frequently ask whether a “breach” will lead to litigation, loss of customers, stock price decline, and...more
Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. of the U.S. District Court of Georgia permanently shelved a derivative suit brought by shareholders of Home Depot. Home Depot is a multinational home improvement retailer. In September, 2014,...more
On November 30, 2016, The Home Depot, Inc. (Home Depot) got a victory in the shareholders’ derivative suit filed against it for its alleged failure to institute necessary controls to secure its data relating to its 2014...more
Overview of SPACs and Latest Trends - A number of recent successful business combination transactions involving special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) led by prominent sponsors have driven a resurgence in the SPAC...more
On November 8, the Delaware Chancery Court denied a motion to dismiss a derivative action brought by a shareholder of Healthways, Inc. against the company’s president, Ben Leedle, Jr., and the board of directors for approving...more