On March 25, 2025, the governor of Delaware signed into law significant changes to Section 144 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”). The changes provide safe harbors to Boards of Directors and controlling...more
Action Item: New York’s High court provides a road map of how corporate attorneys should structure going-private transactions involving controlling shareholders. Utilizing certain protective measures at the outset should...more
In re Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. Shareholder Litigation - We previously reported on the Delaware Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp. (MFW) applying the deferential, defendant-friendly...more
The Delaware Supreme Court will address the standard for pleading that an independent director has breached fiduciary duties in connection with a controlling shareholder buyout. The issue was certified for interlocutory...more
New York companies seeking to go private with a controlling shareholder may now be less vulnerable to shareholder litigation. On November 20, 2014, the New York Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed a New...more
In Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp., the Delaware Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Chancery Court’s decision in In re MFW Shareholders Litigation. In that decision, the Chancery Court had granted summary judgment in favor of...more
On March 14, 2014, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld the Court of Chancery’s 2013 decision in In re MFW Shareholders Litigation, holding that in going-private mergers where there is a controlling stockholder, the use of both...more
In a landmark decision issued this morning, the Delaware Supreme Court held for the first time in Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp. that the deferential business judgment standard of review should apply to a merger between a...more
On May 29, 2013, the Delaware Court of Chancery held in In re MFW Shareholders Litigation that a going-private merger with a controlling stockholder will be subject to the deferential business judgment rule, rather than the...more