Episode 24: Corporate Oppression Doctrine Meets Sex Discrimination: A Conversation with Professor Meredith Miller
Episode 23: LLCs as They Approach the 50-Year Milestone: A Conversation with Professor Susan Pace Hamill
Litigation developments: core M&A and corporate governance doctrines
PODCAST: Williams Mullen GovCon Perspectives - Why Was My SWaM Certification Denied, and What Can I Do?
Episode 8: Minority Oppression in the LLC: Interview With Professor Douglas Moll
Episode 10: The Marketability Discount Revisited: Interview with Greg Barber
The M&A Word of the Day® from the Book of Jargon® – Global Mergers & Acquisitions Is Squeeze Out
On March 25, Delaware governor, Matt Meyer, signed into law Substitute 1 to Senate Bill 21 (SB 21), following its rapid approval by the Delaware state legislature. This legislative measure aims to counter the current trend of...more
A common adage tells us that in the absence of information, people tell themselves a story. In the corporate version, add in frayed business relations, and the plotline quickly thickens with suspicion and distrust. Minority...more
On January 21, 2025, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s decision in In re Oracle Corp. Derivative Lit., finding that a less than 50% stockholder does not owe fiduciary duties absent evidence of either...more
On February 17, 2025, a bipartisan group of legislators seeking to “promote clarity and balance in Delaware’s corporate law” introduced Senate Bill 21 (the “Bill”) to amend the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”). If...more
Proposed amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) introduce safe harbors for liability from transactions involving directors, officers and controlling stockholders and define and limit a stockholder’s right...more
In Maffei v. Palkon, No. 125, 2024, 2025 Del. LEXIS 51 (Del. Feb. 4, 2025) (Valihura, J.), the Delaware Supreme Court held that a corporation’s decision to reincorporate in another state purportedly to reduce exposure to...more
On January 7, 2025, Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a post-trial decision in favor of defendant, a private equity fund (the “Fund”), finding that the Fund’s sale of a portfolio...more
One of the first business divorce cases that I participated in as a young litigator was a lengthy arbitration over whether a minority shareholder was oppressed under BCL 1104-a. With those fond memories, evolution of the...more
The Background: After unsuccessfully trying to convince the special committee not to implement a plan to liquidate a business line, which the controlling stockholder believed would destroy value, the controlling stockholder...more
El Ministerio de Comercio de Colombia ha expedido el Decreto 0046 de 2024 (decreto), que reemplaza lo pertinente del Decreto 1074 de 2015, dedicado a los conflictos de interés de los administradores de sociedades. Este nuevo...more
Davies’ Canadian Mergers & Acquisitions guide draws on our substantial cross-border M&A experience to offer guidance on both the legal framework and practical aspects of Canadian mergers and acquisitions, including critical...more
When corporate management requests or obtains legal advice from corporate counsel, management expects those communications to be protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege, and usually they are. But there are...more
The minority shareholders of a podiatry practice felt like they had been kicked around by the alleged financial misadventures of two colleagues who together controlled an 80 percent interest....more
In In re Estate of Poe, shortly before his death, Dick, who was the sole director of Poe Management, Inc. (PMI), authorized the corporation to issue new shares that he bought for $3.2 million. No. 20-0178, 2022 Tex. LEXIS 544...more
David F. Johnson co-presented “Minority Investor Rights in Private Companies: Buy-Sell Agreements, Court-Ordered Buyouts, Breach of Fiduciary Duty” for a nationwide audience for Stafford Webinars on January 20, 2021. David...more
David F. Johnson presented his paper “Business Divorce: Minority Shareholder Rights In Texas” to the State Bar of Texas’s Business Disputes Course on September 2-3, 2021. This presentation addressed shareholder oppression...more
What is a Close Corporation? Under Ohio law, a “close corporation” is defined as a corporation with a relatively small number of shareholders, whose shares are generally not traded on national securities exchanges or...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
A recent bench ruling in In re Pace Industries, LLC1 by Judge Walrath for the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Court”) has validated a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by certain debtors in the jointly...more
In a recent Delaware ruling, Judge Mary F. Walrath declines to follow the Fifth Circuit and holds that “a minority shareholder has [no] more right to block a bankruptcy… than a creditor does.” Real estate and other lenders...more
One of the hallmarks of limited liability companies ("LLCs") is that members of an LLC ordinarily do not owe fiduciary duties to each other or to the company itself. Generally speaking, a fiduciary duty is an obligation...more
Many Texas lawyers and their private company clients continue to refer to the claim for shareholder oppression as if it remains a viable cause of action under Texas law. And yet, for all practical purposes, the claim for...more
The Business Court sorted through the drama of an affiliated outsider who wanted to buy a company, settled for half and became an insider, and then allegedly used that perch to benefit himself and his family in W. Avalon...more
If you’ve been representing closely held businesses long enough, then the “conversation transcribed” below should sound familiar to you. I have had several versions of this exchange in the last few months. The common...more
In re Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. Derivative Litigation, Consol. C.A. No. 2018-0058-JTL (Del. Ch. Mar. 15, 2019). Stockholders that control Delaware corporations find themselves subject to fiduciary duties. According to this...more