Shareholder proposal rule
Class Action Trends – Interview with Stephen Gulotta, Managing Member, Mintz Levin's New York Office
On July 13, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rule changes that would make it harder for reporting companies to exclude shareholder proposals from their proxy statement by narrowing certain existing...more
On July 13, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) proposed revisions to Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to amend certain substantive bases on which U.S. public companies can exclude...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed amendments to Exchange Act Rule 14a-8, the shareholder proposal rule, which requires companies subject to the federal proxy rules to include shareholder proposals in their proxy...more
On November 3 the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued Staff Legal Bulletin 14L (SLB 14L) to provide new guidance on the application of the “ordinary business” and “economic relevance” exceptions to a public company’s...more
Climate-related issues have taken on an enhanced level of concern at the federal government level since the Biden administration rejoined the Paris Agreement in an effort to stem climate change impacts, and the administration...more
On November 3, 2021, the Division of Corporation Finance (“Corp Fin”) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released Shareholder Proposals: Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14L(CF) (the “SLB”) to provide information for...more
On September 23, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to the procedural requirements and resubmission thresholds relating to shareholder proposals submitted for inclusion in fund proxy...more
On September 23, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to Exchange Act Rule 14a-8, also known as the “shareholder proposal rule.” The SEC press release announcing the adopted changes are...more
Rule 14a-8 requires public companies to include shareholder proposals in their own proxy statements, subject to certain procedural and substantive requirements. The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has adopted...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 23 adopted final rules amending the shareholder proposal rules in Rule 14a-8 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The final rules: - Require that a shareholder...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a 3-2 vote on Wednesday, September 23, 2020, adopted amendments to the eligibility requirements for submitting shareholder proposals to be included in a public company issuer’s...more
Background: Rule 14a-8 provides the mechanism by which shareholders may submit proposals to companies for inclusion in the annual proxy statement to be voted upon by shareholders. On September 23, 2020, the U.S. Securities...more
On September 23, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to the procedural requirements and resubmission thresholds relating to shareholder proposals submitted for inclusion in company proxy...more
The Situation: Late last year, a shareholder sued NorthWestern Corporation ("NWE") to compel the company to include a climate-change related proposal in its 2020 proxy materials after NWE had notified the staff of the...more
On November 5, 2019, the SEC issued a release proposing amendments to Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which is the rule that governs the process through which shareholders may submit proposals to be...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued several important recent updates regarding shareholder proposals and the related no-action request process for companies to consider ahead of the 2019-2020 proxy...more
On September 6, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance (the “Division”) announced changes to how the Division provides responses under the Rule 14a-8 no-action request process. As...more
SEC Adopts Final Rules for Disclosure of Hedging Policies. On December 18, 2018, the SEC approved final rules regarding the disclosure of a company’s hedging practices or policies, as mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act. This...more
On November 1, 2017, the Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14I (SLB 14I), which provides important guidance to public companies reviewing...more
On July 6, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued its opinion in Trinity Wall Street v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The holding permitted Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ("Wal-Mart") to exclude a shareholder proposal...more
On April 14, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit summarily reversed a troubling decision of the Federal District Court in Delaware that required Wal-Mart to include in its 2015 proxy materials a shareholder...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a decision on April 14, 2015 that reversed a U.S. District Court opinion and vacated a permanent injunction that would have required Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. to include a...more