In In re Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc. Merger Litigation, C.A. No. 2018-0484-JTL, the Delaware Court of Chancery allocated liability among two sell-side officers and a third-party acquirer under the Delaware Uniform...more
In late February, the Chancery Court denied a motion to dismiss a stockholder lawsuit against the controlling stockholder and board of directors of TripAdvisor, Inc., seeking to enjoin a reincorporation of TripAdvisor into...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery, in Palkon v. Maffei, et al., C.A. No. 2023-0449-JTL (Del. Ch. Feb. 20, 2024), determined that a reduction in the liability exposure of a fiduciary due to the conversion of a Delaware...more
Like the tides, the rules regarding ERISA’s fiduciary duties are constantly in flux. The Fourth Circuit recently ruled that while providing “investment advice for a fee” implicates those duties, pitching investment services...more
Think back-dating that email will help your case? Think again. Ford v. Jurgens, 2022 NCBC Order 9 (N.C. Super. Ct. Feb. 16, 2022) involved a dispute between a nonprofit real estate investment association (“the...more
This presentation will address the various issues that arise when a trustee enters into a self-interested transaction with the trust. Among other issues, it will address the duty of loyalty, the presumption of unfairness,...more
David F. Johnson presented his paper “Litigating Self-Interested Transactions Involving Fiduciaries” to the State Bar of Texas’s Fiduciary Litigation Course on December 2-3, 2021, in San Antonio, Texas. This presentation...more
On January 29, 2021, Vice Chancellor Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery refused to dismiss a shareholder class action stemming from the 2019, $2.2 billion sale of Presidio, Inc., an IT solutions provider specializing in...more
On February 26, 2020, Chancellor Andre G. Bouchard of the Delaware Court of Chancery denied a motion to dismiss breach of fiduciary duty claims brought by former shareholders of AmTrust, Inc., challenging the take-private...more
In In re Estate of Klutts, a son held his mother’s power of attorney when he assisted in securing a new 2008 will, which enhanced his share of the estate. No. 02-18-00356-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 11063 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth...more
On September 30, 2019, Chancellor Andre G. Bouchard of the Delaware Court of Chancery denied defendants’ motion to dismiss a stockholder derivative action for breach of fiduciary duties in connection with BGC Partners, Inc.’s...more
Avande Inc. v. Evans, C.A. No. 2018-0203-AGB (Del. Ch. Aug. 13, 2019). A director of a Delaware corporation who stands on both sides of a challenged transaction must prove the entire fairness of the transaction. ...more
On May 31, 2019, Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a decision refusing to dismiss a stockholder's fiduciary duty claims challenging the compensation of Goldman Sachs' board of directors.1...more
What exists at the point where PIABA’s transparent self-interest in getting paid and FINRA’s historical lack of transparency about who is actually driving its agenda regarding arbitrations? This: a late December decision by...more
As discussed in an earlier edition of Insights: The Delaware Edition, Sections 204 and 205 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) provide methods for Delaware corporations to unilaterally ratify defective corporate...more
Last week, a Pennsylvania Magistrate Judge recommended that Defendant’s motion to dismiss be denied in a putative class action filed against Oasis Power LLC dba Oasis Energy (“Oasis”), a retail energy services provider....more
In Transamerica Life Ins. Co. v. Quarm, Thomas Quarm obtained a life insurance policy and designated his mother as his beneficiary and his brother, Nicholas, as the alternate beneficiary. No. EP-16-CV-295-KC, 2017 U.S. Dist....more
On December 13, 2017, the Delaware Supreme Court issued an opinion, In re Investors Bancorp, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, Case No. 169, holding that, except under limited circumstances, the court will not apply the...more
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has, for the first time in the 37-year history of Pennsylvania’s bad faith insurance statute, 42 Pa.C.S. § 8371, considered the necessary elements of such a claim, and it has determined that...more
In its recent decision in Rancosky v. Washington National Insurance Company, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court examined, for the first time, Pennsylvania’s standard for insurance bad faith. The court held that, while an...more
Last week, I devoted several posts to the question of suing the CEO for social activism. The catalyst for the discussion was an August 17, 2017 Op-Ed piece by Jon L. Pritchett and Ed Tiryakian in The Wall Street Journal. ...more
In a long-awaited decision regarding Delaware’s appraisal statute, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that in determining the fair value of a company, there is no presumption that the agreed upon transaction price is the fair...more
As has been widely reported, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently granted a petition for allowance of appeal in the matter of Rancosky v. Washington Nat. Insurance Co. in order to address a challenge concerning the...more
In In re Zagg Inc. Shareholder Derivative Action, No. 15-4001, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 11095 (10th Cir. June 20, 2016), the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that stockholders of a Utah-based, Nevada...more
In Legg & Ors v Sterte Garage Ltd and Aviva UK Limited [2016] EWCA Civ 97, the Court of Appeal upheld the first instance decision that a third party costs order made against the defendant insurer was justified in...more