On July 6, 2023, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a written opinion explaining a prior bench ruling on a mootness fee awarded to plaintiff’s counsel in connection with a putative...more
Chancellor McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an Opinion on July 6, 2023, in Anderson v. Magellan Health, Inc., imposing a new, heightened standard of review of requests for mootness fees predicated on...more
On July 6, 2023, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an important opinion that seeks to further limit the “merger tax” imposed on many companies in the context of significant M&A transactions. The court declared that future...more
In a recent decision from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a federal Judge pushed back against the common but abusive practice of “mootness fee” payoffs in public M&A deals. In the...more
In a recent order, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a $250,000 “mootness fee” request by a stockholder plaintiff’s counsel, arising out of an investor challenge to Microsoft’s $19.7 billion...more
IN THIS ISSUE - Eleventh Circuit Overturns Dismissal of Cryptocurrency Ponzi Scheme Class Action Suit; Federal Court of Appeals Dismisses Leading Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Shareholder Lawsuits; NY Seeks Blockchain...more
A federal court in New York recently dealt a blow to the common litigation practice of plaintiff’s counsel requesting a “mootness fee” when challenging disclosures made by public companies in mergers and other large...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery fundamentally altered the M&A litigation landscape when it expressed its skepticism of disclosure-only settlements in the case of In re Trulia, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, 129 A.3d 884 (Del....more
Takeaway: Strike suits against corporate mergers are often resolved in worthless “disclosure-only” settlements. Derided as a “peppercorn and a fee,” a disclosure-only settlement provides no monetary relief to the...more
On February 8, 2018, Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich of the New York Supreme Court denied a motion for final approval of a disclosure-only settlement in a class action suit brought by shareholders of Martin Marietta...more
The North Carolina Business Court recently approved a “disclosure settlement” of a merger challenge, suggesting that in North Carolina such settlements may remain a viable means of resolving merger lawsuits – at least where...more
Litigation involving Delaware corporate law is undergoing major changes. Some commentators predict that Delaware will cease to be the favored forum for M&A litigation. While we disagree with that forecast, it is important to...more
The Delaware Courts took a significant step in 2016 to reduce the filing in Delaware of lawsuits aimed at procuring disclosure only settlements (meaning settlements that involve only the provision of additional information...more
After nearly a decade of prominence, disclosure-only settlements may be going extinct. These settlements occur in class action cases arising from the announcement of a merger or acquisition. The plaintiff class alleges that...more
Last month, the Delaware Chancery Court drastically reduced – from $275,000 to $50,000 – a mootness fee award requested by plaintiffs’ counsel in a lawsuit challenging the merger between PayPal and Xoom Corporation, finding...more
Last week, in an opinion authored by Judge Richard Posner, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected a proposed class-action settlement arising from Walgreen Co.’s acquisition of the Swiss-based pharmacy...more
The Court of Chancery’s highly-publicized decision in In re Trulia, Inc. Stockholders Litigation, 129 A.3d 884 (Del. Ch. 2016) (Bouchard, C.) (discussed here) took aim at the problem of disclosure-only settlements and...more
As previously discussed in Insights: The Delaware Edition, throughout the second half of 2015, the Delaware Court of Chancery began to question its long-standing practice of approving deal litigation settlements involving...more
Disclosure only settlements are in deep trouble in Delaware based on the Court of Chancery's recent decision in In re Trulia Inc. Stockholder Litigation. That decision is said to have sounded a "death knell" in Delaware for...more
On January 22, 2016, Delaware Chancellor Andre C. Bouchard rejected a proposed “disclosure-only” settlement in In re Trulia Stockholder Litigation. The decision confirms the Chancery Court’s growing skepticism for...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery dealt another blow to disclosure-only settlements of merger litigation and refused to approve a proposed class-action settlement arising from Zillow, Inc.'s acquisition of Trulia, Inc. ...more
An apparently frustrated Delaware Vice Chancellor recently approved yet another disclosure-only settlement of yet another challenge to a merger, but seemed intent on signaling that such proposed class-action settlements might...more