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Allen Matkins

Court Finds Usurpation Of LLC Opportunity To Be Derivative

Allen Matkins on

My last few posts have been devoted to the Court of Appeal's opinion in Tuli v. Specialty Surgical Center of Thousand Oaks, LLC, 2024 WL 4499271 (Oct. 16, 2024).  The case relates to the plaintiff's "decade-long litigation...more

Patton Sullivan Brodehl LLP

LLC Members May Ratify Prior Defective Actions

Actions taken within business entities are sometimes deemed invalid due to procedural defects.  For corporations, section 119 of the Corporations Code establishes a clear procedure by which defective actions can be ratified...more

Jones Day

Court of Chancery Grants Rare Motion to Dismiss Suit Governed by Entire Fairness Standard

Jones Day on

The electric vehicle company Canoo went public in a de-SPAC transaction in December 2020. After its stock price fell, a stockholder in the SPAC who chose not to redeem his stock sued the SPAC board and its controller for...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

MFW Framework Inapplicable Where Conflicts Are Not Adequately Disclosed to Stockholders

Following other recent decisions addressing the applicability and scope of Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp. (“MFW”), including In re Match Group Inc., Derivative Litigation and Tornetta v. Musk, on May 1, 2024, the Delaware...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Limo Company Shareholders Can't Hitch a Ride in Derivative Litigation

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Closely-held business entities come in all shapes and sizes. By definition, under Partnership Law § 10, it takes “two or more” owners to form a general partnership. But corporations and LLCs have no such impediment, ranging...more

Allen Matkins

Is There Any Repose For A Dissolved Nevada Corporation?

Allen Matkins on

NRS 78.585 bars any cause of action against a dissolved Nevada corporation or its directors, officers, or stockholders if it is commenced within...more

Mayer Brown

A Matter Of Propriety: Delaware Courts Reject Books-and-Records Demand Driven by Ulterior Motive

Mayer Brown on

Section 220 demands are a commonly used tool for stockholders to gain access to a company’s books and records. Although this provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law vests stockholders with a right of access thereto,...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

And the Award for Most Creative Attempt to Evade a Book Value Buy-Sell Provision Goes To . . .

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

“Under any standard of value, the true economic value of a business enterprise will equal the company’s accounting book value only by coincidence . . .” says the late business valuation expert and author Shannon Pratt.  So...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Enforcing the Guardrails on Transactions Involving Interested Directors of Close Corporations

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

In my business divorce practice I deal with many closely held corporations that have only a few or perhaps just two shareholders, each of whom is actively involved in running the business. Within that category are many...more

Dechert LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery’s Rescission of Elon Musk’s US$55.8 Billion Pay Package Signals Expansion of Scrutiny into Potential...

Dechert LLP on

The Delaware Court of Chancery issued a post-trial opinion, on January 30, 2024, in Tornetta v. Musk, holding that Tesla’s board of directors (the “Board”) breached its fiduciary duties in awarding CEO Elon Musk (with the...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

DE Supreme Court: No Class Vote Required Where Corporations With Multi-Class Capital Structure Adopted Exculpatory Charter...

Ballard Spahr LLP on

Delaware’s Supreme Court unanimously rejected challenges by stockholders of two corporations who argued the respective companies invalidly adopted exculpatory charter provisions without giving each class of stock a separate...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Direct to Beneficial: Change of Corporate Ownership Structure Yields No Right to Dissent and Seek Appraisal

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

There are many paths to a fair value appraisal proceeding. A road less traveled begins at Section 910 of the Business Corporation Law (the “BCL”). ...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Winter Case Notes: Murder, Forgery, Accidental Death, Oppression, Oh My!

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Welcome to this year’s Winter Case Notes where, amidst the arctic blast currently sweeping most of the nation, I offer shortish takes on several court decisions in recent business divorce cases. This year’s edition...more

Troutman Pepper

Delaware Court of Chancery Confirms Enforceability of Identity-Based Voting Stock

Troutman Pepper on

Recently, in Colon v. Bumble, the Delaware Court of Chancery held that certain provisions in the charter of Bumble, Inc. (Bumble), which contemplated that each share of stock carried either one vote or 10 votes depending upon...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Top 10 Business Divorce Cases of 2023

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Some years are easier than others to select the most significant business divorce cases. In this, the 16th year I’ve published this top-10 list, the task is made especially difficult by a veritable flood of court decisions...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Delaware Court of Chancery Upholds Identity-Based Voting Within Single Class of Stock

McDermott Will & Emery on

A recent opinion from the Delaware Court of Chancery reaffirmed a Delaware corporation’s ability to create a class of stock with voting power that is based on a formula in the certificate of incorporation (Charter) or on...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Proceed with Caution: Strategy Considerations Before Making a Books and Records Demand

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

The books and records demand often is the opening act in business divorce litigation. The relatively low burden that an owner must meet in order to obtain access to a company’s books and records, and the availability of an...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

How to Stop a Cash-Out Merger from Cancelling Your Shares

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

The corporation of which you are a shareholder just sent you notice that it plans to merge with another corporation.  And although the other existing shareholders will have their shares exchanged for shares of the new...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Limitations on Good Faith Damages: No Presumption of Loss for Breach of Honest Performance

Stikeman Elliott LLP on

In Bhatnagar v. Cresco Labs Inc., 2023 ONCA 401, the Ontario Court of Appeal elaborated on the Supreme Court’s decision in C.M. Callow Inc. v. Zollinger, 2020 SCC 45 (“Callow”) and clarified that a breach of the contractual...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

The Magnolia State Wins the Prize for Novel Alternative Remedies in LLC Dissolution Cases

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

New York courts are not in the vanguard when it comes to devising less drastic, alternative remedies in LLC judicial dissolution cases. In their defense, there’s nothing in Article 7 of New York’s LLC Law that expressly...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

The Delaware Chancery Court Finds That an Unfair Process Resulted in a Fair Price

Vinson & Elkins LLP on

Executive Summary- A recent Delaware Court of Chancery post-trial decision, In re Straight Path Communications, is another example of: • “fair price” immunizing “unfair process” in the “entire fairness” analysis, and - •...more

DarrowEverett LLP

Diversity Driven Derivative Suits: Culture Wars Come to the Boardroom

DarrowEverett LLP on

Traditionally deployed to protect a corporation from its board’s imprudent investment or financial decision-making, in recent years shareholders have taken to bringing derivative actions on a corporation’s behalf for its...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Can a Shareholder Suing Derivatively Face Countersuit Individually?

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

That was the interesting, infrequently-litigated question addressed in a recent decision by Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Melissa A. Crane. Simon v FrancInvest, S.A. (2023 NY Slip Op 32422[U] [Sup Ct, NY County...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

At-Will Employment Agreement Plus Mandatory Redemption Clause Leaves Minority Shareholder-Employees Out in the Cold

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

MiniCorp has five shareholders, all of whom are employees.  Each shareholder’s employment agreement states that they are an at-will employee of MiniCorp, and the shareholders agreement provides that when a shareholder’s...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Clarifies Heightened Standard for Recovery of Attorneys’ Fees in Disclosure-Based Deal Litigation

In Anderson v. Magellan Health, Inc., No. 2021-0202, — A.3d —-, 2023 WL 4364524 (Del. Ch. July 6, 2023) (McCormick, C.), the Delaware Court of Chancery addressed the circumstances under which the Court will award a...more

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