News & Analysis as of

Appeals Shareholders Breach of Duty

Dechert LLP

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

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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

Walkers

Shades of grey? Unfair prejudice and derivative actions in Jersey following Ntzegkoutanis v Kimionis

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Matters of law will certainly not always be black and white, however, the Courts have adopted a traditional approach when assessing matters of mismanagement or misconduct by directors in relation to company – if there is...more

Adams and Reese LLP

Ask Not for Whom the Blue Bell Tolls

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Fifth Circuit Ruling Against Blue Bell’s Corporate Directors and Officers May Limit Availability of Insurance Coverage in Shareholder Derivative Actions - In a recent ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Ninth Circuit Enforces Delaware Forum Selection Clause to Affirm Dismissal of Derivative Claim for Alleged Violation of Section...

In Lee v. Fisher, No. 21-15923, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 13521 (9th Cir. June 1, 2023), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, affirmed the dismissal of a shareholder derivative complaint...more

Dechert LLP

UK Judgment Highlights Risks of Seeking to “Short Circuit” Hedge Fund Payment Structures

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On 25 April 2023, the English Court of Appeal reversed a decision of the High Court that found three senior former employees of an investment adviser to an investment fund liable for dishonest assistance (amongst other...more

A&O Shearman

The last word on good faith?

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Last autumn, the Court of Appeal held that actions taken by majority shareholders of a company, asking directors to resign, were not unfairly prejudicial to the minority shareholders. In doing so, the court made some...more

Conyers

Directors’ Duties on the Precipice of Insolvency: Brief Overview of BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA

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The United Kingdom Supreme Court (the “UKSC”) recently delivered its eagerly anticipated judgment in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA and others [2022 UKSC 25] (“Sequana”). The reasoning in Sequana will be highly persuasive in the...more

Dechert LLP

Sequana: “Momentous” Judgment by Supreme Court on the Creditor Duty

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The Supreme Court has ruled, for the first time, on the existence, specific content and engagement of the so-called “creditor duty” or the “rule in West Mercia”. In doing so, it unanimously dismissed BTI’s appeal. ...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

Del. Bankruptcy Rulings Instruct on Creditors' Rights to Sue

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Creditors of distressed businesses are often frustrated by shareholder- controlled boards when directors pursue strategies that appear to be designed to benefit shareholders at the creditors' expense. In these...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

California Court of Appeal Holds that a Corporation’s Direct Cause of Action for Breach of Fiduciary Duty is Legal Rather than...

In ZF Micro Solutions, Inc. v. TAT Capital Partners, Ltd., 2022 WL 4090879 (Cal. App. Aug. 8, 2022), the Fourth Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal decided, as a matter of first impression, that a...more

Winstead PC

Texas Supreme Court Holds That A Director Of A Corporation Cannot Hold An Informal Fiduciary Duty To A Stockholder

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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

Goodwin

Eleventh Circuit Overturns Dismissal of Cryptocurrency Ponzi Scheme Class Action Suit

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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

Goodwin

Northern District of California Kicks Shareholder Derivative Suit Against Alphabet, Inc. for Failing to Allege Demand Futility

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Northern District of California Kicks Shareholder Derivative Suit Against Alphabet, Inc. For Failing to Allege Demand Futility; Rare Securities “Holder’s Claim” Trial Results in Jury Verdict for Defendants; Delaware Court of...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Recent Trends in Books and Records Litigation

Recently, the frequency of stockholder demands to inspect corporate books and records pursuant to Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law has increased. In turn, the case law concerning Section 220 demands is...more

Winstead PC

Court Holds That A Plaintiff Can Raise A Conspiracy To Breach Fiduciary Duty Claim Even Where The Party Who Owed Fiduciary Duties...

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In Klinek v. Luxeyard, Inc., a company sued its majority shareholder in a suit for breach of fiduciary duty arising from a pump-and-dump scheme and later settled that claim. No. 14-17-00899-C, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 9421 (Tex....more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

Chris Lazarini Examines Standards for Proving Breach of Fiduciary Duty

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Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini examined a case in which a group of shareholders alleged the company and two individual defendants breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders, and an investment bank aided and...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

UK Court of Appeal: When to Trigger the Creditor Duty Shift

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Ruling provides guidance on how close to insolvency a company needs to be before directors must consider creditors’ interests. The UK Court of Appeal has ruled that the payment of a lawful dividend did not, on the facts,...more

Morris James LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Addresses Emails and Jurisdictional Use Conditions in Books and Records Actions

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KT4 Partners LLC v. Palantir Technologies Inc., No. 281, 2018 (Del. Jan. 29, 2019) (Strine, Chief Justice). Two prevailing questions for books and records inspections under Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Delaware Court Of Chancery Finds Director Breaches of Fiduciary Duty and Aiding and Abetting Liability for Activist Investor in...

On October 16, 2018, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a post-trial opinion in In re PLX Technology Inc. Stockholder Litigation, a dispute arising from the August 2014 merger between...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Dead Men Tell No Tales of Shareholder Buy-Outs Gone Sour

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When three gentlemen in their mid-eighties, one of whom is in a nursing home with failing health and onset dementia, are the key players in a disputed shareholder buy-out transaction, what are the odds they’ll all be around...more

Dechert LLP

Restructuring and Insolvency Bulletin Issue 1 - 2017: United States: D&O Insurance Policies – a cautionary tale: the Peril of...

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Directors and officers (D&Os) of troubled companies should be highly sensitive to D&O insurance policies with Prior Act Exclusion. While policies with such exclusion may be cheaper, a recent decision by the U.S. Court of...more

Mintz - Privacy & Cybersecurity Viewpoints

Appeal in Home Depot Data Breach Derivative Action Results in Settlement of Corporate Governance Claims

Snatching victory of a sort from the jaws of defeat, shareholders who brought a derivative action alleging that the 2014 Home Depot data breach resulted from officers’ and directors’ breaches of fiduciary duties have reached...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Confirms that Dilution Claims Typically Are Derivative and Are Extinguished After a Merger

Stockholder claims alleging wrongful dilution are typically considered to be derivative in nature. Several decisions out of Delaware, however, have created exceptions to this general rule allowing stockholders to sue...more

Carlton Fields

Navigating Derivative Lawsuits Against Mutual Funds After Northstar

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The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this spring held that mutual fund shareholders could maintain direct claims against the fund’s trustees for breach of their common law fiduciary duties. Before Northstar v. Schwab, such...more

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