News & Analysis as of

Breach of Duty Delaware General Corporation Law

Allen Matkins

Nevada Supreme Court: Chapter 7 Filing Defeats Shareholder Breach Of Fiduciary Claim

Allen Matkins on

Globe Photos, Inc. owned a portfolio of millions of images of celebrities and musicians, including Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix, some taken by famous photographers such as Frank Worth.  Despite these assets,...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Finds Sufficiently Pled Fiduciary Duty Claims Relating to De-SPAC Transaction

Morris James LLP on

Solak v. Mountain Crest Capital LLC, et al., C.A. No. 2023-0469-SG (Del. Ch. Oct. 18, 2024) - The Court of Chancery found that the plaintiff stated legally-sufficient claims in connection with a merger transaction against...more

Flaster Greenberg PC

Amendments to Delaware General Corporation Law

Flaster Greenberg PC on

On March 25, Delaware amended two (2) sections of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) in response to reports that prominent corporations are considering leaving Delaware in light of several significant court...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Insights: The Delaware Edition - December 2024

In this issue, we explore ongoing corporate law issues involving controlling stockholders, with significant decisions anticipated from the Delaware Supreme Court in 2025; the rise in litigation over earnout provisions in...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Determines Certain Suits and Investigations Against Amazon Were Insufficient to Meet Credible Basis Standard to Inspect...

Morris James LLP on

Wong Leung Revocable Tr. v. Amazon.com Inc., C.A. No. 2023-1251-BWD (Del. Ch. May 1, 2024) - In order to inspect books and records under Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, a stockholder-plaintiff must...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Delaware Court Affirms High Threshold for Breach of Directors' Caremark Duties

Bennett Jones LLP on

In a recent case, Bricklayers Pension Fund of Western Pennsylvania (derivatively on behalf of Centene Corporation) v Brinkley (Centene), Delaware's Court of Chancery dismissed “Caremark duty claims”—named after the 1996 case...more

McCarter & English, LLP

Who Sins Most? The Tempter or the Tempted?—Court of Chancery Allocates Equal Fault Among Acquirer and Target Officers in Merger...

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

Mayer Brown

Developments and Trends in Delaware Officer Exculpation Charter Amendments

Mayer Brown on

In August 2022, the Delaware General Assembly amended the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) to allow corporations to adopt charter provisions exculpating certain officers from personal liability for monetary damages...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Chancery Court Applies Entire Fairness To State Of Incorporation Conversions

A&O Shearman on

On February 20, 2024, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery denied in part and granted in part a motion to dismiss a stockholder action against TripAdvisor, Inc. and its parent (together, the...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Invalidates Stockholder Agreement Provisions That Deprive Board Of Key Decision-Making Powers

A&O Shearman on

On February 23, 2024, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery invalidated a number of significant provisions in a stockholder agreement between a financial institution (the “Company”) and its...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Delaware Courts Confirm High Standard for Breach of Oversight Duty Applies Equally to Officers and Directors

Bennett Jones LLP on

In the United States, corporate directors and, as confirmed by the Delaware Court in McDonald’s Corp. Stockholder Derivative Litigation (McDonald), corporate officers owe, as a subset of their duty of loyalty, a duty to...more

Venable LLP

Fiduciary Liability Limitations Under Nevada Law Trigger Entire Fairness Review of Conversion from Delaware Due to Controlling...

Venable LLP on

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

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

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Holds That Controlling Stockholder Conduct Did Not Breach Fiduciary Duties But Rendered Buyout...

A&O Shearman on

On January 24, 2024, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery awarded a stockholder plaintiff class more than $18 million, finding that the acquisition of the “Hometown” division of Sears Hometown...more

Jenner & Block

Fiduciary Duties of Former Directors of Delaware Corporations

Jenner & Block on

It is well understood that directors of Delaware corporations are subject to the fiduciary duties of care and loyalty. In general, the duty of care requires directors to base their decisions on all material information...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Rejects Claims Related To The Acquisition Of An Alleged Controller’s Portfolio Company For Failure To...

A&O Shearman on

On December 28, 2023, Vice Chancellor Morgan T. Zurn of the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed derivative breach of fiduciary duty and other claims asserted by a plaintiff shareholder after nCino, Inc. (the “Corporation”)...more

Venable LLP

Court of Chancery Provides Further Guidance on Advance Notice Bylaw Amendments Amidst a Proxy Contest

Venable LLP on

Hi In “a tale of wins and losses on both sides,” the Delaware Court of Chancery reiterated that advance notice bylaws adopted amid an approaching proxy contest are reviewed through the lens of enhanced judicial scrutiny to...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Books and Records Demands 2023 Recap: Courts Continue To Develop the Law Regarding the Scope of Inspection

As discussed in prior articles, stockholder plaintiffs have increasingly sought to obtain companies’ books and records under 8 Del. C. § 220 (Section 220) and the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act’s analogous provision,...more

Morris James LLP

Court of Chancery Sustains Derivative Complaint Based on Allegations That the Board Acted in Bad Faith

Morris James LLP on

Delaware’s demand futility analysis for derivative claims is designed to prevent stockholders from divesting the board of its control of an asset and enabling stockholders to pursue weak claims. To plead demand futility under...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Officer Exculpation and the Silicon Valley 150

Effective August 1, 2022, Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) was amended to permit a Delaware corporation to include in its charter a provision eliminating or limiting the personal liability of...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

Troutman Pepper Locke

Delaware Court of Chancery Confirms Enforceability of NVCA Covenant Not to Sue for Breach of Fiduciary Duty

Troutman Pepper Locke on

In New Enterprise Associates 14, L.P. v. Rich, the Delaware Court of Chancery held that a covenant not to sue for breach of fiduciary duty, which was contained in a stockholder's agreement and modeled after the NVCA model...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court of Chancery Finds Revlon Violation For Founder Who Favored Buyer And Failed To Disclose, And Aiding & Abetting...

A&O Shearman on

On March 15, 2022, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that the founder and former CEO of Mindbody Inc. (the “Company”) breached his fiduciary duties to stockholders in connection with the...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

In Rare Decision, Delaware Court of Chancery Imposes Liability on CEO and Acquiror Post-Trial

On March 15, 2023, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a rare post-trial decision finding a CEO personally liable for millions of dollars in damages for breaching his fiduciary...more

Allen Matkins

Is This The Case That Ate Delaware Corporate Law?

Allen Matkins on

In a recent feature published by the Washington Legal Foundation, UCLA Professor Stephen Bainbridge casts a jaundiced eye toward Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster's recent ruling in In re McDonald's Corp. Stockholder Deriv....more

114 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 5

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide