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Shareholder Litigation Motion to Dismiss Fiduciary Duty

Morris James LLP

Chancery Dismisses Fiduciary Duty Claim Against Directors Based on Disclosures Regarding the Company’s Purposes

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Stansell v. Rosensweig, C.A. No. 2023-0180-PAF (Del. Ch. June 12, 2024) - The plaintiff was a stockholder of a company that provided online education resources. Some of the company's customers used its products to cheat on...more

Morris James LLP

Court of Chancery Dismisses Aiding And Abetting Fraud Claim Against Corporate Officers And Directors On Grounds That A Corporation...

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Urvan v. AMMO, Inc., Consol. C.A. No. 2023-0470 PRW (Del. Ch. Feb. 27, 2024, corrected Mar. 14, 2024) - It is an axiom of Delaware law that a corporation acts through its human agents. This principle informs the causes of...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Denies Motion to Dismiss Finding Primedia Argument Inapplicable

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In Re Orbit/FR, Inc. Stockholders Litig., C.A. No. 2018-0340-SG (Del. Ch. January 9, 2023) - In In re Primedia, Inc. S’holders Litig., 67 A.3d 455 (Del. Ch. 2013), the Court examined whether a litigation asset being...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

In Novel SPAC Ruling, Court Questions Fundamental SPAC Structure Under Delaware Law

With all the SPAC activity and scrutiny over the past several years, it was only a matter of time before the Delaware courts had an opportunity to weigh in on SPAC stockholder litigation. Early last year, in January...more

Morris James LLP

On Motion To Dismiss, Court of Chancery Holds That Alleged Disclosure Violations Were Insufficient To Rebut Corwin Protections Of...

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Teamster Members Ret. Plan v. Randall S. Dearth et al., C.A. No. 2020-0807-MTZ (Del. Ch. May 31, 2022) - Under the Supreme Court’s decision in Corwin and its progeny, a transaction approved by a fully informed, uncoerced...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

‘Mission Critical’ Issues and ‘Red Flags’: What It Means for a Board To Exercise Oversight

Takeaways - Delaware courts have become more willing to allow stockholders to pursue claims that directors breached their duty to oversee risk management and compliance. Directors are most vulnerable to suits where they have...more

Winstead PC

Court Addressed A Shareholder Derivative Suit Against Officers And Directors For Self-Interested Transactions, Misuse Of Company...

Winstead PC on

In Roels v. Valkenaar, a shareholder filed a shareholder derivative suit against former and current officers and directors of the company based on multiple claims of breach of fiduciary duty. No. 03-19-00502-CV, 2020 Tex....more

Dechert LLP

OnPoint: Federal Court Issues Trial Ruling in Section 36(b) Lawsuit: Great-West Advisory Fees Held Not a Breach of Fiduciary Duty

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The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on August 7, 2020 issued its post-trial findings of fact and conclusions of law in Obeslo v. Great-West Capital Management, LLC et al. The ruling comes at the tail end of a...more

BCLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Again Declines to Dismiss a Caremark Oversight Failure Claim

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On April 27, 2020, the Delaware Court of Chancery for the third time in a year denied a motion to dismiss a Caremark claim. The case, Hughes v. Hu, involves a derivative claim against the audit committee and officers of a...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

In re Pace Industries, LLC: Minority Shareholder With Bankruptcy Consent Rights Considered Controlling Minority Shareholder With...

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A recent bench ruling in In re Pace Industries, LLC1 by Judge Walrath for the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Court”) has validated a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by certain debtors in the jointly...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Addresses Pleading ‘With Particularity’ Under Rule 23.1

Rule 23.1 of the Delaware Court of Chancery Rules requires a plaintiff asserting a shareholder derivative action to plead “with particularity the efforts, if any, made by the plaintiff to obtain the action the plaintiff...more

Dechert LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Adopts New Framework for Determining whether to Join Minority Stockholders with a Controlling...

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In a decision of interest to private equity investors, the Delaware Court of Chancery (the “Court”) adopted a new framework for determining whether minority stockholders are part of a control group with a separately...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Key Developments in Delaware Corporation Law

Consistent with trends in recent years, in 2019 Delaware corporation law largely was shaped by post-closing suits for money damages against directors who had approved mergers and acquisitions. Two Delaware Supreme Court...more

Stinson - Corporate & Securities Law Blog

Chancery Finds General Counsel Potentially Liable for Misleading Tender Offer Documents

Morrison v. Berry considers Plaintiff’s claims for damages following the purchase of a grocery-store chain, The Fresh Market, Inc. (“Fresh Market” or the “Company”) by Apollo investment entities. The Plaintiff was a former...more

Dechert LLP

Electricity in the Air: Court Decides that Stockholder Ratification Not Enough to Insulate Tesla CEO’s $55.8 Billion Compensation...

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The Delaware Chancery Court rejected an attempt by Tesla’s Board of Directors to dismiss a challenge to CEO Elon Musk’s “extraordinary” 2018 compensation package. Because Musk is also Tesla’s controlling stockholder, the...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Inside the Courts – An Update From Skadden Securities Litigators - September 2019

This quarter’s issue includes summaries and associated court opinions of selected cases principally decided between May and August 2019....more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Shareholders Beware: Serve Pre-Litigation Demands or Be Prepared to Plead Demand Futility with Particularity

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

In a recent case, Gammel v Immelt (2019 NY Slip Op 32005[U]), shareholders of General Electric Company (GE), brought a derivative shareholder action against the members of GE’s board of directors and various committees...more

K&L Gates LLP

In Rejecting Defendants’ Motion For Dismissal, Chancery Court Finds That Individual Fiduciary May Be Held Liable For Trades That...

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In the consolidated stockholder derivative litigation, In re Fitbit, Inc., CA No. 2017-0402-JRS (Del. Ch. Dec. 14, 2018), the Delaware Court of Chancery denied the Defendants’ motion to dismiss Plaintiffs’ insider trading and...more

Winstead PC

Federal District Court Held That A Shareholder Of A Company Did Not Owe Fiduciary Duties To The Company Regarding A Transfer Of...

Winstead PC on

In Liberty Bankers Life Ins. Co. v. Lenhard, a company sued its former chief executive officer and shareholder for breaching fiduciary duties and fraudulent statements regarding an agreement to transfer his stock in the...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Declines To Dismiss Fiduciary Duty Breach Claims In Connection With Take-Private Acquisition Of...

A&O Shearman on

On November 20, 2018, Vice Chancellor Joseph R. Slights III of the Delaware Court of Chancery denied a motion to dismiss a putative class action asserting claims for breach of fiduciary duty brought by former stockholders of...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Getting to Business Judgment in an Interested Transaction: Controlling Stockholder Must Put Procedural Protections in Place Prior...

In Flood v. Synutra Int’l, Inc., No. 101, 2018, 2018 Del. LEXIS 460 (Del. Oct. 9, 2018), the Delaware Supreme Court (Strine, C.J.) held that a controlling stockholder who pursues a merger with the controlled company will have...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

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

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

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

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Delaware Chancery Court Finds Elon Musk May Be Controlling Stockholder of Tesla Motors

On March 28, 2018, in In re Tesla Motors, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, the Delaware Court of Chancery denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by stockholders of Tesla Motors, Inc. (“Tesla” or the “Company”)....more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Contracting Party Beware: The Implied Covenant Will Not Save You From Your Agreement If You Negotiated Away Your Rights

On February 1, 2018, the Delaware Court of Chancery granted defendants’ motion to dismiss an action brought by minority unitholders of Trumpet Search, LLC (“Trumpet” or the “Company”). The defendants were other unitholders...more

Troutman Pepper

Hot Topic for 2018 Proxy Season: Director Compensation in Wake of New Delaware Supreme Court Ruling

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In an important recent opinion, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled in In re Investors Bancorp, Inc. Stockholder Litigation that certain director compensation decisions would be reviewed under the “entire fairness” standard...more

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