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Court of Chancery Finds Employee’s Restrictive Covenants Unenforceable for Lack of Consideration

N. Am. Fire Ultimate Holdings, LP v. Doorly, C.A. No. 2024-0023-KSJM (Del. Ch. Mar. 7, 2025) - A contract requires consideration to be enforceable. In this case, the Court of Chancery held restrictive covenants were...more

Chancery Enforces Liability Waiver Provision in Limited Partnership Agreement, Dismisses Claims Against Limited Partners

AG Mobile Holdings, L.P. v. H.I.G. Mobile, L.P., C.A. No. 2023-1103-MAA (Del. Ch. Feb. 13, 2025) - In this recent decision, the Court of Chancery reaffirmed that parties to alternative entity agreements are free to order...more

Chancery Rejects Attempt to Disguise Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claim Where LLC Agreement Waived All Traditional Fiduciary Duties

Delaware permits the elimination of fiduciary duties in limited liability company agreements. Notwithstanding, and just like in any other contract, parties to a limited liability company agreement are still subject to the...more

Anonymous Sources in Newspaper Articles Sufficed to Sustain Credible Evidentiary Basis for Books and Records Demand Investigating...

Stockholders in a Delaware corporation are entitled to inspect certain of the company’s books and records, under Delaware General Corporation Law Section 220. A prerequisite to inspection is that the stockholder has a proper...more

Key Takeaways from Recent Delaware Restrictive Covenant Case Law

Partners Vincent Cannizzaro and Barnaby Grzaslewicz recently presented Recent Developments in Delaware Restrictive Covenant Case Law: The Alternative Entity Creep, providing key insights into how Delaware’s courts are...more

Chancery Decision Provides Instructive Guidance on Referencing Private Agreements in Corporate Charters and Bylaws

Seavitt v. N-able, Inc., C.A. No. 2023-0326-JTL (Del. Ch. July 25, 2024) - Earlier this year, the Court of Chancery in West Palm Beach Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Moelis (“Moelis”) invalidated a stockholders’ agreement...more

Chancery Finds that Would-Be Caremark Plaintiffs Failed to Plead Demand Futility

Bricklayers Pension Fund of W. Pa. v. Brinkley, C.A. No. 2022-1118-MTZ (Del. Ch. July 12, 2024) - In derivative cases where a stockholder-plaintiff has not made a pre-suit demand on the board of directors, demand futility...more

Superior Court CCLD Holds that Lack of Agency Relationship Between Founders and Seller Prevents Imputation of Fraud to Seller

Pinnacle IV, L.P. v. Cyberlabs AI Holdings Ltd., C.A. No. N23C-04-021 MAA CCLD (Del. Super. July 11, 2024) - Who can be held liable for a fraudulent statement is often a key issue in fraud claims. In this decision from...more

Delaware Superior Court Holds That Attorney-Client Privilege Was Retained By Seller Post-Merger

Biomerieux, Inc. v. Rhodes, C.A. No. N23C-10-067 (Del. Super. May 9, 2024). The default rule in Delaware is that the attorney-client privilege transfers from the target corporation to the surviving corporation in a...more

Delaware Supreme Court Reverses MFW Dismissal Due to Inadequate Disclosures Regarding Special Committee’s Advisors’ Material...

City of Sarasota Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Inovalon Holdings Inc., No. 305, 2023 (Del. May 1, 2024). The Delaware Supreme Court’s decision in Khan v. M & F Worldwide Corp. (“MFW”) established a cleansing process for a...more

Minority Stockholder Was Not a Controller Because Plaintiff Did Not Adequately Plead Actual Control of the Company’s Business...

It is axiomatic that directors and officers of a Delaware corporation owe fiduciary duties to stockholders (and the company). Controlling stockholders also owe fiduciary duties. A stockholder is deemed a controller either...more

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

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

Del. Exclusive Forum Selection Clause Does Not Bind Contracting Party’s Managers, Principals, Owners Who Do Not Directly Benefit...

Parties to transaction agreements often choose Delaware as the exclusive forum for disputes arising out of their transactions. This is common, where the parties are from diffuse geographic locations, but desire a single forum...more

Superior Court Dismisses Aiding and Abetting Claim Against Officers

RGIS International Transition Holdco LLC v. Retail Services WIS Corp., C.A. No. N21C-12-077 (Del. Super. February 13, 2024) - Under Delaware law, a corporation generally cannot conspire with its own officers, directors, or...more

Chancery Invokes the Implied Covenant to Invalidate Shareholder Rights Plan

Whitestone REIT Operating Partnership L.P. v. Pillarstone Capital REIT, C.A. No. 2022-0607-LWW (Del. Ch. Jan. 25, 2024) - In Delaware, the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is inherent in all contracts and...more

Chancery Orders LLC’s Dissolution as Sanction

Kaufman v. DNARx LLC, C.A. No. 2022-0968-KSJM; C.A. No. 2022-0982-KSJM (Del. Ch. Dec. 29, 2023) (ORDER) - The Court of Chancery has broad power to address litigation misconduct....more

Chancery Largely Denies Books-and-Records Inspection Exploring Dividend Potential

Greenlight Capital Offshore Partners, LTD., v. Brighthouse Financial Inc., C.A. No. 2022-1067-LWW (Del. Ch. Nov. 20, 2023) - Valuation is a well-established proper purpose to inspect corporate books and records. While each...more

Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Busted-Deal Decision and Attorneys’ Fees for Contingency Fee Based Representation

Energy Transfer LP v. The Williams Companies, Inc., No. 391, 2022 (Del. Oct. 10, 2023) - Busted-deal litigation is commonplace in Delaware and often requires Delaware courts to interpret provisions in merger agreements...more

Supreme Court Upholds Contractual Voidness Provision in LLC Agreement

Holifield v. XRI Investment Holdings, LLC, No. 407, 2022 (Del. Sept. 7, 2023) - This decision concerned the disputed transfer of a member's LLC units. Below, the Court of Chancery held that the disputed transfer was...more

Chancery Limits Section 220 Books-and-Records Production to Formal Board Materials

In re Zendesk, Inc. Section 220 Litigation, C.A. No. 2023-0454-BWD (Del. Ch. Aug. 25, 2023) - The background of this books-and-records decision involved a failed acquisition, a strategic review, a proxy contest, and a...more

Chancery Finds Member Breached LLC Agreement in Unilaterally Dissolving the Company

VH5 Capital, LLC v. Jeremiah Rabe, C.A. No. 2020-0315-NAC (Del. Ch. June 30, 2023) - The at-issue LLC had two members – the defendant and the plaintiff, both of whom also constituted the company's board. The company never...more

Chancery Finds Restrictive Covenant in Stock Purchase Agreement is Unreasonable and Unenforceable

Intertek Testing Servs. NA, Inc., C.A. No 2022-0853-LWW (Del. Ch. Mar. 16, 2023) - Delaware courts do not mechanically enforce non-competes. Instead, the non-compete must be reasonable in scope and duration and advance a...more

Chancery Holds That Party’s Untimely Counterclaim Cannot Avoid Laches Defense By Invocation of Unclean Hands

Thomas D. Murray et al. v. Shannon Rolquin et al., C.A. No 2018-0819-KSJM (Del. Ch. Mar. 9, 2023) - In the Court of Chancery, untimely equitable claims may be time-barred by the doctrine of laches. However, a belated...more

Chancery Declines to Modify Status Quo Order to Allow Partial Performance of Pending Settlement

In re AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, Consol. C.A. No. 2023-0215-MTZ (Del. Ch. Apr. 5, 2023) - In various contexts, upon request or stipulation, the Court of Chancery will impose status quo orders,...more

Chancery Examines Director’s Personal Ties and Dismisses Duty of Loyalty Claim

In re Orbit/FR, Inc. S’holders Litig., C.A. No. 2018-0340-SG (Jan. 24, 2023) - This decision involved a stockholder challenge to a merger between Orbit and its controller, Microwave Vision....more

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