There were significant developments in 2019 as courts continued to issue important decisions in this space and significant legislation impacting the residential mortgage-backed securities (“RMBS”) market came into effect. A...more
1/30/2020
/ Banking Restrictions ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
Capital One ,
Chase Bank ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Debt ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Equity ,
EU ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Fraudulent Inducement ,
Interest Rate Caps ,
Interest Rates ,
Loans ,
Madden v Midland Funding ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Negligent Misrepresentation ,
Non-Bank Lenders ,
Ocwen ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Popular ,
Preemption ,
Regulatory Standards ,
RMBS ,
Securitization ,
Securitization Market ,
Securitization Standards ,
State and Local Government ,
True Lender ,
Trustees ,
UCITS ,
Usury ,
Valid When Made Doctrine
In Lebanon County Employees’ Retirement Fund, et al. v. AmerisourceBergen Corporation, the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered the inspection of the books and records of AmerisourceBergen Corporation, one of the leading opioid...more
1/29/2020
/ Books & Records ,
Breach of Duty ,
Controlled Substances ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Drug Distribution ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Inspection Rights ,
Mismanagement ,
Opioid ,
Pain Management ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Section 220 Request ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
In Channel Medsystems, Inc. v. Boston Scientific Corporation, the Delaware Court of Chancery rejected an attempt by Boston Scientific to terminate and thus avoid consummating a merger agreement with Channel on the grounds...more
1/8/2020
/ Boston Scientific ,
Bright-Line Rule ,
Business Expenses ,
Business Litigation ,
Contract Termination ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equity ,
FDA Approval ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Fraud ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Letters of Intent ,
Material Adverse Effects ,
Materiality ,
Medical Devices ,
Merger Agreements ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
Pre-Termination Notice ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Remediation
The Delaware Court of Chancery’s recent decision, Genuine Parts Company v. Essendant Inc., provides a helpful reminder that Delaware courts will enforce the clear and unambiguous terms of a merger agreement, and will consider...more
Three recent Delaware Court of Chancery appraisal decisions offer a wealth of guidance not only regarding the determination of a merger partner’s fair value, but also regarding elements that potentially undermine a quality...more
In a recent decision arising out of the sale of Cablevision, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued important guidance regarding the interplay between what are commonly regarded as boilerplate merger agreement provisions and...more
On June 21, 2019, in United States v. Lee, Judge Paul G. Gardephe of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an order vacating the guilty plea of a former investment portfolio analyst, Richard...more
6/28/2019
/ Confidential Information ,
Evidence ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Insider Trading ,
Investment ,
Investment Management ,
Personal Benefit ,
SAC Capital ,
Vacated ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Yahoo!
Since the start of 2018, state and, to a lesser extent, federal courts around the country, as well as state legislatures and Congress, have issued decisions or considered legislation having a substantial impact on corporate...more
5/23/2019
/ AOL ,
Appraisal ,
Books & Records ,
Bylaws ,
CBS ,
Commercial Contracts ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Structures ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Transactions ,
Forum Shopping ,
Material Adverse Effects ,
Merger Agreements ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Section 220 Request ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Tesla ,
Trulia ,
Verizon
While the past year, or even eighteen months, was short on landmark federal securities law decisions, there was significant activity on the part of private securities litigants. In 2018, plaintiffs filed 403 new federal...more
5/13/2019
/ China Agritech Inc v Resh ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Cyan Inc v Beaver Cty Emps Ret Fund ,
Cybersecurity ,
Emulex Corp. v Varjabedian ,
Government Investigations ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Regulation ,
Statute of Limitations ,
White Collar Crimes
In a decision as notable for its criticisms of the trial court judge as its contributions to Delaware appraisal jurisprudence, the Delaware Supreme Court in Verition Partners Master Fund Ltd. v. Aruba Networks, Inc. reversed...more
In Vintage Rodeo Parent, LLC v. Rent-A-Center, Inc., C.A. No. 2018-0928-SG (Del. Ch. Mar. 14, 2019), Vice Chancellor Glasscock of the Delaware Court of Chancery found that Rent-A-Center, Inc. (“Rent-A-Center”) properly...more
In Flood v. Synutra Int’l Inc., the Delaware Supreme Court clarified its holding in Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp. (“MFW”). ...more
In September 2017, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (the “Bureau”) brought an enforcement action against the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts for alleged violations of consumer financial protection laws in...more
On October 1, 2018, the Delaware Court of Chancery found in Akorn, Inc. v. Fresenius Kabi AG, et al. that Fresenius was entitled to terminate its merger agreement with Akorn. ...more
On October 16, 2018, the New York State Court of Appeals held that contractual attempts to extend the statute of limitations for causes of action involving breaches of contract are unenforceable because they violate New York...more
10/19/2018
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Mortgages ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Nonconforming Use ,
Quicken Loans ,
Representations and Warranties ,
RMBS ,
Securitization ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Time-Barred Claims ,
Trusts
On August 13, 2018, Vice Chancellor Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered Domain Associates, LLC (“Plaintiffs,” “Domain,” or the “Firm”), a venture capital firm, to pay its former member, Nimesh Shah...more
Two recent decisions by the Delaware Court of Chancery underscore that the outcome of an appraisal proceeding often will turn on the quality of a company’s sale process. ...more
On July 26, 2018, Vice Chancellor Glasscock of the Delaware Court of Chancery denied in part and granted in part Defendants’ motion to dismiss in Sciabacucchi v. Charter Communications Corporation et al....more
On June 11, 2018, in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh, the United States Supreme Court held that the American Pipe tolling doctrine, which suspends the running of the statute of limitations applicable to the claims of individual...more
6/22/2018
/ Appeals ,
China Agritech Inc v Resh ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Class Members ,
Equitable Tolling ,
FRCP 23 ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Fraud ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Subsequent Litigation
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
4/16/2018
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Litigation ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Elon Musk ,
Entire Fairness Standard ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Minority Shareholders ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Popular ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
SolarCity ,
Tesla
In our prior Clients & Friends Memo “Who’s My Lender?” published on March 14, 2018, we analyzed two actions brought against marketplace lenders, one against Kabbage Inc. (“Kabbage”) in federal court in Massachusetts and the...more
In a trio of recent appraisal decisions, Delaware courts declined to use the deal price as the best evidence of fair value, instead using discounted cash flow analyses (“DCF”) and the unaffected market price to determine fair...more
Recent events have made it clear that there is an increased regulatory focus on the conduct of investment professionals in the wealth-management industry. ...more
Over the last several weeks, two notable cases in federal court challenging certain aspects of the business model of marketplace lending companies headed down separate paths. ...more
3/16/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Banking Sector ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Loan Agreements ,
Motion To Stay ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
True Lender ,
Usury
In December 2017, the UK Financial Reporting Council (the “FRC”) proposed revisions to the UK Corporate Governance Code. These revisions will impact companies with a Premium Listing of equity shares in the UK, which are...more