On March 25, 2025, Delaware Governor Matt Meyer signed into law Senate Bill 21, amending Sections 144 and 220 of Title 8 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL). The legislation responds to recent concerns over...more
In Flood v. Synutra Int’l Inc., the Delaware Supreme Court clarified its holding in Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp. (“MFW”). ...more
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 a recent decision in an appraisal action, the Delaware Chancery Court reaffirmed the Court’s reluctance to substitute its own calculation of the “fair value” of a target company’s stock for the purchase price derived...more
In an October 1st decision (In re Zale Corporation), the Delaware Chancery Court dismissed claims that Zale Corporation’s directors breached their fiduciary duties in connection with Zale’s agreement to merge with Signet. ...more
10/14/2015
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Aiding and Abetting ,
Bad Faith ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Duty of Care ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Adviser ,
Financial Institutions ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merrill Lynch ,
Professional Liability ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Revlon Standard ,
Stocks
In an October 2, 2015 decision, Corwin, et al. v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC., et al., the Delaware Supreme Court clarified that once a merger closes, as long as it has been approved by a fully informed vote of the...more
10/6/2015
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Fairness Standard ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Holding Company ,
Merger Agreements ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Revlon Standard ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Stock-for-Stock Merger ,
Stockholder Agreements
In its August 27th post-trial opinion, In re Dole Food Co., Inc. Stockholder Litigation, the Delaware Chancery Court held Dole executives David Murdock and Michael Carter personally liable for $148 million in damages for...more
8/31/2015
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Breach of Duty ,
Buy-Out Agreements ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Dole Food ,
Fairness Standard ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Adviser ,
Independent Directors ,
Merger Agreements ,
MFW ,
Minority Shareholders ,
Popular ,
Private Offerings ,
Stocks
On October 24th, the Delaware Chancery Court dismissed a lawsuit challenging the merger of Crimson Exploration and Contango Oil & Gas. Minority Crimson stockholders alleged that Oaktree Capital Management, Crimson’s largest...more
In a March 14, 2014 decision that has received little commentary, an Ohio federal court in Spachman v. Great American Insurance Co. took the extraordinary step of enjoining a tender offer by Great American Insurance, a...more
On March 14, 2014, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld the Court of Chancery’s 2013 decision in In re MFW Shareholders Litigation, holding that in going-private mergers where there is a controlling stockholder, the use of both...more
On March 14, 2014, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld the Court of Chancery’s 2013 decision in In re MFW Shareholders Litigation, holding that in going-private mergers where there is a controlling stockholder, the use of both...more