News & Analysis as of

Board of Directors Shareholder Litigation DE Supreme Court

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

Delaware Supreme Court reverses acquirer’s aiding and abetting liability, setting high bar, following precedent set by its recent...

On June 17, 2025, the Delaware Supreme Court (Court), sitting en banc, reversed a Court of Chancery ruling that had held a bidder liable for aiding and abetting fiduciary breaches of the target’s management....more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Reverses Court of Chancery on Standard of Review Applicable to Reincorporation Transactions in...

In its unanimous decision rendered on February 4, 2025, the Delaware Supreme Court reversed the Delaware Court of Chancery’s ruling in the widely followed “TripAdvisor” case (Palkon v. Maffei) regarding the standard of review...more

Perkins Coie

When Is a Minority Stockholder a Controller? The Delaware Supreme Court Reaffirms the Ground Rules in In Re Oracle Derivative...

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Controlling stockholders owe fiduciary duties to other stockholders that minority stockholders do not. A holder of over 50% of a corporation’s voting power is clearly a controlling stockholder. As a consequence, transactions...more

Jenner & Block

Delaware Supreme Court Clarifies MFW Framework

Jenner & Block on

On April 4, 2024, the Delaware Supreme Court held in In re Match Group Inc., Derivative Litigation that the entire fairness standard of review applies to all controlling stockholder transactions in which a controller receives...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Caremark Developments: Business Risk Versus Massey Claims

Delaware case law recognizes that directors and officers owe a duty of oversight, and failure to adequately exercise such duty may result in liability. Such claims — known as “Caremark claims” after the seminal decision in In...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Important Ruling for Multi-Class Companies Concerning Class Votes

On January 17, 2024, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a significant decision affirming that the Delaware General Corporation Law (the DGCL) does not require companies with multiple classes of common stock to obtain separate...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Decision Shows Continued Momentum for Caremark Plaintiffs

Vinson & Elkins LLP on

A recent opinion from the Delaware Supreme Court could be viewed by some as expanding plaintiffs’ ability to viably plead a duty of oversight (or “Caremark”) claim against directors. In Lebanon County Employees’ Retirement...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

A&O Shearman

Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Decision Rejecting Fiduciary Duty Claims As To Allegedly Conflicted Acquisition Because It...

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On June 6, 2023, in an opinion authored by Justice Karen L. Valihura, the Supreme Court of Delaware sitting en banc unanimously affirmed judgment in favor of defendant, the CEO/Founder and then-Chairman (the “Chairman”) of...more

Hogan Lovells

Q1 2023 Quarterly Corporate / M&A decisions updates

Hogan Lovells on

M&A and shareholder litigation is off to a busy start in 2023, with Delaware courts issuing several interesting opinions. The Delaware Supreme Court reversed a Delaware Court of Chancery decision, finding that the “maximum...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Developments and Trends in Delaware Law: A Review of 2022 and What To Expect in 2023

On January 24, 2023, Skadden presented the fourth and final part of our 15th Annual Securities Litigation and Regulatory Enforcement Update series, “Developments and Trends in Delaware Law: A Review of 2022 and What to Expect...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Holds that Officers of a Delaware Corporation Are Subject to Fiduciary Duty of Oversight

In In re McDonald’s Corp. Stockholder Derivative Litigation, No. 2021-0324 (Del. Ch. Jan. 26, 2023), the Delaware Court of Chancery (Laster, V.C.) held that officers of a Delaware corporation are subject to a fiduciary duty...more

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

Delaware Court of Chancery Determines That the Duty of Oversight Applies to Corporate Officers

For almost 30 years, the Delaware courts have held that corporate directors are charged with a fiduciary duty of “oversight.” Directors must make sure that their corporations both (1) implement reasonable information and...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Applies MFW Factors to ‘Reverse Spinoff

The Court of Chancery’s decision in In re Match Group, Inc. Derivative Litigation1 is the latest example of how the Delaware Supreme Court’s watershed 2014 decision in Kahn v. M & F Worldwide Corp. (MFW)2 has been applied to...more

Hogan Lovells

Stream TV Networks v. SeeCubic: Delaware court rejects “board only” insolvency exception - Corporate / M&A Decisions update series

Hogan Lovells on

In Stream TV Networks, Inc. v. SeeCubic, Inc., the Delaware Supreme Court reversed the Delaware Court of Chancery’s finding that the board of Stream TV Networks, Inc. (Stream) could sell all of Stream’s assets without a...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Holds Novel Pre-Closing Dividend Transaction Structure Does Not Thwart Appraisal Remedy

In In re GGP Stockholder Litigation, 2022 WL 2815820 (Del. July 19, 2022), an M&A transaction split the merger consideration into two parts: an oversized pre-closing dividend totaling over $9 billion, followed by a nominal...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Delaware Court of Chancery Blesses MFW Process and Dismisses Challenge to Stockholder-Approved Charter Amendment Extending...

On July 29, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a noteworthy decision confirming the broad application of the "MFW" framework—based on the Delaware Supreme Court's decision in Kahn v. M & F Worldwide Corp., 88 A.3d 635...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Supreme Court Reverses Dismissal Of A Post-Merger Suit For Alleged Breach Of Fiduciary Duty Related To Disclosures On...

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On July 19, 2022, in an opinion authored by Justice Gary F. Traynor, a majority of the Supreme Court of Delaware sitting en banc affirmed in part and reversed in part the dismissal of breach of fiduciary duty claims against...more

Proskauer - Corporate Defense and Disputes

Divided Delaware Supreme Court Decision Highlights Issues About Director Independence in Derivative Actions

The Delaware Supreme Court recently affirmed a Court of Chancery ruling granting a Special Litigation Committee’s motion to terminate a shareholder derivative action that had survived a motion to dismiss. The split decision...more

Allen Matkins

A First Sighting Of Zuckerberg Decision In California

Allen Matkins on

Last year, the Delaware Supreme Court adopted a tripartite test for assessing demand futility allegations in derivative actions. United Food & Commercial Workers Union v. Zuckerberg 262 A.3d 1034 (Del. 2021). Under this...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

In re Boeing: Revisiting Potential Director Liability Exposures

Recent rulings underscore the attention boards of directors and management must continue to pay to the risks faced by companies across all sectors of the economy and their potential impact on business operations...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Delaware Courts Simplify Rules for Derivative Actions, Analyze SPAC Fiduciary Duty Review and Clarify Books-and-Records...

Takeaways - The Delaware Supreme Court simplified the pleadings-stage test applied to derivative suits where no demand has first been made on the board. Disputes about stockholder books-and-records requests focus...more

Hogan Lovells

Q4 2021 Quarterly Corporate / M&A decisions updates

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Below is our Corporate / M&A decisions update covering decisions in the fourth quarter of 2021. This update is designed to highlight selected important M&A, corporate, and commercial court decisions on a quarterly basis....more

A&O Shearman

M&A Watch: 'Ordinary Course of Business’ During Not-So-Ordinary Times

A&O Shearman on

On December 8, 2021, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld the Delaware Court of Chancery’s decision that Mirae Asset Financial Group (“Mirae”) was excused from closing a $5.8 billion acquisition of luxury hotels because the...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

The Risk of Overlooking Oversight: Recent Caremark Decisions From the Court of Chancery Indicate Closer Judicial Scrutiny and...

In 1996, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued its seminal decision in In re Caremark International Inc. Derivative Litigation, establishing the conditions for director oversight liability under Delaware law. Adopted a decade...more

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