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Breach of Duty Delaware Shareholder Litigation

Stinson - Corporate & Securities Law Blog

Chancery Dismisses Three-Pronged Breach of Fiduciary Claims

The Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed three claims in Ritchie v. Baker (6/25). Broadly speaking, the plaintiff failed to adequately plead demand futility under Court of Chancery Rule 23.1 because the complaint did not...more

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

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Sets High Bar for Counterparty Aiding and Abetting Liability in M&A Deals

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The Delaware Supreme Court’s June 17, 2025 decision in In re Columbia Pipeline Group Merger Litigation reversed a $199 million damages award against TC Energy for aiding and abetting breaches by fiduciaries of Columbia...more

Cole Schotz

Plaintiffs Raise Constitutional Challenges to March 2025 Milestone Amendments to the DGCL; Delaware Governor Matt Meyer Files...

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As noted in our prior blog post, on March 25, 2025, significant amendments to the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the DGCL), were adopted by the Delaware General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Matt...more

Wiley Rein LLP

Applying a “Meaningful Linkage” Standard, Delaware Superior Court Concludes Two Lawsuits Do Not “Arise Out Of” Interrelated...

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The Delaware Superior Court has held that an underlying shareholder lawsuit and prior litigation alleging certain common facts did not arise out of Interrelated Wrongful Acts, and did not trigger either the Prior Notice or...more

Hogan Lovells

Solak v. Mountain Crest Capital: fiduciary duties claims abound for SPAC sponsors and directors

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In Solak v. Mountain Crest Capital, the Delaware Court of Chancery found that a stockholder plaintiff pleaded a viable breach of fiduciary duty claim based on an alleged failure of the board of directors of a SPAC to disclose...more

Morris James LLP

Court of Chancery Applies the American Rule and Denies Attorneys’ Fees Despite Fiduciary Breach

Morris James LLP on

In re Straight Path Commc’ns Inc. Consol. S’holder Litig., C.A. No. 2017-0486-SG (Del. Ch. Oct. 29, 2024) - The Court of Chancery in this stockholder class action refused to award attorneys’ fees where the Court found the...more

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP

Governance Insights: Dual Fiduciaries – A Cautionary Tale for Nominee Directors

The latest edition of Davies’ Governance Insights is now available. In this issue, we review the Manti Holdings decision from Delaware. For boards, nominees and nominating shareholders, the decision is a reminder of the...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Holds Defendant Breached Fiduciary Duties by Failing to Distribute Assets Equally During Dissolution of LLC

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Mehra v. Teller, C.A. No. 2019-0812-KSJM (Del. Ch. Sept. 20, 2024) - In this post-trial decision, the plaintiffs claimed that one of the defendants breached his fiduciary duties by failing to distribute assets equally at...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Chancery Court Applies Entire Fairness To State Of Incorporation Conversions

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On February 20, 2024, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery denied in part and granted in part a motion to dismiss a stockholder action against TripAdvisor, Inc. and its parent (together, the...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Rejects Claims Related To The Acquisition Of An Alleged Controller’s Portfolio Company For Failure To...

A&O Shearman on

On December 28, 2023, Vice Chancellor Morgan T. Zurn of the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed derivative breach of fiduciary duty and other claims asserted by a plaintiff shareholder after nCino, Inc. (the “Corporation”)...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Officer Exculpation and the Silicon Valley 150

Effective August 1, 2022, Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) was amended to permit a Delaware corporation to include in its charter a provision eliminating or limiting the personal liability of...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Clarifies Heightened Standard for Recovery of Attorneys’ Fees in Disclosure-Based Deal Litigation

In Anderson v. Magellan Health, Inc., No. 2021-0202, — A.3d —-, 2023 WL 4364524 (Del. Ch. July 6, 2023) (McCormick, C.), the Delaware Court of Chancery addressed the circumstances under which the Court will award a...more

Allen Matkins

A Recent Reminder That Omitting This Averment May Doom A Derivative Claim

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Section 800 of the California Corporations Code applies to actions brought in the name of any domestic or foreign corporation, aka derivative actions.  It is similar, but not the same as, Delaware Court of Chancery Rule 23.1...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court of Chancery Finds Revlon Violation For Founder Who Favored Buyer And Failed To Disclose, And Aiding & Abetting...

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On March 15, 2022, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that the founder and former CEO of Mindbody Inc. (the “Company”) breached his fiduciary duties to stockholders in connection with the...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Delaware Court Extends a Director's Duty of Oversight to Officers—What Could This Mean for Canadian Directors and Officers?

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In the United States, corporate directors owe, as a subset of their duty of loyalty, a duty to monitor and oversee the operations of the company, referred to as the "duty of oversight" in this blog. This duty is known as the...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

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

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