Episode 322 -- Checking in on Caremark Cases
On January 28, 2025, Skadden hosted a webinar on recent developments in Delaware corporate law. Skadden partners Howard Ellin (Mergers and Acquisitions/New York), Ed Micheletti (Litigation/Wilmington) and Jenness Parker...more
In a recent case, Bricklayers Pension Fund of Western Pennsylvania (derivatively on behalf of Centene Corporation) v Brinkley (Centene), Delaware's Court of Chancery dismissed “Caremark duty claims”—named after the 1996 case...more
Over the last ten years, we have seen a marked shift from the Delaware Chancery Court chipping away at corporate board member liability claims. In a number of seminal cases involving Boeing airplane crashes (In re the Boeing...more
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
In Segway Inc. v. Hong Cai, 2023 Del. Ch. LEXIS 643 (Del. Ch. Dec. 14, 2023), the Delaware Court of Chancery (Will, V.C.) dismissed a claim for breach of fiduciary duty brought by Segway Inc. (the “Company”) against its...more
On March 1, 2023, in In re McDonald’s Corporation Stockholder Derivative Litigation, Vice Chancellor Travis Laster of Delaware’s Court of Chancery granted a motion to dismiss derivative claims against McDonald’s directors...more
Last year, we discussed how stockholder complaints concerning environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) issues were making their way to the courtroom and, specifically, how the Delaware Court of Chancery and Supreme...more
The law doesn’t demand that you get things right, only that you tried; the recent dismissal of a derivative lawsuit against SolarWinds Corporation illustrates this perfectly. The cyber catastrophe that was SolarWinds in 2020...more
Takeaways - Delaware courts have become more willing to allow stockholders to pursue claims that directors breached their duty to oversee risk management and compliance. Directors are most vulnerable to suits where they have...more
Earlier this year, the Delaware Chancery Court approved a breathtaking $237.5 million settlement of derivative claims brought against Boeing’s board for breach of fiduciary duties regarding safety oversight. While the Boeing...more
In a derivative action In re Boeing Company Derivative Litigation, Boeing’s stockholders obtained approval from the Delaware Court of Chancery for a landmark US$237.5 million settlement of derivative claims targeting the...more
After Vice Chancellor Morgan Zurn's in September issued his opinion in In re Boeing Company Derivative Litigation, UCLA Professor Stephen Bainbridge declaimed that "After Boeing, Caremark is no longer 'the most difficult...more
The Delaware Court of Chancery on Sept. 7, 2021, allowed a derivative stockholder lawsuit to proceed against The Boeing Company (Boeing), alleging that Boeing's board of directors breached their fiduciary duties by failing to...more
The Situation: A number of shareholder derivative lawsuits in federal court have been filed seeking to hold directors and officers of major companies accountable for alleged failures to uphold their commitment to diversity....more
Consistent with trends in recent years, in 2019 Delaware corporation law largely was shaped by post-closing suits for money damages against directors who had approved mergers and acquisitions. Two Delaware Supreme Court...more
In a recent decision, In Re Clovis Oncology, Inc. Derivative Litigation, the Delaware Court of Chancery held that stockholders of Clovis Oncology, Inc. (“Clovis”), a developmental biopharmaceutical company, adequately pled...more
On October 1, 2019, in In re Clovis Oncology, Inc. Derivative Litigation, a Delaware Chancery Court denied a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims under the Caremark decision against individual directors for failing to...more
On October 1, 2019, Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an opinion in In re Clovis Oncology, Inc. Derivative Litigation, in which he found that stockholder plaintiffs had stated a claim...more
Shortly after the massive 2013 Target data breach, shareholders filed four derivative lawsuits against the company’s directors and some of its officers (13 CARE 624, 3/20/15). The shareholders alleged that the defendants had...more