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Fiduciary Duty Corporate Officers Delaware General Corporation Law

Woodruff Sawyer

Officer Exculpation in 2025: What the Latest Vote Results Tell Us

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With Delaware’s officer exculpation law now in its third proxy season, how are companies faring at the ballot box? In this week’s blog, my colleague Lenin Lopez offers insight into what’s working, what’s not, and how...more

Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP

Significant DGCL Amendments Expand Protections for Corporate Insiders

Amendments to Section 144 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) broaden safe harbor protections for interested director and officer transactions and extend such protections to controlling stockholder transactions....more

Fenwick & West LLP

Delaware Amends General Corporation Law to Stanch Company Exodus

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On March 25, Delaware adopted significant amendments to §§ 144 and 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law which aim to provide greater clarity and predictability to corporate fiduciaries in light of certain recent...more

Venable LLP

Delaware Enacts Corporate Law Amendments Establishing Safe Harbor Protections for Conflicted Transactions and Clarifying...

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In late March 2025, the Delaware General Assembly enacted, and Governor Matt Meyer signed, bipartisan legislation making significant amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL)....more

Mayer Brown

Delaware Law Alert: A Step-by-Step Approach for Boards Evaluating Conflicted Director, Officer, and Controlling Stockholder...

Mayer Brown on

In perhaps one of the most significant revisions to the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL), on March 25, 2025, the governor signed into law amendments overhauling much of the state’s law relating to conflicted...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

2025 DGCL Amendments Take Effect, Introducing Sweeping Safe Harbor Provisions for Conflict Transactions

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On March 25, 2025, sweeping changes to the Delaware General Corporation Law (the DGCL) took effect (the amendments). The amendments introduce new “safe harbor” provisions designed to cleanse conflict transactions involving...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Delaware Supreme Court: Permissive Business Judgment Rule Applies to Corporate Conversions

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everal 2024 decisions by the Delaware Court of Chancery led some prominent corporate leaders to express frustration over perceived increased liability standards for corporate officers and directors, even publicly advising new...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Finds that Former Employees were “Officers” Entitled to Advancement

Morris James LLP on

Gilbert v. Unisys Corp., C.A. No. 2023-0513-PAF (Del. Ch. Aug. 13, 2024) - In this decision, the Court of Chancery held that the plaintiffs were entitled to advancement of legal fees and expenses from their former...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Delaware Court Affirms High Threshold for Breach of Directors' Caremark Duties

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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

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Recent Delaware Law Developments and Proposed Legislative Responses

The last several months have marked an extremely busy time in Delaware corporate law, with regard to decisions out of the Delaware courts, proposed legislative responses, and shifting market practices. In recent weeks in...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Delaware Courts Confirm High Standard for Breach of Oversight Duty Applies Equally to Officers and Directors

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In the United States, corporate directors and, as confirmed by the Delaware Court in McDonald’s Corp. Stockholder Derivative Litigation (McDonald), corporate officers owe, as a subset of their duty of loyalty, a duty to...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

2023 Delaware Corporate Law and Litigation Year in Review

Wilson Sonsini is pleased to present the 2023 Delaware Corporate Law and Litigation Year In Review. In 2023, the Delaware courts issued many decisions addressing an array of important topics, including director and officer...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Insights: The Delaware Edition - December 2023

In this issue, we discuss recent Delaware court developments regarding officer liability, who can recover “lost-premium” damages, and trends in books and records actions, among other topics....more

Latham & Watkins LLP

California Court Adopts the Caremark Standard for Oversight Claims

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The decision articulates the standard for plaintiffs asserting derivative claims based on an alleged failure of oversight by directors and officers of California companies. Nearly three decades ago in the seminal case In...more

Jenner & Block

Delaware’s 102(b)(7) Exculpation of Senior Officers - One Year Later

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For more than thirty-five years, Delaware law, pursuant to Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Act (DGCL), has allowed Delaware corporations to exculpate their directors from personal liability for damages...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

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Rejects Stockholder’s Section 220 Books And Record Demand In Connection With Corporation’s Expression...

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On June 27, 2023, Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a judgment in favor of a “leading media and entertainment” company with a “substantial presence in Florida” (the “Corporation”),...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

Troutman Pepper Locke

Delaware Court of Chancery Confirms Enforceability of NVCA Covenant Not to Sue for Breach of Fiduciary Duty

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In New Enterprise Associates 14, L.P. v. Rich, the Delaware Court of Chancery held that a covenant not to sue for breach of fiduciary duty, which was contained in a stockholder's agreement and modeled after the NVCA model...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

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Dismisses Caremark Claims Against Directors For Failure To Allege Bad Faith After Permitting Related...

A&O Shearman on

On March 1, 2023, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed derivative claims brought by stockholders for breach of the fiduciary duty of oversight under Caremark against the directors of...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

In Rare Decision, Delaware Court of Chancery Imposes Liability on CEO and Acquiror Post-Trial

On March 15, 2023, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a rare post-trial decision finding a CEO personally liable for millions of dollars in damages for breaching his fiduciary...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

Delaware Court Confirms Corporate Officers’ Duty of Oversight - Lessons for UK Companies

Latham & Watkins LLP on

The US decision reminds UK companies and their officers to identify and report red flags about misconduct in the workplace. Certain shareholders of McDonald’s Corporation (the Company) sued David Fairhurst, the Company’s...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Amendment to Delaware Law Allows Corporations to Extend Liability Protections to Corporate Officers

Saul Ewing LLP on

Section 102(b)(7) of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware was amended to permit Delaware corporations to exculpate certain corporate officers from monetary liability for breaches of the fiduciary duty of care....more

Latham & Watkins LLP

Delaware Chancery Court Extends Oversight Duties to Non-Director Corporate Officers

Latham & Watkins LLP on

Non-director officers may face liability for failing to properly oversee the corporation’s affairs and ignoring “red flags” within their “areas of responsibility.” Key Points: ..The McDonald’s Corporation’s response...more

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