News & Analysis as of

Fiduciary Duty 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

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

Fenwick & West LLP

Delaware Supreme Court to Consider Constitutionality of SB 21

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The Delaware Supreme Court has agreed to accept questions certified to the court relating to the constitutionality of Senate Bill 21 (SB 21), which was signed into law back in March 2025. ...more

Morris James LLP

Court of Chancery Finds in Favor of Defendants on All Remaining Claims After Remand

Morris James LLP on

Bandera Master Fund LP v. Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP, C.A. No. 2018-0372-JTL (Sept. 9, 2024) - Previously in this case, the Court of Chancery held that a general partner breached a partnership agreement by exercising...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

Jones Day

Delaware Supreme Court Reverses Chancery Court and Applies Business Judgment Review to Reincorporation

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Controlled companies and their directors appealed the denial of their motions to dismiss claims by stockholder-plaintiffs challenging the conversions of the companies from Delaware to Nevada corporations....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

Fenwick & West LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Provides Much-Anticipated Clarity on Reincorporations

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This case stems from the proposed reincorporations of Tripadvisor, Inc. and Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. from Delaware to Nevada, which were first presented to the corporations’ respective stockholders for approval in...more

Baker Botts L.L.P.

Delaware Supreme Court Confirms “Potential” Control is Not Enough to Find Actual Control

Baker Botts L.L.P. on

In an opinion late last month, the Delaware Supreme Court brought a close to the long-running shareholder litigation regarding Oracle’s 2016 purchase of NetSuite. The decision provides instruction for how significant minority...more

Allen Matkins

Delaware Supreme Court Holds That While Timing May Not Be Everything, It Is Really Important When Looking For The Exit

Allen Matkins on

Nearly one year ago, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster decided to apply Delaware's most onerous standard of review, entire fairness, to the decisions of TripAdvisor, Inc. and Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. to reincorporate...more

K&L Gates LLP

The Continued Evolution of Caremark Oversight Liability

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In the last year, Delaware courts have issued several notable opinions that further define—and in some cases expand—the scope of liability for failures of oversight at a corporation. Claims by shareholders that one or more...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Expands MFW Applicability in Conflicted Controller Transactions

On April 4, 2024, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated decision, In re Match Group Derivative Litigation (“In re Match Group”), extending the MFW doctrine more broadly to all conflicted controller...more

Mayer Brown

In re Match Group, Inc.: Delaware Supreme Court Clarifies Standard of Review for Controlling Stockholder Transactions

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In a recent decision, the Delaware Supreme Court clarified the proper standard to apply to a non-freeze-out merger transaction involving a controlling stockholder. Litigators who practice in the Delaware Court of Chancery are...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

Conflict Between Delaware LLC Act and Bankruptcy Code Affects Creditor Toolbox

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As you know from our prior alerts, creditors of borrowers formed as Delaware LLCs (as opposed to corporations) lack standing under Delaware law to sue directors for breaching fiduciary duties even when, to the surprise of...more

Goodwin

Delaware Supreme Court Holds That Boards Must Satisfy the MFW Framework in Controller Transactions to Obtain Business Judgment...

Goodwin on

In 2014, the Delaware Supreme Court held in Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp. (“MFW”) that a court will apply the entire fairness standard of review to freeze-out merger transactions between a controlled corporation and its...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

A&O Shearman

Delaware Supreme Court Holds MFW Is Applicable To Controlling Stockholder Transactions Even Outside Of Freeze-Out Context

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On April 4, 2024, in an opinion authored by Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz, Jr., the Supreme Court of Delaware sitting en banc held that the framework articulated in Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp., 88 A.3d 635 (Del. 2014)...more

Mintz - Bankruptcy & Restructuring Viewpoints

Delaware Bankruptcy Court Grants Derivative Standing to Creditors’ Committee to Sue Members and Officers of Delaware LLC

In early February, a Delaware bankruptcy judge set new precedent by granting a creditors’ committee derivative standing to pursue breach of fiduciary duty claims against a Delaware LLC’s members and officers. At least three...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Decision Shows Continued Momentum for Caremark Plaintiffs

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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

Paul Hastings LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Sides with SolarWinds in Shareholder Suit Related to 2020 Cyber Attack

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On May 17, 2023, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld a September 2022 decision dismissing a shareholder suit against SolarWinds Corporation. In 2021, shareholders sued SolarWinds (“the Company”) for a 2020 cybersecurity...more

Hogan Lovells

Q1 2023 Quarterly Corporate / M&A decisions updates

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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

Paul Hastings LLP

Delaware Court of Chancery Expressly Holds that Corporate Officers Owe a Duty of Oversight

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In a recent opinion, the Delaware Court of Chancery for the first time expressly held that corporate officers, like corporate directors, owe a duty of oversight. In defining the scope of the oversight duty at the officer...more

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