Coverage Litigation Leapfrog: Why Venue Matters and How to Avoid Pre-emptive Strike Actions
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 267: Listen and Learn -- UCC 2-207 ("The Battle of the Forms")
Podcast: IP Life Sciences Landscape: Aiding Orange and Purple Book Patent Owners in Developing PTAB Survival Skills
Meritas Capability Webinar - Controlling Where to Fight and Who Pays for it?
In EpicentRx, Inc. v. Superior Court, Case No. S282521, 2025 WL 2027272 (Cal. July 21, 2025), the California Supreme Court held that forum selection clauses may be enforced against California plaintiffs even when the selected...more
Delaware corporations headquartered in California can now successfully move to dismiss investor suits filed in California when the corporations’ governing documents contain forum selection clauses mandating the Delaware Court...more
On July 21, 2025, the California Supreme Court issued an opinion in EpicentRx, Inc. v. Superior Court of San Diego County, overturning the lower courts’ decision to decline enforcement of a forum selection clause requiring...more
On July 21, 2025, the California Supreme Court issued a decision in EpicentRx, Inc. v. Superior Court of San Diego County, which held that an exclusive forum-selection clause designating a forum where a civil jury trial would...more
Last month in Bullock v. Rivian Automotive, California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal became the latest to enforce a federal forum provision (FFP) embedded in a Delaware corporation’s charter and affirmed dismissal of a...more
In Drulias v. 1st Century Bancshares, Inc. 30 Cal. App. 5th 696 (2018), the plaintiff was a shareholder in a Delaware corporation whose board of directors approved a merger agreement and at the same time adopted a forum...more
In a letter ruling, the Delaware Chancery Court held that where neither the target nor the acquiror was a Delaware entity, the transaction documents between the parties could not confer jurisdiction in the Chancery Court...more
Forum-selection provisions have become an increasingly common tool for managing corporate litigation risks. By including these provisions in their charters or bylaws, corporations can designate an exclusive forum — most...more
Ten years ago, I questioned in this space whether a Delaware forum selection charter provision would survive constitutional scrutiny if it involved a de facto waiver of a jury trial...more
Companies that are serious about managing director and officer litigation risk have been adopting choice of forum provisions. Such provisions continue to permit shareholders to sue directors and officers if shareholders want...more
On June 1, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion that makes it more difficult for shareholders to bring Section 11 claims against companies that go public via direct listings. The case involved a...more
In a recent 6-5 ruling, an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a derivative suit asserting Exchange Act violations against The Gap, Inc. and its directors. The district court had dismissed the suit —...more
On October 28, 2022, Vice Chancellor Morgan T. Zurn of the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that the declaratory action brought by Buzzfeed Inc. against 91 current and former employees is not bound by arbitration provisions...more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently agreed to rehear en banc the dismissal—based on a Delaware exclusive forum selection bylaw provision—of a shareholder derivative suit asserting violations of Section 14(a) of the...more
In Lee v. Fisher, 34 F.4th 777 (9th Cir. 2022), the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a shareholder derivative suit against The Gap Inc. (Gap), alleging violations of Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of...more
S’holders Rep. Serv. LLC v. DC Capital Partners Fund II, L.P., C.A. No. 2021-0465-KSJM (Del. Ch. Feb. 14, 2022) - While the Court of Chancery has exclusive subject matter jurisdiction over claims and remedies sounding in...more
Earlier this year the United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Ninth Circuits each addressed the question of whether an exclusive forum provision adopted by a Delaware company and requiring derivative litigation...more
As we have previously discussed, Lee v. Robert J. Fisher et al., Case No. 20 Civ. 6163 (N.D. Ca.), is one of a growing number of derivative lawsuits brought against public companies (in this case, The Gap Inc.) alleging...more
The Seventh Circuit issued a resounding message: Delaware forum selection clauses in corporate bylaws cannot lawfully prevent a plaintiff from bringing claims under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act or the...more
A recent ruling by the Seventh Circuit in Seafarers Pension Plan v. Bradway addresses the issue of where shareholder derivative lawsuits may be filed when the company at issue has a forum selection clause in its bylaws. The...more
As discussed in a previous client alert, The Boeing Company (Boeing) has faced shareholder litigation arising from the fatal crashes of two 737 MAX airplanes. In one such derivative suit filed under Section 14(a) of the...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 companies' stated...more
The rash of shareholder derivative actions alleging violations of fiduciary duties tied to companies’ diversity measures are continuing to take a beating in the Northern District of California. We previously posted about the...more
We have discussed in previous alerts a spate of shareholder lawsuits alleging corporate fiduciary breaches and securities law violations tied to the defendant company’s alleged failure to fulfill diversity aspirations. ...more
This week, another shareholder derivative suit was dismissed based on a forum selection clause contained in the company’s bylaws. In November 2020, a shareholder filed a derivative action alleging that directors and officers...more