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Shareholder Litigation Business Judgment Rule Mergers

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Don’t Call It a Comeback: A Decade Later, the Corwin Doctrine Still Packs a Knockout Punch

The Delaware Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC1 reshaped the landscape of merger and acquisition litigation by establishing a powerful defense for Delaware companies. Under the Corwin...more

Morris James LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Applies Business Judgment Rule, Dismisses Stockholder Claims Arising from TripAdvisor’s Nevada...

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On an interlocutory appeal from a decision denying a motion to dismiss, the Delaware Supreme Court reversed, holding that stockholder challenges to TripAdvisor’s decision to reincorporate in Nevada were governed by the...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Delaware Chancery Court Dismisses Claims Subject to Entire Fairness

On May 9, 2025, in Roofers Local 149 Pension Fund v. Fidelity National Financial, Inc. et al., the Delaware Court of Chancery granted a pre-trial motion to dismiss, even though the claims alleged a conflicted controller...more

Morris James LLP

Court of Chancery Holds that Stockholder is Not a Controller When Plaintiff Fails to Allege Specific Facts Regarding its Alleged...

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Turnbull v. Klein, C.A. No. 2023-1125-BWD (Del. Ch. Jan. 31, 2025) - One way a plaintiff can rebut the business judgment rule is by pleading a conflicted controller transaction....more

Allen Matkins

Court: Nevada Allows Controllers To Vote In Their Own Interest

Allen Matkins on

Yesterday’s post concerned the recent decision by U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Eskridge in Rowe v. Doris, 2025 WL 963590 (S.D. Tex. Mar. 31, 2025).  The case involved claims arising from the merger of two Nevada...more

Allen Matkins

This Texas Case Illustrates Why Delaware Corporations Are Choosing Nevada

Allen Matkins on

Bright-eyed Athena, the goddess of wisdom, was not birthed of a woman.  Rather, she sprang from the head of Zeus after he swallowed Metis, the pre-Olympian goddess of wisdom...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Delaware Enacts Sweeping Changes to the Delaware General Corporation Law

The Delaware Legislature passed, and Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer signed on March 25, 2025, the landmark Senate Bill 21. Senate Bill 21 amends the Delaware General Corporation Law (the "DGCL") in significant ways, with broad...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

In re Oracle Corporation Derivative Litigation: Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Chancery Court Decision Not to Impose Fiduciary...

On January 21, 2025, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s decision in In re Oracle Corp. Derivative Lit., finding that a less than 50% stockholder does not owe fiduciary duties absent evidence of either...more

Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP

M&A in Brief: Q1 2024

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

Hogan Lovells

In re Tesla: fair price may ameliorate procedural defects under entire fairness review - Corporate / M&A Decisions update series

Hogan Lovells on

Tesla Motors Stockholder Litigation arises out of Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity, a market leader in manufacturing and installing solar energy generation systems. On two occasions in 2015 and 2016, Elon Musk suggested to...more

Goodwin

Delaware Chancery Court Clears Musk of Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claim

Goodwin on

On April 27, 2022, the Delaware Court of Chancery in In re Tesla Motors Stockholder Litigation rendered a post-trial verdict finding for Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, Inc., on claims that Musk breached his...more

BCLP

Delaware Chancery Court Decision Highlights Risks of Liability for Directors in SPAC Deals

BCLP on

A recent Delaware Chancery Court decision highlights the liability risks faced by directors and sponsors of special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) and the importance of robust disclosure in protecting against those...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Fraud on the Board: Material Conflicts Must Be Disclosed to the Board to Warrant Business Judgment Review

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A recent decision by the Delaware Supreme Court emphasizes the importance of fully disclosing material director and officer conflicts of interest in connection with proposed M&A transactions. Indeed, as the Court’s ruling...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Holds That A Special Committee Must Be Constituted Ab Initio In Order To Cleanse A Transaction...

A&O Shearman on

On February 27, 2020, Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III denied a motion to dismiss breach of fiduciary duty claims brought by a former stockholder of Intersections, Inc. (the “Company”), challenging the take-private...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Key Developments in Delaware Corporation Law

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

Troutman Pepper Locke

Delaware Recognizes Reality of Merger Negotiations in Upholding Application of Business Judgment Rule

Troutman Pepper Locke on

In In re Towers Watson & Co. Stockholders Litigation, 2019 WL 3334521 (Del. Ch. July 25, 2019), the Delaware Court of Chancery applied the business judgment rule to dismiss a stockholder suit challenging the $18 billion...more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Dismisses Stockholder Challenge To Merger For Failure To Rebut Business Judgment Rule

A&O Shearman on

On July 25, 2019, Vice Chancellor Kathaleen S. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed a stockholder suit challenging the $18 billion merger of equals between Towers Watson & Co. and Willis Group Holdings plc,...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Dismisses Merger Challenge Concerning Board’s Delegation of Merger Negotiations and Management’s Undisclosed Compensation...

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In re Towers Watson & Co. Stockholder Litigation, C.A. No. 2018-0132-KSJM (Del. Ch. July 25, 2019). The ultimate responsibility for considering a merger falls on the board to carry out consistent with each directors’...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Developments and Trends in US and Japanese M&A

On May 6, 2019, Skadden hosted the Cross-Border M&A Conference 2019, titled “Developments and Trends in US and Japanese M&A.” Key takeaways from the two panel discussions are summarized below....more

A&O Shearman

Delaware Court Of Chancery Applies Corwin To Dismiss Breach Of Fiduciary Duty Claims, Finding Allegations Of A Controlling...

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On March 20, 2019, Chancellor Andre G. Bouchard of the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed class action claims asserted by former shareholders of NCI, Inc. against its former directors for breach of fiduciary duty in...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

‘Partial and Elliptical Disclosures’ May Preclude Corwin Doctrine

Under Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC1 and its progeny, “when disinterested, fully informed, uncoerced stockholders approve a transaction absent a looming conflicted controller,” the irrebuttable business judgment rule...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Getting to Business Judgment in an Interested Transaction: Controlling Stockholder Must Put Procedural Protections in Place Prior...

In Flood v. Synutra Int’l, Inc., No. 101, 2018, 2018 Del. LEXIS 460 (Del. Oct. 9, 2018), the Delaware Supreme Court (Strine, C.J.) held that a controlling stockholder who pursues a merger with the controlled company will have...more

Morris James LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Explains the Ab Initio Requirement of MFW

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Flood v. Synutra Int’l, Inc., C.A. No. 101, 2018 (Del. Oct. 9, 2018) - Under Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp., 88 A.3d 635 (Del. 2014), commonly referred to as MFW, a controller may gain the benefit of business judgment review...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

“Partial And Elliptical Disclosures” Prevents The Application Of Corwin Business Judgment Review

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In the recent decision of Morrison v. Berry, No. 445, 2017 (Del. July 9, 2018), the Delaware Supreme Court issued an opinion of import in connection with the Corwin doctrine. In Morrison, the High Court reversed a dismissal...more

Morris James LLP

High Court Again Denies 'Corwin' Deference Due to Material Omissions Concerning Sale Process

Morris James LLP on

Earlier this year, the Delaware Supreme Court held that Corwin deference was not warranted where a recommendation statement to stockholders disclosed that a founder and board chairman abstained from recommending in favor of...more

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