Delaware Business Litigation Report

Court Of Chancery Explains Inspection Rights For A Statutory Trust

Grand Acquisition LLC v. Passco Indian Springs DST, C.A. 12003-VCMR (Del. Ch. Aug. 26, 2016, revised Sept. 7, 2016)

This is the first decision examining the right to inspect the records of a Delaware Statutory Trust. Applying settled law from decisions in the LLP and LLC context regarding whether to read statutory and contractual inspection rights as separate and independent, the Court held that a contractual right to inspection is not subject to the conditions in the trust statute (Section 3819) unless the Trust language says so.  The Court also held that defending against the inspection on the grounds of an improper purpose requires proof of probable harm to the trust if the Court allowed the inspection.

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