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Showing 13 posts in Choice of Law.

Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Delaware Choice-of-Law Ruling In Dismissal of D&O Liability Insurance Coverage Dispute


Stillwater Mining Company v. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA et al., No. 24, 2022 (Del. Jan. 12, 2023)
This decision from Delaware Supreme Court addresses choice-of-law questions for D&O insurance contract disputes and cautions litigants to remain consistent in the positions they take before the trial court. The appellant here, an insured under a tower of directors and officers’ liability insurance policies, asserted that Delaware law applied to the claims in its original complaint for coverage of its defense costs in an appraisal action. Following a decision from the Delaware Supreme Court in another matter (In re Solera Ins. Coverage Appeals), which held that an insurer is not obligated to provide coverage for appraisal actions under a similar insurance policy, the insured amended its complaint and, in so doing, argued that Montana rather than Delaware law controlled. More ›

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Superior Court Examines Choice of Law Principles For Mixed Contractual and Non-Contractual Claims

Posted In CCLD, Choice of Law, Superior Court


Arkray America, Inc. v. Navigator Business Solutions, Inc., C.A. No. N20C-12-012 MMJ [CCLD] (Del. Super. June 9, 2021)
Arkray, a Delaware corporation based in Minnesota, manufactures diabetes testing and management supplies. Arkray brought claims against Navigator, a provider of Enterprise Resource Planning software solutions based in Utah, and N’Ware, a provider of custom “add-on” software for warehouse management based in New Hampshire. Arkray had contracted with Navigator under a software and consulting services agreement (the “Agreement”), which provided that it “shall be governed by and construed under the laws of the State of Utah without reference to its conflicts of law principles.” Arkray contracted with N’Ware under a similar “License Agreement,” which provided that it “shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware, United States of America, without reference to its conflicts of laws principles.”  More ›

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Delaware Choice of Law Provision in Stock Purchase Agreement Does Not Eliminate Claim for Fraud under California Securities Act

Posted In Business Torts, Chancery, Choice of Law

Swipe Acquisition Corp. v. Krauss, C.A. No. 2019-0509-PAF (Del. Ch. Jan. 28, 2021)

This decision concerned a motion to dismiss a claim for fraud under the California Securities Act, which the defendants argued was waived by a choice of law provision in the parties’ stock purchase agreement (“SPA”) indicating that “all claims or causes of action (whether in contract, tort or statute) that may be based upon, arise out of or relate to this Agreement or the negotiation, execution or performance of this Agreement … shall be governed by, and enforced in accordance with, the internal laws of the State of Delaware, including its statutes of limitations.” More ›

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Chancery Holds California Statutory Bar to Choice-of-Forum Clauses in Employment Contracts Prevents Exercise of Personal Jurisdiction – Despite Parties’ Choice of Delaware Law and Agreement to Litigate in Delaware

Posted In Chancery, Choice of Law, Non-Competes, Restrictive Covenants

Focus Fin. Partners, LLC v. Holsopple, C.A. No. 2020-0188-JTL (Del. Ch. Oct. 26, 2020).
Delaware law promotes freedom of contract, and Delaware courts enforce contractual choice-of-forum and choice-of-law provisions, including those in employment-related contracts. Recently, however, several Delaware cases have considered whether such provisions can be enforced against non-residents in the face of contrary substantive law or fundamental public policy in their home jurisdiction. In California, a statute (“Section 925”) makes choice-of-law and choice-of-forum provisions voidable by the employee if the provisions appears in an agreement signed as a condition of employment. Here, the Court addressed how to reconcile Section 925 with the parties’ agreement to resolve disputes in Delaware and to apply Delaware law. Specifically, when the defendant (a former employee who lives and works in San Francisco) was hired, he received incentive units pursuant to agreements that contained restrictive covenants and selected Delaware as the exclusive forum for disputes, and selected Delaware law as the applicable law. The plaintiff brought suit in Delaware to enforce the restrictive covenants, and the employee moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. More ›

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Chancery Holds Statutory Rights to Inspect Books and Records of a Delaware Corporation are Subject to the Internal Affairs Doctrine and Governed Exclusively by Delaware Law

Posted In Books and Records, Chancery, Choice of Law

JUUL Labs, Inc. v. Grove, C.A. No. 2020-0005-JTL (Del. Ch. Aug. 13, 2020)

Stockholder inspection rights are a core matter of the governance of a corporation. This decision holds that, pursuant to the internal affairs doctrine, inspection rights for a stockholder of a Delaware corporation are governed exclusively by Delaware law, not by laws of other jurisdictions, regardless of where a company’s principal place of business is located. More ›

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Chancery Applies Contract’s Choice of Law to Related Fraud Claims, Declines to Dismiss Fraud Claims Where Contract Lacked Clear Anti-Reliance Language

Posted In Chancery, Choice of Law, Fraud Claims, M&A

The Anshutz Corp. v. Brown Robin Cap., LLC, 2019-0710-JRS (Del. Ch. June 11, 2020)

In dealing with what the Court of Chancery called “a version of a [commercial] dispute as old and abiding as commerce itself,” the Court provides insights useful to drafters of both pleadings and contracts. More ›

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Delaware Supreme Court Explains That Litigants Seeking Application of Foreign Law Have Burden To Establish its Substance

Germaninvestments AG v. Allomet Corp., No. 291, 2019 (Del. Jan. 27, 2020). 

In reversing the Court of Chancery’s decision that Austrian law applied to the interpretation of whether a forum selection clause was permissive or mandatory, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that, to the extent prior decisions were unclear on the issue, a party seeking the application of foreign law in a Delaware court has the burden not only of raising the issue of the applicability of foreign law under court rules, but also, of establishing the substance of the foreign law to be applied.    More ›

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Chancery Applies California Law Despite a Delaware Choice-of-Law Provision and Dismisses a Claim for Breach of a Non-Solicitation Provision in an Employment Agreement as Unenforceable under California Law

NuVasive Inc. v. Miles, C.A. No. 2017-0720-SG (Del. Ch. Aug. 26, 2019).

When a contract, executed by parties in a foreign jurisdiction, designates Delaware law as controlling, Delaware courts must first determine whether the choice-of-law provision is enforceable. In such cases, Delaware follows the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws for the conflict-of-laws analysis. Under that analysis, Delaware courts will defer to the laws of the foreign jurisdiction if that jurisdiction’s laws (1) would apply absent the Delaware choice of law provision, (2) enforcement of Delaware law over the contractual provisions at issue would conflict with fundamental policy of the foreign jurisdiction, and (3) the foreign jurisdiction has a materially greater interest in enforcement (or non-enforcement) of the provision at issue than Delaware. In NuVasive, the Court ruled that California law would apply but for the contractual choice of law provision.  In an earlier bench ruling, the Court found that California had a materially greater interest on the issue of whether a post-employment non-compete in the employment agreement was enforceable, and it voided the non-compete as violating fundamental California public policy.  In this decision, the Court determined that a one year post-employment restriction on solicitation of customers and employees also violated the fundamental public policy of California as reflected in case law interpreting its business statutes. The Court then held that California had a materially greater interest in precluding non-solicitation covenants as part of its interest in “overseeing conditions of employment relationships” than Delaware had in enforcing its “fundamental but general interest” in freedom of contract.  Accordingly, the Court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment to the extent the plaintiff’s claims were grounded on enforcement of non-solicitation covenants in the defendant’s employment agreement.

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Delaware Superior Court Addresses Choice of Law Issues in the D&O Insurance Context and Requires Carriers to Cover Pfizer’s Litigation Costs

Posted In Choice of Law, Directors, Insurance Policy

Pfizer Inc. v. Arch Insurance Co., C.A. No. N18C-01-310 PRW CCLD (Del. Super. July 23, 2019).

This case from the Delaware Superior Court discusses important D&O coverage exclusion issues that frequently arise during securities litigation.  Pfizer sought coverage from its insurers in connection with the defense and settlement of a securities action in the Southern District of New York.  Defendants, the excess insurers, denied coverage based on “related wrongful acts” exclusions in the policies.  They argued that the action “arose out of” or “shared a common nexus” with another action in the District of New Jersey such that the D&O policies’ exclusion provisions precluded coverage.  Noting that the contract interpretation result would likely be different if applying New York law rather than Delaware law, and that the policies lacked a controlling choice of law provision, the Superior Court first applied the Restatement’s “most significant relationship” test to determine which state law should apply.  Although some of the Restatement Section 188 factors tipped in favor of New York, the Court ruled that application of Delaware law was most consistent with the parties’ reasonable expectations at the time of contracting and with the Delaware choice of law precedent for D&O policies.  For such policies, under Delaware law, the state of incorporation, rather than the state where the corporation is headquartered, has the most significant relationship.  This also was consistent with the parties’ choice of Delaware law in the policies to govern arbitration or mediation of their disputes.  Applying well-settled Delaware law to the interpretation of the policy provisions, the Court found the two actions were not “fundamentally identical.”  Thus, the exclusion did not apply and the insurers were obligated to cover the costs. More ›

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Court Of Chancery Refines Choice Of Law Analysis For Employment Agreements

Posted In Choice of Law

Nuvasive Inc. v. Miles, C.A. 2017-0720-SG (September 28, 2018)

Delaware will enforce non-compete agreements against former employees, but generally California law bars such agreements. This decision explains how to determine which state’s law applies by looking to how important is the public policy of each state on the issue before the Court. Because California does enforce a choice of Delaware law when that choice is the subject of negotiation, not coercion, the Delaware choice of law was upheld. Note that under a different California statue then in force, a contrary result was reached in the Ascension Insurance Holdings v.Underwood case.

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Delaware Superior Court Explains Limits Of Choice Of Law In Contracts

Posted In Choice of Law

Change Capital Partners Fund I, LLC v. Volt Electrical Systems LLC, C.A. N17C-05-290 RNC (April 3, 2018)

This decision holds that a contractual provision adopting Delaware law will generally be upheld.  However, when applying Delaware law will violate the public policy of another state whose law would have applied but for the contractual choice of law, Delaware will not enforce that choice of law.  This distinguishes the Ascension case that declined to apply Delaware law to a non-compete contract that violated California law.

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Delaware District Court Finds That Controlling Stockholder Claim Falls Outside Of Forum Selection Bylaw

Posted In Choice of Law

Anderson v. GTCR, LLC, C.A. No. 16-10-LPS (D. Del. Sept. 29, 2016)

Forum selection bylaws are a powerful tool for companies to avoid the burdens of multi-forum litigation.  But those bylaws only cover the claims falling within their terms.  Where, as here, the bylaw only covers fiduciary duty claims against officers and directors, the bylaw will not be enforced for a fiduciary duty claim against a controlling stockholder.

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Court Of Chancery Explains Section 115

Posted In Choice of Law

Bonanno v. VTB Holdings Inc., C.A. 10681-VCN (February 8, 2016)

Section 115 of the Delaware General Corporation Law addresses forum selection provisions in corporate charters or bylaws. This decision explains how a contract may also select a forum, how to interpret such a contract and how such contractual provisions may be incorporated into other contracts.

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