Delaware Business Litigation Report

Chancery Upholds Written Consent Based on Signer’s Sophistication and Opportunity to Inspect

REM OA Holdings LLC v. Northern Gold Holdings LLC, C.A. No. 2022-0582-LWW (Del. Ch. Sep. 20, 2023)
Delaware is a contractarian state and the presumption is that parties are bound by their agreements. That presumption applies with even greater force when the parties are sophisticated and engage in arms-length negotiations. In this case, the defendant, a 50% member of an LLC, challenged a $10 million financing agreement entered into by the LLC’s other 50% member. That arrangement allowed the lender to purchase an interest in the company. In challenging the agreement, the defendant member argued that the plaintiff did not provide him with the term sheet for the transaction. In this decision, the Court of Chancery upheld the transaction, reasoning that, while the defendant member did not receive the term sheet, the consent for the loan that he signed repeatedly referenced the term sheet, the defendant was a sophisticated party with counsel, and he had the opportunity to inspect the consent and inquire about the term sheet as a matter of basic diligence. The Court also rejected numerous other defenses to enforceability.

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