Delaware Business Litigation Report

Court of Chancery Issues Major Disclosure Law Decision

In re Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc., C.A. 2776-CC (Del Ch. June 19, 2008)

The law of Delaware on when damages may be awarded for failing to make proper disclosures to stockholders in a proxy statement has been unsettled. This major decision resolves much of that uncertainty. The Court has now held:

“. . . this Court cannot grant monetary or injunctive relief for disclosure violations in connection with a proxy solicitation in favor of a merger three years after that merger has been consummated and where there is no evidence of a breach of the duty of loyalty or good faith by the directors who authorized the disclosures.”

The opinion carefully reviews and harmonizes precedent to reach this final conclusion. The net effect then is that the remedy for negligent disclosure violations is an injunction. Of course, as the opinion makes clear, damages may still be available in circumstances where there was a conflict of interest by the directors or they acted in bad faith. The latter would occur, for example, if the directors omitted substantial materials from the proxy statement deliberately to mislead.

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