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Supreme Court Resolves Creditor Fiduciary Claims

Posted In Fiduciary Duty

North American Catholic Educational Programming Foundation, Inc. v. Gheewalla, C.A. No. 521, 2006 (May 18, 2007).

For many years, the rights of corporate creditors to bring breach of fiduciary duty claims against directors has been the subject of much debate. For the most part, commentators have felt there was little need to protect creditors who it was said should protect themselves through their loan agreements. Nonetheless, substantial case law existed that upheld the right of creditors to sue directors.

In this decision, the Delaware Supreme Court has effectively ended the debate. It holds that creditors may not bring a direct claim against directors for breach of their fiduciary duties. This is true whether the corporation is insolvent or is close to insolvent. Creditors may, however, bring derivative claims when the corporation is insolvent because then they are the residuary risk takers for whom the directors should act. While the opinion does not answer this question, it seems likely that creditors may not bring derivative claims when their corporation is close to but not actually insolvent.

The practical affect of this decision is that creditors will need to protect themselves in at least two ways. First, they will need to get personal guarantees from whomever will give them . Second, they will need to tighten and enforce loan covenants. Share
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