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Showing 156 posts in Derivative Claims.

Chancery Declines to Dismiss Derivative Claim Challenging Compensation of Goldman Sachs Directors

Stein v. Blankfein, C.A. No. 2017-0354-SG (Del. Ch. May 31, 2019).

Recently, the Delaware Supreme Court held in In re Investors Bancorp, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, 177 A.3d 1208 (Del. 2017) that stockholder approval of director self-compensation plans will shift the standard of review from entire fairness to business judgment only where the stockholders approve a plan that does not involve future director discretion in setting the compensation amounts. In Stein, the Court of Chancery applies Investors Bancorp and declines to dismiss a disloyal compensation claim, notwithstanding that the terms of the challenged compensation plans sought to absolve the directors of self-dealing claims and even though the plaintiff attacked only the compensation amount, not the process by which it was determined. More ›

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Chancery Addresses Pre-Suit Demand Refusal Standard for Special Committees

City of Tamarac Firefighters’ Pension Trust Fund v. Corvi, C.A. No. 2017-0341-KSJM (Del. Ch. Feb. 12, 2019).

Under Delaware law, stockholders who wish to pursue a derivative claim on the corporation’s behalf face an important decision—whether to make a pre-suit demand on the board to handle the suit itself, or bring the suit oneself and plead that the board cannot disinterestedly and independently consider a pre-suit demand under the circumstances. Neither path is easy.  More ›

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Court of Chancery Declines to Expand Dual-Natured Direct and Derivative Claims Under Gentile

Klein v. H.I.G. Capital LLC, C.A. No. 2017-0862-AGB (Del. Ch. Dec. 19, 2018)

Under the Delaware Supreme Court’s Gentile decision, a claim may be dual-natured, meaning partially derivative on behalf of the corporation and partially direct on behalf of the stockholder.  One allure for plaintiffs of successfully pleading a dual-natured claim is avoiding the pre-suit demand-on-the-board requirements for purely derivative claims.  So it is not uncommon for plaintiffs to try to plead and argue into Gentile.  But Gentile has been limited to claims involving deals with a controlling stockholder that unfairly dilute the other stockholders of both economic and voting rights.  The Delaware Supreme Court recently clarified that in its El Paso decision.  And Delaware courts have been cautious in applying Gentile of late. More ›

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Court Of Chancery Limits Zapata Test To Properly Filed Complaint

Busch v. Richardson, C.A. 2017-0868-AGB (November 14, 2018)

A derivative complaint that meets the demand requirements of Rule 23.1 may be subject to later dismissal at the request of a properly formed and functioning special committee under the Zapata decision. Of course, such a request is subject to special scrutiny by the Court. This decision holds that Zapata does not apply in other contexts, such as when a plaintiff has been misled into making a pre-suit demand under the mistaken belief the Board was capable of making a Zapata-like decision.

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Court Of Chancery Dismisses Complaint Alleging Aiding and Abetting Claim

Tilden v. Cunningham, C.A. 2017-0837-JRS (October 26, 2018)

This is an interesting decision for many reasons. It includes a comprehensive analysis of when demand on a board is not excused, when ignoring a forum selection clause constitutes prejudice sufficient to invoke a laches defense and why a named plaintiff cannot also be the attorney on the complaint. Perhaps its more lasting impact will be its holding that when directors are exculpated by a 102(b)(7) defense there cannot be an aiding and abetting claim against a third party who facilitated the actions alleged to be a breach of fiduciary duty.

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Delaware District Court Applies Delaware Demand Standards

Butorin v. Blount, C.A. No. 15-283-LPS (D. Del. September 30, 2018)

In this decision, the Delaware Federal District Court applied the Delaware tests for deciding if demand is excused by the facts alleged in a derivative complaint. In dismissing the complaint, the Court held that simply pleading the Board should have known of business problems is not enough to excuse demand. The decision also notes several other defects in the complaint.

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Court Of Chancery Declines To Approve Derivative Settlement

Stein v. Blankfein, C.A. 2017-0354-SG (October 23, 2018)

This is the rare decision that declines to approve the settlement of a derivative suit. The Court rejected the settlement because the proposed terms required the corporation, as a nominal defendant, to release breach of fiduciary duty claims against the director defendants in return for which those directors would agree to make disclosures already required by law. The Court viewed that agreeing to do what you had to do anyway as providing no real consideration for the release of the claims. This result illustrates the scrutiny the Court of Chancery applies to such settlements that affect corporate and stockholder rights.

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Court Of Chancery Explains Limits On Duty To Know

Marchland v. Barnhill, C.A. 2017-0586-JRS (September 27, 2018)

When something bad occurs in a business, it now seems inevitable that the directors may be sued. The most popular form of suit now seems to be a securities claim based on a failure to have disclosed the danger the entity faced that has now come home to do it harm. This decision shows why securities claims are in fashion for those events. For as it points out, there is not liability under Delaware corporate law for simply failing to prevent harm to the corporation. Something more is needed to show the directors acted in bad faith, such as a red flag warning of the need to act to prevent the harm. Thus, the decision dismissed a complaint that only alleged the directors did not do as much as might have been done to prevent the bad events from harming their entity.

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Court of Chancery Clarifies Nature of Dilution Claims in Charter-Liberty Broadband Equity Issuance and Allows Derivative Challenge to Proceed

Sciabacucchi v. Liberty Broadband Corporation, C.A. No. 11418-VCG (Del. Ch. July 26, 2018)

This is the second notable decision arising out of litigation involving Charter Communication’s equity issuance to its largest stockholder, Liberty Broadband, in connection with other transactions. More ›

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Delaware District Court Stays Twitter Derivative Case Pending Securities Action

In re Twitter Inc. Shareholder Derivative Litigation, C.A. No. 18-62-VAC-MPT (D. Del. July 23, 2018)

Several Court of Chancery decisions discuss the appropriateness of staying a derivative action pending a related securities laws action.  Doing so relieves a company from the tension of having to defend against allegations of wrongdoing carried out by its directors or officers while at the same time a stockholder is seeking to prove those same claims against its directors and officers on its behalf.  A stay also has the advantage of allowing the existence and size of any damages to be firmly established.  This is another decision to add to that line of authority.

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Court of Chancery Requires Bad Faith Disclosure Violations for Demand Futility

Ellis v. Gonzalez, C.A. No. 2017-0342-SG (Del. Ch. July 10, 2018)

The pre-suit demand on the board requirement for derivative litigation usually is not excused solely by a sufficiently pled disclosure violation.  Rather, as held in this decision and recently in Steinberg v. Bearden, 2018 WL 2434558 (Del. Ch. May 30, 2018), to excuse demand on an independent, disinterested, and duty-of-care-exculpated board on the basis that the directors face a substantial risk of liability for a disclosure violation, the complaint must sufficiently plead the disclosure violation was the product of bad faith.  Absent sufficient non-conclusory facts on this point, the complaint will be dismissed.

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Court Of Chancery Dismisses Derivative Complaint Alleging Disclosure Violations

Steinberg v. Bearden, C.A. No. 2017-0286-AGB (Del. Ch. May 30, 2018)

This is an interesting decision for its discussion of when pre-suit demand on the board is not excused for a derivative complaint alleging the directors made improper disclosures to stockholders.  Applying the well-known Rales test for demand futility, the Court’s focus here was on the absence of particularized allegations from which it was reasonable to infer that a majority of the directors deliberately caused the corporation to issue certain allegedly misleading statements.  When that is the case in a suit relying on a bad faith claim, the board doesn’t face a substantial threat of personal liability capable of excusing demand.

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Court Of Chancery Explains When Directors Lack Independence To Consider Pre-Suit Demand

In Re Oracle Corporation Derivative Litigation, C.A. No. 2017-037-SG (Del. Ch. Mar. 19, 2018)

Delaware law requires a derivative plaintiff to make a pre-suit demand on the board unless excused as futile.  Because some level of social and business ties are common among the director-class and because such ties to an interested party is one potential path to successfully alleging a director lacks independence to impartially consider a pre-suit demand, such relationships are an oft litigated topic in the demand context.  Frequently, such connections even when considered collectively are found not to rise to a level negating a director’s ability to consider a demand.  But, as this decision explains, sometimes they are.  While each director-by-director assessment is a highly-factual question, this case is a worthwhile read to understand the type and magnitude of relationships that might call into doubt one’s independence.

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Court Of Chancery Holds Demand Is Not Excused When Only Best Practices Were Not Followed

Wilkin v. Narachi, C.A. 12412-VCMR (February 28, 2018)

Demand on directors is not required when it is alleged that they have violated a statute or rule. But when the claim is only that they violated the "best practices” suggested by an agency, that is not enough to excuse demand on the board.

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Delaware Supreme Court Gives Preclusive Affect To Prior Dismissal In Wal-Mart Derivative Litigation

California State Teachers Retirement System v. Alvarez, No. 295, 2016 (Del. Jan. 25, 2018)

This is an important decision clarifying the rules regarding the preclusive effect a dismissal of a derivative suit may have on a similar suit pending or brought later in Delaware.  This litigation saga involving a bribery scandal at Wal-Mart took some interesting turns, ping-ponging between the Delaware Court of Chancery and the Delaware Supreme Court.  More ›

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