Highlights & Analysis of Key Decisions from Delaware's Supreme Court & Court of Chancery
In re Countrywide Corp. S’holders Litig., 2009 WL 2595739 (Del. Ch., Aug. 24, 2009), read letter decision here. The Chancery Court’s separate letter decision of August 28, 2009 approving legal fees relating to the settlement in this case can be read here.
Prior Decisions
The prior decision of the Chancery Court in which the court refused to approve the class…
ACS State Healthcare, LLC v. Wipro, Inc. and Wipro, Ltd., No. 4385-VCP (Del Ch., July 23, 2009), read Order here; and
In Re: Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc., No. 4602-CC (Del. Ch., June 12, 2009), read Order here.
The two above Orders of the Delaware Court of Chancery, in unrelated cases, are noteworthy…
PharmAthene, Inc. v. SIGA Technologies, Inc., No. 2627-VCP, (Del. Ch., July 10, 2009), read letter decision here. Read summary of prior opinion of the Chancery Court in this case here.
Issues Addressed
This ruling addressed two issues: (i) under what circumstances is an attorney/client relationship created; and (ii) whether the attorney/client privilege applies to in-house counsel…
Professor Stephen Bainbridge, a nationally recognized corporate law scholar, provided today here a learned analysis of the duties owed to preferred stockholders, compared with common stockholders, and contrasted with bondholders. His discussion was prompted by a review here, of the Delaware Chancery Court decision In Re: Trados Incorporated Shareholder Litigation, No. 1512-CC (July…
The plaintiffs in Sokol Holdings, Inc. v. Dorsey & Whitney, LLP, No. 3874-VCS (Del. Ch. Aug. 5, 2009), read opinion here, brought suit in the Delaware Court of Chancery against the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney LLP (“Dorsey”) alleging professional negligence and breach of fiduciary duties based on claims of overbilling, improper billing of…
Case Financial, Inc. v. Alden, No. 1184-VCP (Del. Ch., Aug. 21, 2009), read opinion here.
Two prior decisions by the Delaware Chancery Court in this case were previously reviewed on this blog and are available here.
Background
This Chancery Court opinion contains the findings of fact and conclusions of law based on a trial held in…
In Cephalon, Inc. v. Johns Hopkins University, No. 3505-VCP (Del. Ch. Aug. 18, 2009) read opinion here, while ruling on two motions to compel, Vice Chancellor Parsons addressed a couple of the most expensive and time consuming segments of discovery: (i) privilege review and the content and detail required in privilege logs for information withheld due…
General Motors Corporation v. Grenier, No. 453, 2007 (Del. Supr., August 24, 2009), read opinion here. A prior decision of the Supreme Court in this case was highlighted here.
In this opinion, the Delaware Supreme Court addresses issues related to whether or not the trial court properly allowed expert testimony after a Daubert hearing that lasted 4 days. Delaware’s…
Professor Larry Ribstein, a leading scholar on the "law and economics of law firms", discusses here the front page article in today’s Wall Street Journal that predicts a decline in the prevailing practice of lawyers billing by the hour, and the good professor also provides his own analysis of the issues involved in this challenge (spearheaded by…
In re National City Corp. Shareholders Litigation, No. 4123-CC (Del. Ch. July 31, 2009), read opinion here.
Kevin Brady, a highly respected Delaware litigator, provided this synopsis.
In this case, the Court of Chancery approved a settlement agreement, certified a class, and awarded attorneys fees and expenses in the amount of $400K instead of the…