In Roseton OL, LLC v. Dynegy Holdings, Inc., No. 401-2011 (Del. Supr. Aug. 5, 2011), the Delaware Supreme Court today denied an interlocutory appeal from a decision of the Court of Chancery that refused to grant a TRO to creditors of Dynegy who sought to enjoin a restructuring that would transfer assets, arguably used for collateral, to “bankruptcy remote” entities which would then borrow $1.7 billion. The Supreme Court’s Order is available here. An overview of the 57-page Chancery opinion, presented last week on these pages, is available here.
Practical Insight: The Supreme Court’s decision came less than a week after the expedited appeal from the Chancery decision and is instructive for practitioners to the extent it addresses the procedure for an interlocutory appeal from the Court of Chancery to the Supreme Court. At least in this case, it was not necessary to wait for Chancery’s ruling on the motion for interlocutory appeal before lodging the appeal with the Supreme Court, which makes its own independent decisions on whether to grant an interlocutory appeal. Interestingly, the entire timeline from the filing of the Complaint to the 57-page Chancery decision to the ruling of the Supreme Court denying the appeal, lasted only two weeks.
UPDATE: The Securities Law Practice Center’s site listed the above-linked summary of the Chancery decision among its “Top 5 Corporate and Securities Blog Posts” this week, here.