A recent Delaware Court of Chancery opinion is noteworthy for its many quotable judicial words of wisdom about motions for reargument pursuant to Rule 59(f).  In Manti Holdings, LLC v. Authentix Acquisition Company, Inc., C.A. No. 2017-0887-SG (Del. Ch. Aug. 14, 2019), the court described a meritorious motion for reargument as a “useful tool if used as designed, to forestall a final opinion in which the judge has disregarded matters of law or fact, or has inadvertently failed to respond to an argument of counsel.”

More Quotable Words of Wisdom, re: Motions for Reargument

  • Motions for reargument are described in this decision as: a tool that “generally serves best left in the sheath . . ..” The court finds them rarely useful and more often a waste of cost and effort by the litigants and the court for no purpose.
  • The court acknowledged that the rare well-founded motion for reargument is “beneficial to the system of justice–and the time and effort of both bench and appellate judges–as well as to the client.”

On a substantive level, the court observed that the DGCL does not explicitly prohibit contractual modification or waiver of appraisal rights, nor does it require a party to exercise its statutory appraisal rights. See 8 Del. C. § 262.  Such a modification or waiver would supplement the DGCL, and is not inconsistent with, nor contrary to, the DGCL. See Slip op. at 10.

Procedural Aspects:

In this particular opinion, the court focused on the issues that the parties emphasized during oral argument and did not address a predicate issue that was largely missing from the oral argument. The court acknowledged that the omitted issue was fairly raised in the briefing and this opinion rectifies that omission. Nonetheless, however “well-taken” the motion for reargument was, the court found it necessary to deny the motion.