The recent Delaware Supreme Court decision in AB Stable VIII LLC v. MAPS Hotels and Resorts One LLC, Del. Supr., No. 71, 2021 (Dec. 8, 2021), has already been the subject of many articles in the few days since it was released because it is the first definitive pronouncement by Delaware’s High Court on the breach of what is known as an “ordinary course covenant” in connection with how a business is managed between the date an agreement of sale is signed and the date of closing. The Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s decision, 2020 WL 7024929 (Del. Ch., Nov. 30, 2020), that the Seller breached its covenant that it would not deviate from how the business was typically run–without the Buyer’s consent–notwithstanding the intervening worldwide pandemic.

Although I typically eschew highlights of decisions such as this one that have already been the focus of widespread analysis in legal publications, this decision has such widespread applicability to basic contract disputes, in addition to the sale of businesses, that I decided to provide a few pithy observations. I encourage readers to also read the copious commentary published by many others on this case that provides more detailed background facts and thorough insights.

Basic Facts

The basic facts involved the sale of 15 hotel properties for $5.8 billion. In response to the pandemic and without the Buyer’s consent, the Seller made drastic changes to its hotel operations. The transaction also featured fraudulent deeds for some of the hotel properties. The lengthy Court of Chancery opinion provided extensive details about what the court regarded as active concealment or failure to disclose that fraud by the Seller’s law firm. The Supreme Court’s opinion references the failure to disclose the fraud, and repeats the Court of Chancery’s findings on that aspect of the case–that could be the topic for a separate article–but the High Court’s decision focuses on the impact of the violation of the ordinary course covenant as a sufficient basis to uphold Chancery’s decision. Among the changes made by the Seller without the Buyer’s approval (which could not have been unreasonably withheld) were the closure of two hotels, thirteen hotels “closed but open”, and the layoff or furlough of over 5,200 full-time-equivalent employees.

Highlights of Court’s Analysis 

  • The Court explained that an ordinary course covenant “in general prevents sellers from taking any actions that materially change the nature or quality of the business that is being purchased, whether or not those changes were related to misconduct.” See Slip op. at 25 and n. 42.
  • The agreement did not refer to what was ordinary in the industry in which the Seller operated. Rather, the ordinary course language referred only to the Seller’s operation in the ordinary course–and consistent with past practice in all material respects measured by its own operational history. Slip op. at 27 and n. 55-56.
  • Nor did the covenant have a reasonable efforts qualifier–although other parts of the agreement did. If the agreement referred to industry standards, it would be more akin to a commercially reasonable efforts provision, which it was not. Slip op. at 28 and n. 58
  • The High Court rejected the Seller’s reliance on FleetBoston Financial Corp. v. Advanta Corp., 2003 WL 240885 (Del. Ch. Jan. 22, 2003), as inapposite, but instead the Court relied on a Chancery decision interpreting an ordinary course covenant in Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. v. Apollo (Mauritius) Holdings Pvt. Ltd., 2014 WL 5654305 (Del. Ch. Oct. 31, 2014).
  • The Supreme Court affirmed Chancery’s reasoning that the drastic actions taken in response to the pandemic were both inconsistent with past practices and far from ordinary. Although the Seller could have timely sought the Buyer’s approval before making drastic changes in response to the pandemic, it did not. Having failed to do so, the Seller breached the ordinary course covenant and excused the Buyer from closing. Slip op. at 33.
  • The MAE provision in the agreement was written differently and had to be interpreted differently, and independently, from the ordinary course covenant, because, for example, it did not restrict a breach of the ordinary course covenant to events that would qualify as an MAE. The parties knew how to provide for such a limitation, as they did elsewhere, but they did not do so in the ordinary course covenant. Slip op. at 34.

Postscript: We are grateful to Prof. Bainbridge for sharing this post on LinkedIn.