The Delaware Supreme Court recently issued a highly anticipated decision in Salzberg v. Sciabacucchi, No. 346-2019 (Del. Mar. 18, 2020). Many law professors and other commentators have written much learned commentary and published extensive scholarly analysis of the issues raised in the Court of Chancery’s decision, and have opined on what the Supreme Court was … Continue Reading
This post was prepared by Frank Reynolds, who has been following Delaware corporate law, and writing about it for various legal publications, for over 30 years. In a milestone opinion, the Delaware Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s corporation law permits Delaware chartered companies to designate the federal courts for all shareholder securities suits … Continue Reading
This post was prepared by Frank Reynolds, who has been following Delaware corporate law, and writing about it for various legal publications, for over 30 years. The Delaware Supreme Court recently advised a federal appeals court that the state’s partnership law bars a limited liability partnership formed by three Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC employees from continuing … Continue Reading
Yesterday, on the same date as the announcement that the Governor of Delaware required the closure of “non-essential businesses” (that apparently is defined not to include law firms), the Delaware Supreme Court ordered, in essence, all Delaware Courts closed to the public until April 15 (e.g., for in-person access) due to the pandemic that has … Continue Reading
By Delaware Supreme Court Order, effective March 16, 2020, Delaware’s high court declared a judicial emergency, following the Governor of Delaware declaring on Friday, March 13, a state of emergency due to the coronavirus, and also on the same day that President Trump proclaimed a National Emergency. The foregoing hyperlink provides the actual Court Order. One … Continue Reading
According to the World Health Organization this afternoon, and a televised announcement from the President of the United States this evening, a novel coronavirus (Covid-19) has now been declared to be a worldwide pandemic. Two other examples of how serious this situation is: The President announced a travel ban from most of Europe to the U.S. … Continue Reading
Other than the relatively sparse wording of Rule 28 of the Delaware Supreme Court on the topic, there is a relative paucity of commentary or case law to provide practical, detailed guidance on the requirements for obtaining approval to file an amicus curiae brief before the Delaware Supreme Court, and related instructions for the permissible … Continue Reading
In a departure from the manner in which most cases have been highlighted on these pages, this post includes a collection of short blurbs about recent Delaware corporate and commercial decisions, identifying the key issues addressed, with a link to the whole opinion. This experimental approach to highlighting recent decisions was prompted by a combination … Continue Reading
This post was prepared by Frank Reynolds, who has been following Delaware corporate law, and writing about it for various legal publications, for over 30 years. The Delaware Supreme Court recently ruled that the Court of Chancery wrongly decided to move a Swiss holding company’s dispute over Allomet Corp.’s stock from Delaware to Austria, even … Continue Reading
This post was prepared by Frank Reynolds, who has been following Delaware corporate law, and writing about it for various legal publications, for over 30 years. Delaware’s high court has reversed the dismissal of charges that Jive Communications Inc. fraudulently duped KnighTek LLC’s owner into accepting a million-dollar discount in its payment for his telecom … Continue Reading
This post was prepared by Frank Reynolds, who has been following Delaware corporate law, and writing about it for various legal publications, for over 30 years. The Delaware Supreme Court has affirmed the dismissal of a shareholder’s suit against Uber Technologies Inc.’s directors who approved their CEO’s “flawed” purchase of a self-driving car developer run … Continue Reading
The Delaware Supreme Court recently issued an opinion that defined the words “securities claim” for purposes of determining coverage under a D&O policy. Kevin LaCroix, on his popular blog called The D&O Diary, provided recently a comprehensive overview and analysis of this decision styled In Re Verizon Insurance Coverage Appeals, Del. Supr., No. 558, 2018 … Continue Reading
A recent Delaware Supreme Court opinion provides a tutorial on the standards imposed on Delaware lawyers when a deponent, who is the lawyer’s client, engages in inappropriate conduct during a deposition. See Shorenstein Hays-Nederland Theaters LLC Appeals, Nos. 596, 2018 and 620, 2018 (Del. Supr. June 20, 2019). My overview of the decision was the focus of … Continue Reading
The Delaware Supreme Court recently announced a decision of great importance for stockholder demands under Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. In Tiger v. Boast Apparel, Inc., No. 23, 2019 (Del. Supr. Aug. 7, 2019), the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that: (i) although inspection of records demanded by stockholders pursuant to Section 220 … Continue Reading
A recent Delaware Supreme Court opinion addressed the independence and disinterestedness of corporate directors in the context of adequately pleading pre-suit demand futility as a prerequisite for pursuing a derivative claim. In Marchand v. Barnhill (Del. June 19, 2019), the court reversed the Court of Chancery’s dismissal of the case for failure to establish demand futility. … Continue Reading
Over the last 14 years that I have published this blog, I have compiled an annual review with a list of key Delaware corporate and commercial decisions that have widespread utility to practitioners, especially those court decisions that are not widely covered by other legal publications or the mainstream press. On a few occasions, I have prepared a mid-year … Continue Reading
A recent Delaware Supreme Court decision is noteworthy for: (1) addressing damages for breach of consent-rights, as well as (2) discussing the concept of efficient breach. In Leaf Invenergy Company v. Invenergy Renewals LLC, No. 308, 2018 (Del. Supr., May 2, 2019), the en banc court also engaged in a rare reversal of a Court … Continue Reading
Mitchell Mengden, a second-year law student at the Georgetown University Law Center, who will be clerking at the Delaware Court of Chancery for the 2020 term, prepared the following synopsis: The Delaware Supreme Court, in a per curiam decision, recently determined that “deal price less synergies” was the appropriate determination of fair value in the … Continue Reading
The Delaware Supreme Court recently clarified the “ab initio” requirement announced in the Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp. case as part of the set of standards that would allow for the BJR standard to apply to a challenged merger. See Olenik v. Lodzinski, No. 392, 2018 (Del. Supr., rev. April 11, 2019). The High Court … Continue Reading
Ameliorating the relative paucity of case law on the prerequisites for successfully motioning the Delaware Supreme Court for approval to file an amicus curiae brief, is a recent Order in the matter styled In re Verizon Insurance Coverage Appeals, Del. Supr., Nos. 558, 560, 561, 2018, Order (Del. Feb. 21, 2019). The Delaware Supreme Court via this Order denied a motion … Continue Reading
The Delaware Supreme Court recently issued an opinion that clarifies the duty of a company to produce emails among its management in a Section 220 case. In KT4 Partners LLC v. Palantir Technologies, Inc., Del. Supr., No. 281, 2018 (Jan. 29, 2019), Delaware’s High Court addressed a demand under Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) Section … Continue Reading
A recent Delaware Supreme Court decision is must-reading for those who need to know the latest iteration of Delaware law on the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. In Oxbow Carbon & Minerals Holdings, Inc. v. Crestview-Oxbow Acquisition, LLC, Del. Supr. No. 536, 2018 (Jan. 17, 2019), Delaware’s High Court provided the latest … Continue Reading
The Delaware Supreme Court, in Akorn, Inc. v. Fresenius Kabi AG, et al., Del. Supr., No. 535, 2018 (Dec. 7, 2018), affirmed in a 3-page order, two days after oral argument, the Court of Chancery’s 253-page decision which was highlighted on these pages, and which is thought to be the first Delaware decision to find that a “material adverse … Continue Reading
The issue presented to the Delaware Supreme Court in Flood v. Synutra International, Inc., Del. Supr., No. 101, 2018 (Oct. 9, 2018), was whether it was proper for the Court of Chancery to apply the MFW standard by: “(i) allowing for the application of the business judgment rule if the controlling stockholder conditions its bid on both of the key procedural … Continue Reading
