The Delaware Court of Chancery explained the reasoning for a specific award of attorneys’ fees based on a post-trial decision earlier this year, highlighted on these pages, that discussed the basis for awarding fees in a case involving breach of fiduciary duty, breach of a restrictive covenant, and related breaches. Arxada Holdings NA Inc. v.
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Advancement Right Barred by Unclean Hands
By Francis Pileggi on
Posted in Court of Chancery Updates
Contract-based rights to advancement of an LLC’s general counsel, that would otherwise have been honored, were denied based on the equitable doctrine of unclean hands, in a recent Delaware Court of Chancery opinion styled In Re Care One LLC Advancement Litigation, C.A. Cons. No. 2025-1286-NAC (Del. Ch. Sept. 24, 2026).
Basic Factual Background
Although…
The Weaponization of Legal Ethics Enforcement Agencies
By Francis Pileggi on
Posted in Commentary
For the last 30 years, I have been writing an ethics column for the national publication of The American Inns of Court called The Bencher. My latest column is about a recent lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against the District of Columbia Office of Disciplinary Counsel for the weaponization of that office…
Latest Delaware Corporate Litigation Podcast
By Francis Pileggi on
Posted in Commentary
The latest episode of the Delaware Corporate Litigation Insights Podcast features M&A deal lawyer Michael Platner, who discusses when deals go bad and the most common provisions of an agreement that are often litigated, such as: earnouts, indemnification, and allegations of misrepresentations. These cases are common fare in the Delaware Court of Chancery and…
Corporate Law, Economics, and Theology
By Francis Pileggi on
Posted in Commentary
Few corporate law scholars have the familiarity with all three of the titular subjects to write about their intersection, and fewer still have written about the overlapping comparisons of all three. But the inestimable Professor Stephen Bainbridge, a favorite of this blog, has contributed to that scholarship in his prior publications. For those interested, we…
41st Annual F.G. Pileggi Distinguished Lecture in Law
By Francis Pileggi on
The Delaware Law School and the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law reprise the annual lecture on corporate law named after my father. Details follow.
The Delaware Law School is pleased to invite you to the 41st Annual Francis G. Pileggi Distinguished Lecture in Law, presented by the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law.
Chancery Awards Damages for Spoliation
By Francis Pileggi on
Posted in Court of Chancery Updates
In a short post-trial letter ruling, the Court of Chancery awarded damages for spoliation of evidence in ATG Capital Opportunity Funds LP v. Lane, C.A. No. 2026-0477-LWW (Del. Ch. Sept. 2, 2026). The record showed that a principal of plaintiff ATG failed to preserve relevant data on his mobile device. The prior post-trial decision…
Chancery: Allegedly Excessive Fees Not Defense to Nonpayment of Advancement
By Francis Pileggi on
Posted in Court of Chancery Updates
This overview was prepared by Rae Ra, a corporate litigation associate in the Delaware office of Lewis Brisbois.
The Court of Chancery recently emphasized again the plaintiff-friendly standard for advancement, rejecting JP Morgan’s objections to approximately $21 million in disputed fees and expenses.
Podcast on Delaware Contract Law
By Francis Pileggi on
Posted in Commentary
In an episode of my Delaware Corporate Litigation Insights Podcast, we discuss with Delaware litigator Sean Bellew a recent Delaware Court of Chancery decision that addresses the prevention doctrine in contract law. When properly applied, it may excuse a party’s nonperformance when the other side prevents it from fulfilling its contractual obligations.
It’s only…
New Treatise Entitled: “The Business Judgment Rule and Stockholder Derivative Litigation” by Stephen A. Radin.
By Francis Pileggi on
Posted in Commentary, Uncategorized
I was delighted this week to receive a courtesy copy of the newest contribution, in hardback, to corporate law scholarship by Stephen Radin as an update to his iconic four-volume treatise on the Business Judgment Rule. It features a Foreword by former Delaware Chief Justice E. Norman Veasey.
What a challenge to do a short…