In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, explores the extent to which underwriting risks and even claims exposures can arise when a company founder or former executive publicly criticizes his or her former company. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article at a guest post on this site. Here is Sarah’s article.Continue Reading Guest Post: Founder Fights
In the current heated DExit debate over whether companies incorporated in Delaware should reincorporate elsewhere (usually Texas or Nevada), one factor often cited is the expense of litigating in Delaware, usually as a shorthand reference to a contention that plaintiffs’ counsel’s fee awards in Delaware’s court are out of control. This argument typically cites to a few recent cases in which the fees awarded unquestionably were large; recent academic studies have taken the argument further to contend that the fees awarded in some cases were excessive.
However, a more recent study, based on a comprehensive overview of all Delaware court fee awards in the last ten years, challenges the premise that fee awards are out of control; the study finds, rather, that fee awards generally have been within reasonable bounds, and argues that a very small number of outliers should not drive the analysis of the issues. The study concludes that Delaware’s flexible approach to fee awards provides the appropriate incentives for plaintiffs’ counsel and includes safeguards to protect against excessive fee awards. Perhaps most significant in light of the current controversy is the study’s authors’ finding that “we find no evidence that Delaware fees are systematically excessive.”Continue Reading But ARE Plaintiffs’ Counsel Fee Awards in Delaware Excessive?
More than once I have had occasion to write about qui tam actions on this site, primarily in connection with the complicated insurance coverage questions the cases can present. Now, in unexpected and provocative ruling, a federal district court judge has held the False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions to be unconstitutional. While just the opinion of a single district court judge, and therefore without precedential effect outside of the federal district in which it was rendered, the ruling nonetheless is groundbreaking and potentially significant. The potential significance of this development is discussed below. A copy of Middle District of Florida Judge Katherine Kimball Mizelle’s September 30, 2024, opinion can be found here.Continue Reading Federal Court Holds False Claim Act’s Qui Tam Provisions Unconstitutional
As I previously noted (here), late last week a CrowdStrike shareholder initiated a securities class action lawsuit against the company and certain of its executives based on allegations relating to the company’s alleged role in the recent global IT outage. As I think we all fully understood at the time, the company’s legal woes would hardly be contained to that single lawsuit. As might be expected, additional lawsuits have also started to arise, including an action filed against the company on Monday on behalf of all airline passengers whose air travel was disrupted by the IT outage. A copy of the new complaint against CrowdStrike can be found here.Continue Reading CrowdStrike Hit with Class Action Suit Filed on Behalf of Airline Passengers
In this guest post, Frank Hülsberg and Burkhard Fassbach take a look at a recent Reuters special report about the use of cyber hacking and other espionage techniques in litigation and consider the D&O liability and insurance implications. Frank Hülsberg is a Chartered Accountant and Tax Advisor in Düsseldorf, Partner Advisory and Member of the Executive Board at Grant Thornton AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft in Germany, and Burkhard Fassbach is a D&O-lawyer in private practice in Germany. I would like to thank Frank and Burkhard for allowing me to publish their article on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Frank and Burkhard’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Spy Phishing Attacks Against Lawyers and Litigants
Requests for the inspection of books and records pursuant to Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law is an important part of corporate litigation in Delaware. One important issue for these types of proceedings is the scope of documents that these types of requests can reach, particularly when it comes to privileged documents and other pre-discovery material. In the following guest post, Paul Ferrillo and Gregory A. Markel take a look at recent Delaware case law addressing these important issues. Paul is a partner in the securities litigation group at the Seyfarth Shaw law firm and Greg is co-head of the securities litigation group at Seyfarth Shaw. Paul and Greg would like to acknowledge the substantial contribution of Seyfarth associate Sarah A. Fedner to the completion of this article. I would like to thank Paul and Greg for allowing me to publish their article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors of topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Paul and Greg’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Section 220 Books and Records Demands: Can You Obtain Privileged Documents Too?
In the following guest post, Makoto Ikeya, Managing Director, Alpha Financial Experts K. K., analyzes trends in Japanese and Delaware court decisions in appraisal litigation and presents a common recent trend in both jurisdictions to place heavy weight on merger price while highlighting differences on how to assess the fair procedure and other conditions to adopt the merger price as a base for the fair price. A version of this article previously was published on the Alpha Financial Experts’ website. I would like to thank Makoto for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Makoto’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Appraisal Litigation in Japanese and Delaware Courts – Trends of Decisions on the Fair Price
In the following guest post, Richard M. Leisner, a Senior Member in the Trenam law firm in Tampa, takes a look at an unusual and interesting recent decision from the Delaware Chancery Court, Stacey Kotler v. Shipman Associates, LLC (here). Regardless of where you sit, this decision is worth consideration, as the parties had a fully executed stock purchase agreement yet as a result of the court’s decision the intended beneficiary came up empty. As Richie points out, there are some important lessons from this decision. I would like to thank Richie for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to publish a guest post. Here is Richie’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Can a Fully Executed Contract be Unenforceable?