The news headlines have been dominated in recent days by appalling revelations that leading politicians, entertainers, political candidates and others have engaged in sexual harassment, assault, and even worse behavior. As these stories have emerged, a dynamic has evolved in which the victims come forward with their stories and seek to hold the wrongdoers accountable … Continue Reading
Shareholder derivative lawsuits are notoriously difficult for claimants. In order to pursue a derivative suit, a shareholder plaintiff must overcome numerous procedural and pleading hurdles. Even when cases survive the initial obstacles, the ultimate outcome often consists of little more than the payment of the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees with slight benefit to the company in … Continue Reading
If a “fast filer” plaintiff races to the courthouse in one jurisdiction to file a derivative suit without prior due diligence, should a dismissal of the lawsuit for failure to plead demand futility preclude a separate derivative lawsuit brought be a different , more diligent plaintiff who files in a second forum? On the one … Continue Reading
In a January 22, 2016 Delaware Court of Chancery decision that likely will prove to be significant because of the light it sheds on the future of disclosure-only settlements in merger objection lawsuits in Delaware, Chancellor Andre Bouchard rejected the proposed settlement in the litigation arising out of Zillow’s acquisition of Trulia, saying that because … Continue Reading
Since merger objection litigation became one of the most distinctive phenomena on the corporate and securities landscape, it has been both chronicled and measured in a series of annual papers by Matthew Cain, now an SEC economist, and Steven Davidoff Solomon, a law professor at the U.C. Berkeley. In their latest update, “Takeover Litigation in … Continue Reading
As readers of this blog will recall, Delaware’s courts have held that under Delaware law bylaws designating Delaware’s courts as the exclusive forum for corporate and shareholder disputes are facially valid. Last summer, Delaware’s legislature adopted a statutory provision adding the permissibility of forum selection bylaws to the Delaware Corporations Code. In response to these … Continue Reading
As I have noted in recent posts, several members of the Delaware Court of Chancery have made it clear that they are increasingly skeptical of disclosure-only settlements in merger objection lawsuits. It now appears that the Chancery Court rulings are starting to have an impact at the supply end of the food chain; according to … Continue Reading
Delaware’s courts have recently made it clear that the days where they would routinely approve disclosure-only settlements in merger objection lawsuits may be over (as discussed here). It now appears that other states also are no longer willing to approve these kinds of settlements. In a blistering October 23, 2015 opinion (here), New York (New … Continue Reading
The fact that these days virtually every public company M&A transaction draws at least one merger objection lawsuit has provoked concern from many quarters. As I noted in a prior post, it recently became clear that among those concerned are the judges on the Delaware Court of Chancery. Based on developments last week, including in … Continue Reading
One of the great curses of the corporate litigation environment in recent years has been the proliferation of merger objection suits, the incidence of which has gotten to the point that now just about every large merger deal draws at least one lawsuit, and sometimes several. However, if recent developments in the Delaware Chancery Court … Continue Reading
As I noted in a recent post (here), on June 11, 2015, the Delaware legislature passed legislation prohibiting fee-shifting bylaws for Delaware stock corporations. On June 24, 2015, Delaware’s governor signed the statute into law, as discussed here. As I noted in my blog post about the legislation, though the statute has been passed, a … Continue Reading
In a late night session on June 11, 2015, the Delaware House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed S.B. 75, which prohibits Delaware stock corporations from adopting “loser pays” fee-shifting bylaws and which confirms that Delaware corporations may adopt bylaws designating Delaware courts as the exclusive forum for shareholder litigation. The bill, which previously passed the state’s … Continue Reading
In a detailed May 4, 2015 opinion (here), Vice Chancellor Travis Laster of the Delaware Chancery Court extensively reviewed the rights of an insolvent company’s creditors to pursue derivative claims against the company’s directors. As Francis Pileggi put it in a May 6, 2015 post on his Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation blog (here), Laster’s … Continue Reading
In the face of increasing investor activism, companies have adopted a number of defensive measures. Among these measures are a particular type of provision found in many corporate borrowers loan agreements – requiring the company to repay loans before they are due if a majority of the board is ousted – that are drawing increasing … Continue Reading
According to the latest report from Cornerstone Research, during 2014, over 90 percent of M&A transactions resulting in at least one lawsuit, but each deal attracted a smaller average number of lawsuits and in fewer jurisdictions than in past years. The report, entitled “Shareholder Litigation Involving Acquisitions of Public Companies: Review of 2014 M&A Litigation” … Continue Reading
One of the most distinctive corporate and securities litigation trend in recent years has been the surge in M&A-related litigation, with virtually every deal attracting at least one lawsuit. This trend continued again in 2014, according to a recently updated study from Matthew Cain, an economic fellow at the SEC, and University of California Berkeley … Continue Reading
It is now well-established that pretty much every M&A deal attracts at least one lawsuit from a shareholder objecting to the transaction. According to research by Notre Dame business professor Matthew Cain and Ohio State law professor Steven Davidoff, 97.3% of all takeovers in 2013 with a value of over $100 million experienced at least … Continue Reading
The parties to the Freeport-McMorRan Copper & Gold, Inc. Derivative Litigation have finalized an agreement to settle the consolidated litigation pending in the Delaware Chancery Court in exchange for a payment of $137.5 million and for the company’s agreement to adopt certain corporate governance reforms. The settlement represents the third largest derivative lawsuit settlement ever. … Continue Reading
My post earlier this week about the $275 million Activision Blizzard shareholder derivative lawsuit settlement – and in particular my suggestion that the Activision settlement may be the largest derivative suit settlement ever – provoked an interesting flurry of emails and conversations about the lineup of other large derivative lawsuit settlements. To address the various … Continue Reading
One of the great litigation curses in recent times in the corporate litigation arena has been the rise of merger objection litigation. These kinds of lawsuits, which these days arise in connection with almost every M&A transaction, often are settled for nothing more than an agreement to make additional disclosures and to pay the plaintiffs’ … Continue Reading
One of the more distinctive business trends in recent months has been the surge of so-called corporate inversion transactions, in which a domestic U.S. company merges with a non-U.S. company, with the the successor company to be based in the foreign country in order to take advantage of a more favorable corporate tax regime. These … Continue Reading
In a July 24, 2014 opinion (here), an intermediate Texas appellate court, applying Texas law, affirmed the trial court’s dismissal on forum non conveniens grounds of the Deepwater Horizon disaster-related shareholder derivative suit filed against Switzerland-domiciled Transocean Limited. The court’s ruling is interesting in and of itself, but it may be even more interesting in … Continue Reading
Earlier this year, when Chancellor Leo Strine issued an opinion in the Chevron case upholding the validity under Delaware law of a forum selection clause in the company’s corporate by-laws, a number of questions remained unanswered, including in particular what would happen if, notwithstanding the forum selection provision, a shareholder nevertheless filed an action in … Continue Reading
On June 25, 2013, in a judicial development that may help ease the curse of multi-jurisdiction litigation, ChancellorLeo E. Strine, Jr. of the Delaware Court of Chancery held that forum selection bylaws adopted by Chevron and Federal Express are statutorily and contractually valid. The company’s by-laws designated Delaware as the sole forum for derivative lawsuits, … Continue Reading
