As I noted in a recent post, there recently has been an increase in excessive fee litigation against plan fiduciaries. In the following guest post, Larry Fine takes a look at recent developments in excessive fee litigation, and the implications for the fiduciary liability insurance industry. Larry is the Management Liability Coverage Leader at Willis Towers Watson. I would like to thank Larry 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 blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Larry’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Excessive Fees, Excessive Fiduciary Litigation: A Balanced Look
In one of the largest shareholder derivative lawsuit settlements ever, involving a very unusual derivative claim under Cayman Island law prosecuted in a U.S. court on behalf of a China-based Cayman Islands company, the parties to the Renren derivative litigation have agreed to settle the case for at least $300 million. The settlement is subject to a “true up” process that could increase the ultimate amount of the settlement payments. The settlement is also subject to court approval. The parties’ October 7, 2021 settlement stipulation can be found 
For a time in the late 18th century, a group of men met weekly in a London pub for dinner and conversation. In and of itself, this may seem unremarkable. What is remarkable is that the group included among its members some of the most extraordinary individuals of the age – or indeed, of any age. The group included Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Edmund Burke, Edward Gibbon, and Adam Smith; arguably, the greatest British critic, biographer, political philosopher, historian, and economist of all time. Others in the group included others equally famous at the time, including the painter Joshua Reynolds, the playwrights Richard Sheridan and Oliver Goldsmith, and David Garrick, the greatest actor of the century. The group called itself The Literary Club, but it came to be known simply as 
Last month, when the Delaware Court of Chancery 
In the following guest post, Gregory A. Markel, Paul Ferrillo, Daphne Morduchowitz and Sarah A. Fedner take a look at and consider the implications of the Delaware Supreme Court’s 
A federal district court, applying Virginia law, has held that the “Bump-Up” exclusion in a D&O insurance policy does not unambiguously apply to preclude coverage for the settlements of underlying actions relating to the 2016 merger of Towers Watson and Willis. The court construed the exclusion narrowly and based on a reasonable interpretation most favorable to the insured, Towers Watson, determined that the settlements were not excluded from the definition of Loss under the Bump-Up exclusion. A copy of the court’s October 5, 2021 opinion can be found 
Hyzon Motors, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle development company that merged with a SPAC in July 2021 and that was the subject of a recent scathing short seller report, has been hit with a securities class action lawsuit. The defendants in the lawsuit include two former officers of the SPAC with which Hyzon merged. A copy of the September 30, 2021 complaint filed against Hyzon can be found 
In the latest dismissal motion ruling in a COVID-19-related securities class action lawsuit, the federal judge presiding over the securities suit filed against private prison company The GEO Group has granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss with respect to the plaintiff’s coronavirus-related allegations, while denying the motion with respect to certain of the plaintiff’s allegations unrelated to COVID-19. A copy of the court’s September 23, 2021 order can be found