The number of False Claims Act cases, both those filed by the government and those filed by qui tam relators, is increasing. As a result, potential False Claims Act liability is increasingly important for companies and for their D&O insurers. At the same time, there have been recent court decisions, applying an expansive reading of D&O insurance policies, that have rejected D&O insurers’ attempts to deny coverage for False Claims Act claims against their policyholders. The recent decisions suggest that companies subject to False Claims Act claims potentially may be able to obtain coverage under their D&O insurance policies – and not only for defense expense, but for settlement amounts as well. An October 26, 2021 Insurance Journal article discussing the insurance implications of the growing number of False Claim Act cases can be found here. Continue Reading Increased Numbers of False Claims Act Actions and the D&O Insurance Coverage Implications

In what is one of the largest derivative lawsuit settlements ever, and — according to the statement from one of the co-lead plaintiffs in the case — the largest settlement ever in Delaware of a Caremark/breach of the duty of oversight case, the parties to the Boeing 737 Max Crash shareholder derivative suit in Delaware Chancery Court have agreed to settle the case for a payment of $237.5 million, all of which is to be funded by D&O insurance. As part of the settlement, the company also agreed to adopt several safety and oversight protocols and other corporate governance measures. The settlement is subject to court approval. A copy of the November 5, 2021 statement of the co-lead plaintiff, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, about the settlement can be found here. A copy of the parties’ settlement stipulation can be found here. Continue Reading Boeing Air Crash Derivative Lawsuit Settles for $237.5 Million

Michael W. Peregrine

In an October 28, 2021 speech, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced important changes to the U.S. Department of Justice’s corporate criminal enforcement policies. Among other things, Monaco laid out changes to the agencies’ corporate cooperation expectations and an increased emphasis on individual accountability. In the following guest post, Michael W. Peregrine, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP, takes a look the corporate governance implications of the new policies announced in Monaco’s speech. I would like to thank Michael 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 Michael’s article. Continue Reading Guest Post: Governance Implications of New DOJ Focus on Corporate Crime and Individual Accountability

An online event firm that experienced a ramp-up in users during the pandemic and that completed an IPO in early in February 2021 has been hit with a securities class action lawsuit after the company disclosed that many of the customers that signed on during the early days of the pandemic did not renew or renewed only at lower service levels. This new lawsuit is the latest of example of the ways that more than a year and half in the pandemic continues to affect businesses and continues to lead to securities class action litigation and other D&O claims. The November 3, 2021 complaint filed against ON24 can be found here. Continue Reading Online Event Firm Hit with Post-IPO COVID-Related Securities Suit

For those whose job it is to worry about the U.S. litigation risk for non-U.S. companies, the focus historically has been on the risk of U.S. securities class action litigation. However, as detailed in a new white paper from AIG and the Clyde & Co law firm, over the last 18 months a small group of U.S. plaintiffs’ law firms has filed a series of shareholder derivative lawsuits in U.S. courts on behalf of non-U.S. companies and alleging violations of the companies’ home country laws. As discussed below, these lawsuits potentially could represent a significant new source of U.S. litigation exposure and D&O liability risk for directors and officers of non-U.S. companies. A copy of the paper, which is entitled “Shareholders Increasingly Targeting D&Os of Foreign Companies in New York Derivative Actions,” can be found here. Continue Reading Litigation Alert: U.S. Derivative Lawsuits Against Boards of Non-U.S. Companies

As readers know, there has been a wave of business interruption coverage insurance disputes arising out the pandemic. But the business interruption claims are not the only insurance coverage disputes the coronavirus outbreak has caused. An interesting recent D&O insurance-related coverage dispute involves the denial by a D&O insurer of coverage for lawsuits a health industry technology trade association faced following the March 2020 coronavirus outbreak-related cancellation of the association’s annual trade show.

 

In a recent decision, a federal district court, applying Illinois law, rejected the insurer’s coverage denial, holding that the policy’s professional services exclusion and contract exclusion did not preclude coverage. The court also rejected the insurer’s contention that the damages sought in the underlying litigation represented uninsurable restitution. Northern District of Illinois Judge Robert W. Gettleman’s October 19, 2021 opinion in the case can be found here. A November 1, 2021 post on the Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog about the opinion can be found here. Continue Reading Court Rejects D&O Insurer’s Coverage Denial for COVID-Related Tradeshow Cancellation Claims

As I have noted on this site, the SEC has in recent months filed SPAC-related enforcement actions, including the action filed in July 2021 against Stable Road Acquisition Corporation (discussed here), and the Y, 2021 action filed against Nikola Motors founder Chad Milton (discussed here). These matters were not, however, the first SPAC-related SEC enforcement actions; there have been others previously, including the September 2020 SPAC-related enforcement action against music streaming company Akazoo, S.A. In something of a milestone regarding SPAC-related actions, on October 27, 2021, the SEC announced that it had reached a settlement of the Akazoo enforcement action. The SEC’s October 27, 2021 press release about the settlement can be found here. The October 27, 2021 Agreed Final Judgment in the Enforcement Action can be found here. Continue Reading SEC Enters Settlement in SPAC-Related Enforcement Action Against Akazoo

The Palace of Westminster

It is with a great deal of pleasure that I finally get to say this again after a long wait: The D&O Diary was on assignment in London last week. With two COVID vaccinations under my belt and a booster shot to boot, I just decided it was finally time to start traveling again. It was great being back in London and re-acquainting myself with one of my favorite cities. Pandemic precautions made some parts of the trip awkward, but in most other ways it felt almost normal to be traveling again. Continue Reading London Again (Finally)

A Canadian-based deep-sea mining company is the latest firm to be hit with a SPAC-related securities class action lawsuit. The company, which plans to mine the seabed for materials to be used in electric vehicles batteries, merged with a SPAC in September 2021. The company’s share price recently declined following news reports and a short-seller report questioning the company’s financing, licensing, and its claimed sustainability credentials. A copy of the October 28, 2021 complaint can be found here. Continue Reading Deep-Sea Mining Company Hit with SPAC-Related Securities Suit

In a recent post in which I reviewed recent legal developments in Australia, I discussed the growing possibilities for future climate change-related D&O claims. A recent paper highlights the extent of these D&O claim risks in the United States. The October 2021 paper, published by the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative and entitled “Fiduciary Duties and Climate and entitled “Fiduciary Duties and Climate Change in the United States,” discusses how evolving understandings of climate change has “changed the relevance of climate change to the governance of corporations,” with important implications for the fiduciary duties of directors and officers. The paper discusses how in the current legal environment in the U.S. a board’s failure to adequately regard climate change-related issues could lead to potential litigation and liability. A copy of the full paper can be found here, and an executive summary of the paper can be found here. Continue Reading Climate Change-Related Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawsuits?