Sky Blog
The question of corporate purpose has been much in the news of late, triggering renewed attention by legal scholars to corporate social responsibility, ESG, and shareholder value maximization. Many of these scholars have been strongly influenced by the late Lynn …
In a new article, I address a subject that has been ignored for too long: The fiction of meaningful fiduciary standards in the corporate and securities laws contexts. My article explores the standards that legislatures and courts apply to corporate …
In Manti Holdings, LLC v. Authentix Acquisition Co., Inc., the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s decision to enforce a waiver of appraisal rights included in a stockholders agreement executed by “sophisticated parties” who owned 100% of the …
Over the last several years, cyberattacks, including from foreign state actors, have affected thousands of companies and government agencies. Past corporate victims include Yahoo!, Home Depot, and LinkedIn. And the real world consequences of a cyberattack became vivid to the …
The COVID pandemic prompted global economic problems that many predicted would lead to an unprecedented number of corporate bankruptcies. The predictions were wrong, largely because governments responded with extraordinary measures. Congress, for example, pumped trillions of dollars into the U.S. …
In a spate of recent decisions, the Delaware Supreme Court has embraced a shift in its approach to stockholder appraisal rights, a development that has attracted considerable comment. The greatest impact of these decisions, however, may lie beyond appraisal and …
In what promises to be a landmark decision, the Delaware Supreme Court last week reframed the rules governing derivative litigation. United Food & Commercial Workers Union v. Zuckerberg, No. 404, 2020 (Del. Sept. 23, 2021).
A Facebook stockholder …
No rule of corporate law may be more foundational than the internal affairs doctrine. The doctrine provides that the internal affairs of a corporation – the “matters peculiar to the relationships among or between the corporation and its current officers, …
Editor’s Note: A counter-response immediately follows this post.
In a recent post, Professor Jeffrey N. Gordon argued that the Delaware Supreme Court should upend over three decades of precedents and apply Blasius, rather than Unocal, to invalidate a …
I appreciate the engagement by long-term pill observer Eric Robinson with my Corporate Vote Suppression piece. I am also glad that he agrees that the pill in The Williams Companies Shareholder Litigation ought to be struck down, though he narrowly …
Since the foundational decision in In re Caremark Intern. Inc. Derivative Litig.,[1] Delaware corporate law has required boards of directors to establish reasonable legal compliance programs. Although Caremark has been applied almost exclusively with respect to law and …
The Delaware Supreme Court has before it a case that could dramatically reshape corporate governance in the United States. The case, The Williams Companies Stockholder Litigation, addresses the legitimacy of an “anti-activist pill” whose particularly aggressive features would severely …
Business persons and lawyers have long debated whether a business corporation does or should have a purpose other than advancing shareholder interests. In a democratic, pluralist society, the issue of corporate purpose remains important and will not (and should not) …
Delaware courts have recently had opportunities to address the dual conditions for management of controlling stockholder conflict transactions under Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp., 88 A.3d 635 (Del. 2014) (“MFW”) and its progeny. That MFW structure provides …
Recent Delaware case law offers useful guidance regarding options for management of potential conflicts. Those cases demonstrate that conflicts can be mitigated by board or stockholder actions and that such measures for managing conflicts should be thoughtfully tailored to the …
The Delaware Supreme Court’s recent decision in Fir Tree v. Jarden[1] marks an important milestone in the law of appraisal, making clear that unaffected market price can and should be decisive in some appraisal actions. Because the court’s opinion …
It has been two years since the Supreme Court’s decision in Cyan v. Beaver County Employees Retirement Fund[1] permitted securities class actions alleging violations of the Securities Act of 1933 to be litigated in state courts nationwide. The court …
Delaware’s success in attracting corporate formations is well known, but explanations for it vary. In a recent paper, I test these explanations as well as the reasons for Delaware’s success in attracting other types of business formation I find evidence …
Delaware corporate law differs from other areas where fiduciary obligations apply – such as agency, LLCs, partnerships, and trusts. Three distinct actors owe fiduciary duties – executive officers, directors, and controlling shareholders – and numerous aspects of their duties greatly …
Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Pinterest offer hundreds of items, from t-shirts to coffee mugs to posters, warning against agreement for the sake of agreement.* My wife has, on more than one occasion, reminded me of the danger.[1] And now, …