Columbia Law School
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Delaware Supreme Court
Appraisal Apprisal: Dell v. Magnetar
A Simple Plan to Liberate the Market for Corporate Control
It’s time to exempt a certain type of hostile bid – an all-cash, all-shares tender offer – from a poison pill defense. In essence, I propose a statutory rule requiring a board to remain neutral in the face of such …
A Reality Check on the Appeal of the DFC Global Appraisal Case
A peculiar appeal is currently before the Delaware Supreme Court. The case involves the judicial appraisal of DFC Global, a company acquired by a private equity firm in 2014. Approximately 12 percent of DFC stockholders dissented, and the Court of …
Ropes & Gray Discusses Limits of Delaware’s Corwin Decision
The Delaware Supreme Court’s decision in Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC set a high bar for plaintiff stockholders seeking to challenge public company mergers. Assuming a transaction that is not subject to entire fairness review was approved …
Insider Trading, Delaware Courts and SEC Regulation Get Lively Airing at M&A and Corporate Governance Conference
Insider trading law may be headed for even more disruption, as federal and state watchdogs press broad theories that include hacking and so-called Insider Trading 2.0, the early release of information for a fee, a panel of legal experts said …
Shearman & Sterling Discusses the Cleansing Effect of Stockholder Ratification
It has long been a policy of corporate law1 that the informed business decisions of independent and disinterested directors are protected by the presumption of the business judgment rule.2 Courts are reluctant to second-guess decisions that are made …
DFC Global Appraisal Battle Draws Opposing Briefs From Professors
An M&A appraisal case before the Delaware Supreme Court has drawn amicus briefs from two groups of esteemed professors — including three from Columbia Law School — with opposing views on how a company should be valued.
The case involves …
Skadden Discusses Delaware’s Corwin Case and the High Bar for Post-Closing Damages
The Delaware Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC, 125 A.3d 304 (Del. 2015) articulated a new defendant-friendly rule for post-closing damages actions for breaches of fiduciary duties. The Delaware Supreme Court held that where a …
What Corporate Law’s Emphasis on the Long Term Might Mean
To read influential corporate lawyers, legal academics, and jurists, shareholders are an alarmingly myopic bunch who demand that corporate directors and managers make short-term decisions that sacrifice long-term value. The group receiving the most scolding of late is hedge fund …
Supreme Court Hears Salman Insider Trading Case
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments today — transcript here — in U.S. v. Salman, the first insider trading case to land before the justices in almost 20 years. The issue: What counts as the “personal benefit” to the …
Fried Frank discusses Delaware Supreme Court’s Zale Decision and Lower Risk of Liability for Bankers
The Delaware Supreme Court’s recent decision in Singh v. Attenborough (May 6, 2016, en banc, “Zale III”), written by Chief Justice Leo E. Strine, Jr., is consistent with the trend of Delaware decisions that, as a practical matter, have …
Delaware Court Confirms High Bar To Escape Deal
The following post is based on a memo originally published by Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP on November 14, 2013 which can be found here.
Two recent Delaware Chancery Court opinions, issued on October 25 and November 9, 2013, …
Greenberg Traurig Summarizes the 2013 Amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law
Recently, the Delaware legislature adopted and Delaware’s Governor signed into law several substantive amendments to the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the DGCL), 8 Del. C. §§ 101 et seq.
New Provisions
Ratification of Defective Corporate …