Sky Blog
With all the SPAC activity and scrutiny over the past several years, it was only a matter of time before the Delaware courts had an opportunity to weigh in on SPAC stockholder litigation.
Early last year, in January 2022, Vice …
2022 was a tale of two halves for M&A. The beginning of the year was active, as robust dealmaking carried over from the record-breaking levels of 2021 to drive approximately $2.2 trillion worth of global deals through the first half …
In a January 25, 2023 decision (In Re McDonald’s Corp. S’Holder Litig., C.A. No. 2021-0324-JTL (Del. Ch. Jan. 25, 2023)), the Delaware Court of Chancery declined to dismiss claims that a corporate officer, who led the company’s human …
Business entities are generally formed state-by-state. While this separatist approach has many shortcomings, scholars and policymakers have considered only one alternative: the federalization of business entity formation. Yet limiting the choices to two is false and distortive. It is false …
A Delaware vice chancellor recently lamented that “Delaware should not be determining employment law for the country and for the world.”[1] That remarkable assertion was a reference to the gradual expansion of the internal affairs doctrine, which provides that …
Top practitioners, judges, regulators, and scholars gathered at Columbia Law School on December 2 to offer their unique perspectives and cutting-edge insights on a variety of topics related to M&A and corporate governance. The topics included current M&A market trends, …
Corporate law prohibits companies from pursuing profits through criminal misconduct. It uses the fiduciary duties imposed on boards under the Caremark doctrine,[1] and the threat of personal liability of directors for deliberate breach, to help motivate directors to make …
The number of securities lawsuits filed since January has remained steady compared to the first half of 2021. We have already seen many notable developments in securities law this year. This mid-year update provides an overview of the major developments …
As we get closer to the October 17th scheduled trial date for the Twitter lawsuit to compel Elon Musk to complete his proposed $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, the charges and allegations are getting wilder and woolier. Once, this was …
After determining that the DOJ failed to meet its burden of proof, a Delaware federal court denied the government’s request to enjoin the $315 million acquisition of Imperial Sugar by U.S. Sugar. The court found that the DOJ failed to …
On September 6, 2022, in Construction Industry Laborers Pension Fund on behalf of SolarWinds Corporation, et al. v. Mike Bingle, et al. (“SolarWinds”),[1] the Delaware Chancery Court granted a motion to dismiss a derivative suit against directors …
Corporate law – and fiduciary law in general – has struggled with how to handle loyalty duties that are harmful to society. For example, a director’s act of loyalty to shareholders that harms the environment, or a director’s effort to …
For over 45 years, Delaware law has permitted directors of Delaware corporations to be exculpated from personal monetary liability to the extent such protections are set forth in the certificate of incorporation, subject to certain exceptions. However, such protective statutory …
Access to corporate information plays a pivotal role in stockholder litigation. One key to that access is stockholders’ statutory right to inspect a corporation’s books and records prior to filing litigation, enshrined in the Delaware General Corporation Law’s Section 220. …
On July 19, 2022, in the Twitter v. Musk litigation, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick presided over what was likely the most widely observed hearing on a motion to expedite in the Delaware Court of Chancery’s history. While deal bust-ups are front …
Every pundit and commentator has by now analyzed the ongoing battle between Elon Musk and Twitter over Musk’s attempt to walk away from their deal. Almost all of these evaluations have rated Twitter as having a considerably stronger case, because …
Though Elon Musk’s controversy with Twitter has grabbed the headlines, another going-private legal development also merits attention: Meade v. Christie et al., an Iowa Supreme Court decision dismissing shareholder class action claims against directors who approved a going-private merger. …
In early 2020, in BlackRock Credit Allocation Income Tr., et al. v. Saba Capital Master Fund, Ltd.,1 the Delaware Supreme Court reiterated that Delaware courts will enforce clear and unambiguous advance notice bylaws according to their terms using …
Since the creation of the poison pill in the 1980s as a response to hostile takeovers, the corporate world has seen the rise of stakeholder governance, ESG, and stockholder activism and a host of other dramatic developments. The stock market …