Tag: Litigation
Exclusive Forum Provisions
Exclusive forum provisions (in a corporation’s bylaws or charter) designate a specific court(s) to serve as the exclusive venue(s) for intra-corporate litigation—e.g., derivative suits; actions (including class actions) asserting breach of fiduciary duty by a director, officer, or other employee to the corporation or its shareholders, and other disputes asserting […]
SEC Issues Guidance on Tweets and Similar Social Media Communications
Recognizing the growing interest in using technologies such as social media to communicate with security holders and potential investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission released a new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation addressing the use of hyperlinks in Tweets and other social media communications to satisfy the SEC’s legending requirements. Historically, […]
Kahn v. M&F Worldwide
In a much anticipated judicial development, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the holding of In re MFW Shareholders Litigation (Del. Ch. 2013) that if certain procedural protections are in place from the outset of a transaction, a controlling stockholder buyout otherwise subject to the entire fairness standard could be subject […]
In re Rural Metro Corporation Stockholders Litigation
In Rural Metro, the Delaware Chancery Court held that RBC Capital Markets, LLC, as financial advisor to the Rural Metro (Target), had aided and abetted Target’s directors in breach of their fiduciary duties in connection with its sale to Warburg Pincus (Buyer). This is the latest in a string of […]
Lengthening the Indemnification Claims Period
Delaware law limits parties’ ability to contractually agree to lengthen the time period for making claims beyond the statute of limitations that would otherwise apply to the underlying claims. A line of Delaware cases (the most well known of which is GRT, Inc. v. Marathon GTF Technology, Ltd.) have held […]
Developments Under Delaware Law in the Enforceability of Non-Reliance Provisions Against Fraud Claims
A series of cases in 2013 refined the law in Delaware relating to the enforceability of non-reliance clauses. Non-Reliance clauses are generally intended to limit a buyer’s ability to make fraud claims based upon representations made outside of the acquisition agreement (e.g., in diligence materials in the data room, spoken […]
Great Hill Equity Partners v. SIG Growth Equity Fund
In Great Hill, the court held that the right to assert the privilege over attorney-client communications and ownership of such communications passes to the acquirer in acquisitions structured as mergers under Delaware law. This case clarifies the law in Delaware mergers by expressly refusing to follow prior New York case […]
In Re Trados Incorporated Shareholder Litigation
In a case involving a common fact pattern, Trados “Part 2” provides a very helpful analysis of a board’s fiduciary obligations when common stockholders receive no consideration in an acquisition. Trados was acquired in 2005 for $60 million in cash and stock. The preferred stockholders received $52.2 million of the […]