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Summaries and analysis of recent Delaware court decisions concerning business-related litigation.
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Showing 546 posts by Albert J. Carroll.
Chancery Addresses Records Custodian Discovery Dispute
Fortis Advisors LLC v. Johnson & Johnson, et al., C.A. No. 2021-0881-LWW (Del. Ch. Sept. 21, 2021)
Initial productions may raise new issues, including whether additional custodial collections might be necessary. While the bar for discoverability generally is low, the work and cost involved in collecting, processing, and analyzing data may be significant, and discovery demands may be disproportionate to the needs of the case. Delaware courts balance these important interests when faced with questions regarding the appropriate scope of discovery. More ›
Chancery Declines to Award Damages Equivalent to Contractual Dissociation Remedy Under Partnership Agreement
In re Cellular Telephone Partnership Litigation, Coordinated C.A. No. 6885-VCL (Del. Ch. Sept. 28, 2021)
Plaintiffs held a minority interest in a partnership owned and controlled by AT&T. In 2010, AT&T implemented a transaction causing the partnership to transfer its assets to an affiliate, freezing out the plaintiffs. In connection with the freeze out, plaintiffs received $4.1 million—their pro rata share of the $219 million that AT&T paid to the partnership. Plaintiffs later brought an action in the Court of Chancery alleging that by implementing the transaction, AT&T breached the partnership agreement on a number of different bases. More ›
Delaware Supreme Court Upholds Contractual Waiver of Statutory Appraisal Rights
Manti Holdings, LLC, et al. v. Authentix Acquisition Co., Inc., No. 354, 2020 (Del. Sept. 13, 2021)
This decision arose out of the acquisition of Authentix Acquisition Company, Inc. and a subsequent appraisal proceeding brought by dissenting stockholders under 8 Del. C. § 262. As a condition of an earlier merger involving the private equity firm Carlyle, the petitioners were parties to a stockholders agreement binding the corporation and all of its stockholders that purported to waive the stockholders’ statutory appraisal rights. At the trial court level, the Court of Chancery enforced the contractual waiver and granted the company’s motion to dismiss. On appeal, alongside other contentions, the petitioners argued that statutory appraisal rights are one of the fundamental features of corporate identity and should be found nonwaivable under Delaware law and public policy. More ›
CCLD Rejects Several Defenses to Insurance Coverage of a Settlement Paid By Investment Fund
Sycamore Partners Management, L.P. v. Endurance American Insurance Co., C.A. No. N18C-09-211 AML CCLD (Del. Super. Sept. 10, 2021)
Prior to the closing of a leveraged buyout of a company (the “Merger”) whereby the plaintiff investment fund sought to divest, liquidate, and resell some of the company’s high-value assets (the “Restructuring Transactions”), the company’s stockholders brought derivative claims against the company’s board relating to the voting process underlying the Merger. The company settled the Merger-related claims, the Merger closed, and the plaintiff executed the Restructuring Transactions. Shortly thereafter, company bondholders sought information from the company—which the company never provided—regarding whether the Merger and Restructuring Transactions violated an indenture between the bondholders and the company. More ›
Chancery Addresses Indemnification Claim Turning on the Contractual Definition of a Covered Person
GMF ELCM Fund L.P., et al. v. ELCM HCRE GP LLC, et al., C.A. No. 2018-0840-SG (Del. CH. Sept. 22, 2021)
This indemnification dispute arose out of an alternative entity dissolution proceeding involving a health care business. The claimant was a former employee of an entity within the web of entities implicated in the case. He sought indemnification from several entities for his defense of third-party claims in a separate litigation, from which he was dismissed. After the liquidating trustee objected to his claim, the claimant sought to enforce his rights in the Delaware dissolution proceeding. More ›
Chancery Examines Cornerstone Standard for Establishing Non-Exculpated Fiduciary Duty Claims
In Re BGC Partners, Inc. Derivative Litigation, Consol. C.A. No. 2018-0722-LWW (Del. Ch. Sep. 20, 2021)
A director protected by an exculpatory provision is entitled to dismissal in a breach of fiduciary duty action unless the plaintiff advances a non-exculpated claim. Under In re Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc. Shareholder Litigation, 115 A.3d 1173 (Del. 2015), to establish a non-exculpated claim plaintiff must show that a director: (1) “harbored self-interest adverse to the stockholders’ interests”; (2) “acted to advance the self-interest of an interested party from whom they could not be presumed to act independently”; or (3) “acted in bad faith.” This decision explains Cornerstone’s second prong. More ›
Chancery Addresses When an Efforts Clause-Based Earnout Claim May Ripen
S’holder Representative Servs., LLC v. Alexion Pharm., Inc., C.A. No. 2020-1069-MTZ (Del. Ch. Sep. 1, 2021)
Mergers and sale agreements frequently include earn-out provisions that entitle one party to future compensation if certain business or financial goals are met within a defined period. In return, the other party often must use a defined level of effort—such as “commercially reasonable” efforts—to achieve the goals that trigger the earn-out. This case addresses a practical threshold question: If the party entitled to the earn-out believes that the other party has breached its duty to use commercially reasonable efforts, may that party sue immediately, or must that party wait until the earn-out period ends? More ›
Chancery Declines to Order Production of Privileged Document
Drachman v. BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc., C.A. No. 2019-0728-LWW (Del. Ch. Aug. 25, 2021)
Drachman addresses the attorney-client privilege, certain exceptions thereto, including the Garner doctrine, and waiver. Plaintiffs moved to compel the production of a redacted document over which defendants asserted privilege. The document in question was part of an email thread, or group of related communications, that included the advice of counsel and was produced across multiple documents with inconsistent redactions. One version of the communication “slipped through the cracks,” and was produced without redactions before being clawed back by the defendants under the confidentiality order entered in the case. More ›
Chancery Rejects MFW Defense Based on Failure to Disclose That a Conflicted Controller Participated in Arbitration Proceedings Potentially Impacting the Company’s Value
Ligos v. Isramco, Inc., C.A. No. 2020-0435-SG (Del. Ch. Aug. 31, 2021)
Under MFW, a conflicted controller transaction may get the benefit of business judgment review when conditioned on two procedural protections involving: (i) approval by an independent special committee; and (ii) approval by a fully informed, uncoerced majority of the minority stockholders. At issue in Ligos was whether the shareholders were fully informed regarding the value of an arbitration concerning certain royalties when they approved a merger. More ›
Chancery Stays Advancement Action in Favor of Pending Related Federal Action
The Harmon 1999 Descendants’ Trust v. CGH Investment Management, LLC, C.A. No. 2021-0407-KSJM (Sept. 21, 2021)
Generally, absent unusual circumstances, claims for advancement will not be stayed or dismissed in favor of prior pending litigation. At issue, in this case, was whether the plaintiff was a limited partner or agent of the partnership, which would render the plaintiff a covered person under the agreement and entitle the plaintiff to advancement. However, whether the plaintiff was a limited partner was squarely before a Virginia federal court. The Court of Chancery found that the issue of whether the plaintiff was a limited partner was “a material, factually rife, and disputed issue.” The Virginia action was also in its “penultimate phase,” with trial set less than three months away, and likely was going to resolve the issue before the Court of Chancery could rule. Therefore, the court stayed the Delaware advancement action in favor of the pending Virginia action, finding it would avoid wasting judicial resources, risking inconsistent results, and disrespecting principles of comity.
Chancery Rejects Inadequate Disclosure Contentions and Grants Corwin Dismissal
Kihm v. Mott, C.A. No. 2020-0938-MTZ (Del. Ch. Aug. 31, 2021)
Under the Corwin doctrine, a fully informed and uncoerced approval of a board decision by the corporation’s disinterested stockholders can downgrade an otherwise heightened standard of review to deferential business judgment review and result in prompt dismissal of post-closing M&A litigation not involving a conflicted controlling stockholder. Kihm involved a merger breach of fiduciary duty challenge and an attempt to avoid Corwin cleansing based on alleged deficient disclosures in the target board’s recommendation statement to the stockholders. More ›
Chancery Declines to Dismiss Narrow Claims Relating to Entity’s Dissolution In Favor of Pending Related Action
Hawkins v. Daniel, C.A. No. 2021-0453-JTL (Del. Ch. Aug. 24, 2021)
The Delaware courts utilize several doctrines to address motions to dismiss or stay in favor of related litigation, including McWane and Cryo-Maid, all of which turn on legal and practical considerations and the court’s discretion. This decision illustrates the application of the well-established Cryo-Maid factors to a Delaware action alleging narrow claims related to an entity’s winding-up process where the parties were engaged in long-pending litigation elsewhere. More ›
Chancery Addresses Viability of Contractual Fraud Claims Allegedly Barred by Agreement’s Terms
Online Healthnow, Inc. v. CIP OCL Investments, LLC, C.A. No. 2020-0654-JRS (Del. Ch. Aug. 12, 2021)
Online Healthnow concerns “contractual fraud claims,” meaning a statement made in the agreement itself that is known to be false by the party making the statement and on which the counterparty relies to its detriment. Under a prior Court of Chancery decision in ABRY Partners V, L.P. v. F&W Acquisition LLC, 891 A.2d 1032 (Del. Ch. 2006), a seller cannot contractually eliminate its liability for engaging in knowing contractual fraud through provisions regarding anti-reliance and knowledge, and cannot rely on contractual caps for indemnity to limit the recovery for contractual fraud. This decision addressed the sellers’ unsuccessful attempt to limit the reach of ABRY Partners based on the relevant agreement’s survival clause purporting to terminate the challenged contractual representations at closing and the combination of anti-reliance and non-recourse provisions involving certain defendants. More ›
Chancery Explains Standards of Review for Receiver Determinations and Shifts Fees and Expenses in Dissolution
In re Dissolution of Jeffco Management, LLC, C.A. No. 2018-0027-PAF (Del. Ch. Aug. 16, 2021)
When the Court of Chancery appoints a receiver to effectuate a company’s dissolution, certain determinations are subject to de novo review and others are given a more deferential review depending on the nature of each determination. Here, the court appointed a receiver to effectuate the relevant LLC’s dissolution based on a deadlock between the two members. Upon review of the record, the receiver found that one of the members had a negative capital account balance and decided to distribute the company’s assets in-kind to the other member with a positive capital account balance. The member with the negative account balance challenged that decision based on various objections. More ›
Chancery Addresses Common Interest and Privilege Log Issues in Matter Involving Special Discovery Master
Buttonwood Tree Value Partner, L.P. v. R.L. Polk & Co., Inc., et al., C.A. No. 9250-VCG (Del Ch. Jul. 30, 2021)
With increasing frequency, the Court of Chancery is appointing Special Discovery Masters and Discovery Facilitators as discovery issues continue becoming more complex and time-intensive. With those appointments also comes the opportunity for litigants to challenge the findings of those Special Masters and Facilitators and force the Court’s de novo review. This is just such a case. More ›