This is the 19th year that Francis Pileggi has published an annual list of key corporate and commercial decisions of the Delaware Supreme Court and the Delaware Court of Chancery, often with co-authors.  This year's list does not attempt to include all important decisions of those courts that were rendered in 2023, and eschews some of the cases already extensively discussed by the mainstream press or legal trade publications. This list highlights some of the notable decisions that should be of widespread interest to those involved in corporate and commercial litigation or those who follow the latest developments in this area of Delaware law.

• Did Delaware Supreme Court Merge the Blasius and Unocal Standards in Recent Decision of Coster v. UIP?

In Coster v. UIP, 300 A.3d 656 (Del. 2023), the Delaware Supreme Court approved the Court of Chancery's combination of Unocal's nexus test with Blasius's compelling justification requirement, affirming the holding that: "To satisfy the compelling justification standard, 'the directors must show that their actions were reasonable in relation to their legitimate objective, and did not preclude the stockholders from exercising their right to vote or coerce them into voting a particular way." The Court of Chancery, noting the case's "exceptionally unique circumstances," articulated that "in this context, the shift from 'reasonable' to 'compelling' requires that the directors establish a close fit between means and ends." The Delaware Supreme Court agreed, concluding that courts can apply Unocal "with the sensitivity Blasius review brings to protect the fundamental interests at stake—the free exercise of the stockholder vote as an essential element of corporate democracy."