• FirstString Research, Inc. v. JSS Med. Research Inc.

    Publication Date: 2021-06-16
    Practice Area: Contracts
    Industry: Pharmaceuticals
    Court: Court of Chancery
    Judge: Vice Chancellor McCormick
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Myron T. Steele, John A. Sensing, Jesse L. Noa, Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP, Wilmington, DE; Cory E. Manning, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, Columbia, SC; Carrie A. Hanger, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, Winston-Salem, NC, Wesley T. Moran, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, Myrtle Beach, SC for plaintiff.
    for defendant: Steven L. Caponi, Matthew B. Goeller, K&L Gates LLP, Wilmington, DE, for defendant.

    Case Number: D69432

    Plaintiff's need for defendant to fulfill its contractual windup obligations sufficiently stated a basis for equitable relief that could trigger the chancery court's jurisdiction, further permitting it to exercise ancillary jurisdiction over plaintiff's legal claims despite defendant's related breach of contract suit in the superior court.

  • In re: SmileDirectClub, Inc. Derivative Litig.

    Publication Date: 2021-06-16
    Practice Area: Corporate Governance
    Industry: Investments and Investment Advisory
    Court: Court of Chancery
    Judge: Vice Chancellor Zurn
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Blake A. Bennett, Cooch and Taylor, P.A., Wilmington, DE; P. Bradford deLeeuw, deLeeuw Law LLC, Wil-mington, DE; Lee Squitieri, Squitieri & Fearon, LLP, New York, NY; Jeffrey S. Abraham, Michael J. Klein, Abraham, Fruchter & Twersky LLP, New York, NY; Donald J. Enright, Elizabeth K. Tripodi, Jordan Cafritz, Levi & Korsinsky, LLP for plaintiffs.
    for defendant: Edward B. Micheletti, Jenness E. Parker, of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Wilmington, DE; Scott D. Musoff, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, New York, NY for defendants.

    Case Number: D69435

    The court granted defendants' motion to dismiss this derivative because plaintiffs failed to meet the con-temporaneous ownership requirement, so they lacked standing.

  • Murphy Marine Serv. of Delaware, Inc. v. GT USA Wilmington, LLC

    Publication Date: 2021-06-16
    Practice Area: Contracts
    Industry: Accounting | Cargo and Shipping | Investments and Investment Advisory
    Court: Court of Chancery
    Judge: Vice Chancellor Glasscock
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Michael P. Kelly, Daniel M. Silver, Travis J. Ferguson, McCarter & English, LLP, Wilmington, DE; Geoffrey G. Grivner, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, Wilmington, DE for plaintiffs.
    for defendant: David A. Dorey, Brandon W. McCune, Blank Rome LLP, Wilmington, DE for defendant.

    Case Number: D69436

    The parties' agreement provided for valuation as a going concern, and the court found that they impliedly agreed to a price based on the midpoint of a valuation range.

  • In re: GGP, Inc. Stockholder Litig.

    Publication Date: 2021-06-09
    Practice Area: Corporate Governance
    Industry: Real Estate
    Court: Court of Chancery
    Judge: Vice Chancellor Slights
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Ronald A. Brown, Jr., Stephen D. Dargitz, J. Clayton Athey, Marcus E. Montejo, Samuel L. Closic, Prickett Jones & Elliott, P.A., Wilmington, DE; Carl L. Stine, Adam J. Blander, Wolf Popper LLP, New York, NY; Frank P. DiPrima, Law Office of Frank DiPrima, P.A., Morristown, NJ for plaintiffs. Seth D. Rigrodsky, Gina M. Serra, Rigrodsky Law, P.A., Wilmington, DE; Aaron Brody, Patrick Slyne, Stull, Stull & Brody, New York, NY for plaintiff’s executive committee.
    for defendant: Kevin G. Abrams, John M. Seaman, Matthew L. Miller, Abrams & Bayliss LLP, Wilmington, DE; John A. Neuwirth, Evert J. Christensen, Jr., Seth Goodchild, Matthew S. Connors, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, New York, NY for defendant Brookfield Property Partners. David J. Teklits, Thomas P. Will, Morris, Nich-ols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP, Wilmington, DE for defendants Clark, Flatt and Kingston. Raymond J. DiCamillo, Susan M. Hannigan, Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A., Wilmington, DE; Brian T. Frawley, Y. Carson Zhou, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, New York, NY for defendant Mathrani. Peter J. Walsh, Jr., Berton W. Ashman, Jr., Jaclyn C. Levy, Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP, Wilmington, DE; Peter E. Kazanoff, Michael J. Garvey, Sara A. Ricciardi, Eamonn W. Campbell, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, New York, NY for defendants Fi-ala, Fukakusa, Haley, Hurwitz and Lofgren.

    Case Number: D69425

    The business judgment standard applied because defendant was not a controlling stockholder and an over-whelming majority of the stockholders approved this merger transaction in an informed and uncoerced vote.

  • Manichaean Capital, LLC v. Exela Tech., Inc.

    Publication Date: 2021-06-09
    Practice Area: Corporate Entities
    Industry: Investments and Investment Advisory
    Court: Court of Chancery
    Judge: Vice Chancellor Slights
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Rudolf Koch, Matthew W. Murphy, Andrew L. Milam, Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A., Wilmington, DE; Samuel J. Lieberman, Alexander H. McCabe, Sadis & Goldberg LLP, New York, NY; Steven K. Davidson, Mi-chael J. Baratz, Claire Schachter, Lauren Goldschmidt, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Washington, DC for plaintiffs.
    for defendant: T. Bradley Davey, Matthew F. Davis, Andrew H. Sauder, Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP, Wilmington, DE; Jennifer Barrett, Dennis H. Hranitzky, Blair Adams, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, New York, NY for defendants.

    Case Number: D69428

    The court held that reverse corporate veil piercing was proper where plaintiffs' complaint adequately al-leged that a company's subsidiaries participated in a scheme to deprive plaintiffs of the benefit of their judg-ment.

  • In re: Appraisal of Regal Ent. Group

    Publication Date: 2021-06-02
    Practice Area: Mergers and Acquisitions
    Industry: Entertainment and Leisure
    Court: Court of Chancery
    Judge: Vice Chancellor Laster
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Samuel T. Hirzel, II, Jamie L. Brown, Heyman Enerio Gattuso & Hirzel LLP, Wilmington, DE; David J. Margules, Elizabeth A. Sloan, Ballard Spahr LLP, Wilmington, DE; Thomas E. Redburn, Jr., Maya Ginsburg, Lowenstein Sandler LLP, New York, NY for petitioners.
    for defendant: Robert S. Saunders, Jenness E. Parker, Lauren N. Rosenello, Kaitlin E. Maloney, Justin C. Barrett, Andrew D. Kinsey, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Wilmington, DE for respondents.

    Case Number: D69419

    In this statutory appraisal proceeding, the court relied on the deal price minus synergies, and then added value connected with changes which occurred between the time of the merger agreement and the closing date.

  • Green v. Carl M. Freeman Cmtys. L.L.C.

    Publication Date: 2021-06-02
    Practice Area: Real Estate
    Industry: Real Estate
    Court: Court of Chancery
    Judge: Vice Chancellor Glasscock
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Robert J. Valihura, Morton, Valihura & Zerbato, LLC, Greenville, DE for plaintiff.
    for defendant: Mark F. Dunkle, Parkowski, Guerke & Swayze, P.A., Rehoboth Beach, DE for defendant.

    Case Number: D69417

    The court held that a housing development qualified as a master planned community under the Delaware Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, so the threshold for passing control from the developer to the asso-ciation was not met.

  • In re Pattern Energy Group Inc. Stockholders Litig.

    Publication Date: 2021-05-26
    Practice Area: Mergers and Acquisitions
    Industry: Energy | Investments and Investment Advisory
    Court: Court of Chancery
    Judge: Vice Chancellor Zurn
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Ned Weinberger, Mark Richardson, Labaton Sucharow LLP, Wilmington, DE; David MacIsaac, John Vielandi, Labaton Sucharow LLP, New York, NY; Chad Johnson, Noam Mandel, Desiree Cummings, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, New York, NY; Brian Schall, Rina Restaino, The Schall Law Firm, Los Angeles, CA for plaintiff.
    for defendant: A. Thompson Bayliss, April M. Kirby, Abrams & Bayliss LLP, Wilmington, DE; Alan S. Goudiss, K. Mallory Brennan, Deke Shearon Shearman & Sterling LLP; Christina Urhausen, Shearman & Sterling LLP, San Francisco, CA; Rudolf Koch, Matthew D. Perri, Andrew L. Milam, Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A., Wilmington, DE; Matthew A. Schwartz, Y. Carson Zhou, John-Francis S. Flynn, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, New York, NY for defendants.

    Case Number: D69408

    Stockholder could seek entire fairness review of company sale under controller theory where investor that had formed the company continued to exercise soft power over the company's management, which allegedly prioritized the investor's interests over shareholder value during the sales process.

  • In re: TransPerfect Global, Inc.

    Publication Date: 2021-05-19
    Practice Area: Corporate Entities
    Industry: Consulting
    Court: Court of Chancery
    Judge: Chancellor Bouchard
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Kevin R. Shannon, Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP, Wilmington, DE; Philip S. Kaufman, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, New York, NY for petitioner.
    for defendant: Jeremy D. Eicher, Eicher Law LLC, Wilmington, DE; David B. Goldstein, Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman, P.C., New York, NY for respondent Shawe. Frank E. Noyes, II, Offit Kurman, P.A., Wilmington, DE; Adam K. Bult, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP, Las Vegas, NV for nominal party TransPerfect Global.

    Case Number: D69399

    Court-appointed corporate custodian was entitled to reimbursement of fees and expenses incurred in responding to majority owner's frivolous litigation challenging custodian's fee petitions.

  • Smith v. Scott

    Publication Date: 2021-05-19
    Practice Area: Employment Litigation
    Industry: Investments and Investment Advisory | Real Estate
    Court: Court of Chancery
    Judge: Vice Chancellor Slights
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: David E. Wilks, D. Charles Vavala, Wilks Law, LLC, Wilmington, DE; Douglas Albritton, Actuate Law LLC, Chicago, IL for plaintiffs.
    for defendant: Robert A. Penza, Stephen J. Kraftschik, Polsinelli PC, Wilmington, DE; Anthony C. Porcelli, Scott M. Gil-bert, Polsinelli PC, Chicago, IL for defendants.

    Case Number: D69401

    The chancery court denied defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiff's conversion, implied covenant and wage law claims, but it dismissed the claims for breach of fiduciary duty, defamation and punitive damages.