Justia Delaware Court of Chancery Opinion Summaries

The Court of Chancery dismissed Plaintiff’s complaint for failure to state a claim for relief in this action arising out of a reclassification of the shares of NRG Yield, Inc. A stockholder of the company filed this action asserting that members of the company’s board members breached their fiduciary duties in connection with their approval of the reclassification and that NRG Energy, Inc. breached its fiduciary duty as a controlling stockholder by causing the company to undertake the reclassification. In dismissing the case, the Court of Chancery held (1) the reclassification was a conflicted transaction subject to entire fairness review; (2) the analytical framework articulated in Kahn v. M&F Worldwide, Corp., 88 A.3d 635 (Del. 2014), a squeeze-out merger case, applied to the reclassification; and (3) that framework was satisfied in this case from the face of these pleadings. View "IRA Trust FBO Bobbie Ahmed v. Crane" on Justia Law

The Court of Chancery granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s claims for breach of fiduciary duty, waste, and unjust enrichment and dismissed the complaint with prejudice as to the named plaintiff because the claims were released as a part of a settlement agreement.Plaintiff brought these claims derivatively on behalf of Viacom Inc. challenging Viacom’s payment of approximately $13 million of compensation to its founder and then-chairman from 2014 to 2016 when Viacom’s directors purportedly knew that he was incapacitated and incapable of doing his job. The Court of Chancery held that the plain terms of the release in the settlement agreement entered into by Viacom in 2016 barred litigation of the derivative claims asserted in this case. View "Feuer v. Dauman" on Justia Law

The Court of Chancery denied the appeal of Philip Gentile from the determination that Gentile’s claim for $497,739 against Fund.com Inc. (the Company) was time-barred. After a Receiver was appointed for the Company, it commenced a process for marshaling the Company’s assets, determining its liabilities, and winding up its affairs. Gentile, the Company’s former CEO, contended that he was entitled to recover the amount sought as a result of various breaches of his employment agreement with the company. The Receiver rejected the claim as time-barred. The Court of Chancery adopted the Receiver’s determination as a decision of the court, holding that the Receiver correctly determined that Gentile’s claim was barred by the statute of limitations. View "B.E. Capital Management Fund LP v. Fund.com Inc." on Justia Law

Plaintiff, a stockholder of Kaazing Corporation (Defendant), filed this 8 Del. C. 220 action seeking to inspect certain books and records of Defendant. Plaintiff argued that his proper purposes seeking inspection of twenty-six categories of documents were to value his membership interest in Defendant and the investigation of mismanagement, waste or wrongdoing. The Court of Chancery held (1) Plaintiff adequately demonstrated a credible basis to suspect wrongdoing that justified further investigation into mismanagement, and therefore, Plaintiff demonstrated proper purposes; and (2) Plaintiff was entitled to inspect some, but not all, of the books and records he sought. View "Mehta v. Kaazing Corp." on Justia Law

The Court of Chancery dismissed a case brought by Plaintiff, a stockholder in The Fresh Market, alleging a breach of fiduciary duty by the Market’s directors and that Brett Berry, a former CEO and former vice chairman of the company’s board, aided and abetted that breach of fiduciary duty. The Market was acquired by an entity controlled by a private equity firm, and the founder of the Market rolled his equity ownership in the Market into the acquirer as part of the deal. The court held that because there was no coercion applied to the fully informed vote of the common stockholders ratifying the decision of the directors that the merger was in the stockholders’ best interest and the vote was adequately informed so as to serve as a ratification of the board’s decision, the matter must be dismissed. View "Morrison v. Berry" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs alleged insider-trading side deals in connection with the sale of a small aerospace manufacturing company, Kreisler, and insufficient disclosure to stockholders regarding the sales process. Before the sale, Kreisler was offered to dozens of potential acquirers. Several bidders emerged. A fairness opinion was rendered and a special committee ultimately recommended the sale. The transaction was approved by written consent of a majority of the shares outstanding. A block of shares of just over 50 percent executed a stockholder support agreement providing for approval of the transaction, so there was no stockholder vote. An Information Statement was provided to stockholders to permit them to decide whether to seek appraisal. A majority of Kreisler’s board of directors are independent and disinterested, and its charter contains an exculpation provision. The Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed the complaint, finding that even accepting the well-pled allegations as true and drawing all reasonable inferences in the Plaintiff’s favor, the Complaint fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted. View "Kahn v. Stern" on Justia Law

In this consolidated class action, former stockholders of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (MSLO) brought claims against Martha Stewart, MSLO’s former controlling stockholder and namesake, for breach of fiduciary duty and against Sequential Brands Group, Inc., (Sequential), a third-party buyer, for aiding and abetting that breach. The claims arose from a transaction whereby MSLO was acquired by Sequential in a merger. At issue was whether Stewart leveraged her position as controlling stockholder to secure greater consideration for herself than was paid to the other stockholders as a result of the merger. Stewart and the Sequential defendants brought motions to dismiss. The Court of Chancery granted the motions, holding that the complaint failed to state a claim for breach of fiduciary duty against Stewart, and therefore, the court need not reach the question of whether the complaint adequately pleaded the other elements of aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty. View "In re Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Stockholder Litigation" on Justia Law

Plaintiff, the owner of a commercial property, filed suit against Defendant, a special servicer that handled the default side of loan servicing for its affiliate, after Plaintiff unsuccessfully sought to purchase a loan taken out to refinance existing debt on its property in an effort to avoid default. Plaintiff sought specific performance of a pre-negotiation agreement and injunctive relief to enjoin Defendant from foreclosing on the property until good faith negotiations occur under the pre-negotiation contract. The Court of Chancery granted Defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim for relief, holding that each count of the complaint failed to state a claim for relief. View "Windsor I, LLC v. CWCapital Asset Management LLC" on Justia Law

Petitioners sought a statutory partition of a house and lot owned by Petitioners and Respondent. Respondent objected and brought her objections as a counterclaim in which Respondent requested a private sale of the property and alleged that she was entitled to money from her mother’s estate. The master’s final report issued finding that Respondent had not raised a cognizable defense or counterclaim regarding the statutory partition and that the court lacked jurisdiction over the probate issues. The Court of Chancery affirmed the report in all respects based upon its independent findings of fact and law, holding that the Master correctly recommended that Respondent’s claims be dismissed without prejudice for lack of jurisdiction. View "Collins v. Collins" on Justia Law

The Delaware Court of Chancery granted in part a motion for summary judgment in a breach of contract dispute regarding Duffield's involvement in the design of a wastewater treatment system. The court granted the motion as to Count I against defendants Don Lockwood and John Stanton, holding them jointly and severally liable for the total amount of $82,153.17 plus pre- and post-judgment interest; imposed a constructive trust over the assets transferred to defendants, ordered a full accounting of the proceeds of the distributions, and ordered disgorgement of any profits or proceeds from the transfers; denied the motion as it related to Count I claims against Pamala Stanton; and held that the motion for rule to show cause was moot. View "Duffield Associates, Inc. v. Lockwood Brothers, LLC" on Justia Law