Justia Delaware Court of Chancery Opinion Summaries

The Court of Chancery granted a motion sought by the Insurance Commissioner of the State of Delaware (the Commissioner) asking the Court of Chancery to permit Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc. (the Company), a delinquent insurer, to make payments to a subset of primary insurers (cedents) for a portion of their losses, holding that the Commissioner was authorized to cause the Company to make the payments.The Company, a reinsurer, entered into reinsurance agreements with cedents in which the Company agreed to pay a portion of the losses that their insurers suffered. The Company was later placed in receivership, and the Commissioner was appointed as receiver. The Company stopped paying its cedents for the losses they incurred while the cedents continued to make premium payments to the Company. The Commissioner asked the Court to permit the company to make the payments tissue before the approval of a rehabilitation plan. The Court of Chancery granted the motion, holding that the Commissioner established a prima facie case sufficient for the Court to grant the motion. View "In re Rehabilitation of Scottish RE (U.S.), Inc." on Justia Law

This decision held that an irrevocable proxy did not run with majority shares and that a transfer restriction applied to any sale to an affiliate but not to a sale to a third party.A Delaware limited partnership (Partnership) dissolved in 2021. At issue was the seventy-five percent shares (Majority Shares) that the Partnership owned of the issued and outstanding equity of a corporation. More than two decades ago, the previous owner of the Majority Shares executed an irrevocable proxy granting three individuals the authority to vote the Majority Shares (the Irrevocable Proxy), and when the Partnership acquired the Majority Shares, it bound itself to the Irrevocable Proxy. Plaintiff sought a declaratory judgment that the Irrevocable Proxy, from which Defendants benefitted, did not run with the Majority Shares and that the Partnership can sell the shares clear of the Irrevocable Proxy. The Court of Chancery held (1) the Irrevocable Proxy did not run with the Majority Shares; (2) a transfer restriction in the addendum to the Irrevocable Party applied to any sale to an affiliate, but not to a sale to a third party; and (3) any judicial declaration at this stage would constitute an advisory opinion. View "Hawkins v. Daniel" on Justia Law

The Court of Chancery denied the petition filed by Synergy management Group LLC seeking to have its president appointed as a custodian for Forum Mobile, Inc., a defunct Delaware corporation, holding that Synergy was not entitled to the petition.Synergy sought to revive Forum as a blank check company and, through a reverse merger, begin a new business that could access the public markets. In its petition, Synergy relied on section 226(a)(3) of the Delaware General Corporation Law providing that the Court of Chancery may, upon the application of any stockholder, appoint a custodian for a corporation when the corporation has abandoned its business and failed to take timely steps to dissolve, liquidate, or distribute its assets. The Court of Chancery denied the petition, holding that section 226(b) does not contemplate that a custodian appointed under section 226(a)(3) could revivify the corporation. View "In re Forum Mobile, Inc." on Justia Law

In this longstanding property dispute between neighbors, the Court of Chancery held that Plaintiffs failed to establish a prescriptive easement of land owned by Defendant, and entered judgment in favor of Defendant on all counts.This dispute stemmed from the neighbors' shared drainage system and the actions of Defendants that caused drainage problems and flooding on both lots. Plaintiffs filed a complaint against Defendant that included four counts all based on Plaintiffs' prescriptive easement theory. After a trial, the Court of Chancery denied relief, holding that Plaintiffs failed to establish the necessary elements of a prescriptive easement by clear and convincing evidence. View "Jones v. Collison" on Justia Law

The Court of Chancery adopted Verizon Communications Inc.'s proposal for the amount of security required for its indemnification claim relating to national consumer-oriented class actions, holding that Altaba, Inc. (the Company) shall reserve $400 million as security earmarked for that claim, inclusive of the $58.75 million that the Company had paid to fund its share of the settlement.The Company, formerly known as Yahoo! Inc., publicly disclosed massive data breaches only after selling its operating business to Verizon Communications Inc. The Company's customers filed a series of national customer class actions. The parties to the class actions subsequently reached a global settlement, which the federal district court approved. The Company then dissolved. Verizon possessed a contingent contractual claim to indemnification from the Company for fifty percent of the liabilities associated with the class actions, and the Company proposed an amount of security that Verizon rejected. This proceeding followed, with the Company claiming that no security was required for Verizon's indemnification claim. The Court of Chancery held that the Company failed to carry its burden of proving that its proposed amount and form of security would be sufficient to satisfy Verizon's claim for indemnification if it matured and adopted Verizon's proposal for an amount. View "In re Altaba, Inc." on Justia Law

The Court of Chancery denied a request for an injunction to compel a healthcare provider to treat a hospitalized COVID-19 patient with ivermectin, holding that Plaintiff failed to show she was entitled to the relief she sought and failed to identify any established right that would entitle her to such relief.When a COVID-19 patient was admitted to the hospital for the virus, the patient requested to be treated with ivermectin. The request was denied. Plaintiff, the patient's wife, obtained a prescription from a doctor, but the hospital refused to administer the ivermectin prescription. Plaintiff filed a verified complaint for injunctive and declaratory relief requiring the hospital to administer the prescribed ivermectin. The Court of Chancery held that patients do not have a right to a particular treatment, and medical providers have a duty to treat in accordance with their standard of care. Because ivermectin was not part of the standard of care for the COVID-19 virus, Plaintiff was not entitled to relief. View "DeMarco v. Christiana Care Health Services, Inc." on Justia Law

The Court of Chancery granted in part an anti-suit injunction sought by a buyer and a parent corporation with whom the buyer contracted to acquire a wholly owned subsidiary (the Company) to bar the seller and its subsidiary from pursuing their claims in a Texas lawsuit, holding that the forum selection provision in the stock purchase agreement applied.Under the stock purchase agreement, the buyer contracted with a Company and caused the Company to enter into a supply agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of the seller. The stock purchase agreement contained a forum selection provision. The seller signed the stock purchase agreement and did not sign the supply agreement. The seller's subsidiary signed the supply agreement but did not sign the stock purchase agreement. The seller and its subsidiary later filed a lawsuit in Texas state court seeking rescission of the supply agreement. The buyer and the Company then brought this action asking the court to apply the forum selection provision in the stock purchase agreement to the claims implicating the supply agreement. The Court of Chancery granted the request for an anti-suit injunction against the seller and against a non-signatory signatory, holding that an injunction was warranted. View "Florida Chemical Company, LLC v. Flotek Industries, Inc." on Justia Law

The Court of Chancery granted Defendants' motion to dismiss this amended complaint brought by Plaintiff seeking a determination that Defendants - the City of Wilmington, the Wilmington Police Department, and the mayor of the City - breached the collective bargaining agreement between the police union and the City when he was terminated for an alleged violation of the City's resident requirement, holding that this Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction.Specifically, the Court of Chancery held that Plaintiff's claims fell within the grievance procedure and were therefore subject to arbitration, and where Plaintiff did not follow the grievance process that was provided in the collective bargaining agreement, a complete remedy otherwise existed in the form of the grievance process outlined in the agreement. View "Kroll v. City of Wilmington" on Justia Law

The Court of Chancery held that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to dissolve or to declare the proper managers of a foreign entity.This dispute involved a company formed by two friends - a sweat equity partner and a financial partner - that was converted to a Puerto Rican limited liability company in 2018. When the financial member leveraged its majority interest to unilaterally amend the operating agreement and remove the sweat equity partner from his managerial role the sweat equity member challenged its dilution, the conversion, and the partner's removal from management. The sweat equity member further requested an order dissolving the company. The Court of Chancery held (1) the company's conversion to a Puerto Rican entity stripped the Court of Chancery of statutory jurisdiction to declare the company's present managers and to order judicial dissolution; and (2) the Court was without subject matter jurisdiction to work an equitable dissolution of a Puerto Rican entity. View "In re Coinmint, LLC" on Justia Law

The Court of Chancery granted in part and denied in part Defendants' motion to dismiss Plaintiffs' action seeking to hold Exela Technologies, Inc. and its subsidiaries liable for an appraisal judgment, holding that Plaintiffs' claim for reverse veil-piercing was viable as a matter of Delaware law.Plaintiffs, former stockholders of SourceHOV Holdings, Inc., were awarded an appraisal judgment reflecting their shares were worth in excess of what they were offered in SourceHOV Holdings' merger with Exela. The court entered a charging order against SourceHOV Holdings' interests in its subsidiaries to facilitate the payment of the judgment, but the judgment remained unsatisfied. Plaintiffs, in a parallel action, sought to hold Exela and its affiliated entities accountable for the appraisal judgment. The Court of Chancery dismissed Plaintiffs' claim for unjust enrichment for failure to state a claim but denied Defendants' motion to dismiss the reverse veil-piercing claim, holding that this equitable remedy was viable. View "Manichaean Capital, LLC v. Exela Technologies, Inc." on Justia Law