Chancery and Corporate Governance Litigation

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Corporate Litigation

Corporate governance and Chancery litigation for boards, executives, and stockholders, covering fiduciary duty claims, M&A disputes, books-and-records demands, and derivative actions in Delaware and beyond.

When a board decision, a deal, or a control fight ends up in court, the questions are sharp and the timelines are short. We represent boards, management teams, stockholders, and companies in corporate governance disputes, including matters in the Delaware Court of Chancery. Our focus is protecting the decision-makers and the deals while keeping the business itself running through the fight.

Fiduciary Duty and Governance

We handle fiduciary duty claims against directors and officers, entire fairness challenges to conflicted transactions, Section 220 books-and-records demands, advancement and indemnification disputes, and stockholder derivative actions. Whether we are defending a board's judgment or pressing a claim on behalf of stockholders, we build the record around the process that was actually followed and what the governing standard of review demands.

M&A and Deal Litigation

Deals draw lawsuits. We litigate actions to enjoin a transaction, post-closing damages claims for breached representations, appraisal proceedings over fair value, challenges to deal-protection devices, and disclosure claims. These cases move on compressed schedules with expedited discovery, so we are organized to brief and argue them quickly without losing the factual detail that decides them.

Stockholder and Control Disputes

We represent companies and stockholders in fights over voting rights, stockholder and shareholder agreements, control of the board, class certification, and settlement approval. For technology companies in particular, we are comfortable with the cap-table mechanics, preferred-stock terms, and founder arrangements that often sit at the center of these disputes.

Frequently asked questions

Most large corporations are incorporated in Delaware, so their internal disputes land in Chancery. It's a specialized court whose judges live and breathe corporate law, and its rulings set the tone for corporate governance across the country. If you're a Delaware entity, this is likely where a governance fight will be decided.

Directors owe the corporation and its stockholders duties of care and loyalty, meaning they must act with diligence and put the company's interests ahead of their own. Breaching these duties can expose a director to personal liability. That said, the business judgment rule shields many good-faith decisions from second-guessing.

It's a presumption that directors acted in good faith, on an informed basis, and in the corporation's best interest. As long as that holds, courts won't substitute their own view of a business decision, even one that turned out badly. The protection falls away only if a director breached a fiduciary duty, such as acting under a conflict.

Entire fairness kicks in when directors have a conflict of interest in a transaction, like a deal with a controlling stockholder. Instead of deferring to the board, the court scrutinizes both the process (fair dealing) and the terms (fair price). It's a far more demanding standard than business judgment, and it shifts the burden onto the directors to justify the deal.

Section 220 of Delaware law lets a stockholder inspect a company's books and records for a proper purpose. Stockholders often use it to investigate suspected wrongdoing and gather facts before deciding whether to file a derivative suit. Think of it as a way to look under the hood before committing to litigation.

If you dissent from certain mergers, an appraisal action lets you ask the court to decide the fair value of your shares instead of accepting the deal price. It's a remedy for stockholders who believe the merger undervalued the company. The trade-off is that the court's determination could come in above or below the offered price.

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