By Justin H. Roeber and Peter Ayers In Largo Legacy Group, LLC v. Evens Charles et al., C.A. No. 2020-0105-MTZ (Del. Ch. June 30, 2021), the Delaware Court of Chancery denied a motion to dismiss brought by defendants against Plaintiff Largo Legacy Group, an investor in Largo Hotel, LLC (“Largo Hotel”), a hotel development company.  The Court found that Plaintiff successfully stated claims against the company’s principals for breach of fiduciary duty, aiding and abetting, and breach of contract arising from the defendants’ efforts to launch a parallel hotel venture on an adjacent piece of ..read more

By: Gregory R. Youman and Scott G. Ofrias As the battle over the acquisition of equity in Universata, Inc. continues, the Court of Chancery, in Houseman v. Sagerman, C.A. No. 8897-VCG (Del. Ch. July 20, 2021), resolved two general exceptions asserted by Plaintiffs to the Special Master’s Final Report (“Final Report”).  In doing so, the Court decided that an escrow fund was properly created pursuant to the Merger Agreement, and further held that the appropriate standard of review regarding actions of the Stockholders’ Representative is “subjective good faith.”  However, the ultimate r ..read more

By: Michele Barnes and Jessica Liu In Continental Investors Fund, LLC v. TradingScreen, Inc., et al, C.A. No. 10164-VCL (Del. Ch. July 23, 2021), the Delaware Court of Chancery (“Court”) denied plaintiff’s claim for breach of contract, holding that Continental Investors Fund, LLC (“Continental”) failed to carry its burden of proving that TradingScreen, Inc. (“Company”) “acted in bad faith, relied on unreliable methods or data, or reached conclusions so off the mark as to constitute constructive fraud” when calculating the redemption value of Continental’s preferred stock. Further, the Court li ..read more

By: Brian D. Koosed and Adam R.D. Paine In In re Straight Path Communications Shareholder Litigation, C.A. No. 2017-0486-SG the Delaware Court of Chancery considered plaintiffs’ motion to compel and motion to supplement case schedule to impose an election deadline regarding defendants’ counsel’s role at trial as lead counsel and as a witness for the defense.  The Court found the motion to be premature and made no determination as to whether an ethical violation occurred. Attorney Jason Cyrulnik is the lead counsel for IDT Corp. and its related defendants (the “IDT Defendants”).  But ..read more

By Michael Waller and Molly Mugford In Franchi v. Firestone, et al., C.A. No. 2020-0503-KSMJ (Del. Ch. May 10, 2020), Defendants’ moved to dismiss Plaintiffs’ action challenging a going-private transaction claiming that the Special Committee set up by the Board of Directors (“Board”) to analyze the merger lacked independence and failed to exercise its duty of care, and the vote of the minority stockholders was not informed. The Chancery Court granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss, relying on the business judgment rule and finding that Plaintiffs’ claims were unsupported and insufficient t ..read more

By: Brian D. Koosed and Julia Knitter In Robert Boyd Fitzgerald v. Fitzgerald Home Farm, LLC, Civil Action No. 2019-0410-PWG (Del. Ch. April 16, 2021), Master in Chancery Patricia W. Griffin (“Master Griffin”) recommended the Court of Chancery (the “Court”) dismiss a complaint seeking damages and reinstatement as a member of a family limited liability company, with prejudice.  Master Griffin found that the action was barred by laches because the statute of limitations for the alleged breach had run and equitable tolling did not apply.  In 2008, Robert B. Fitzgerald (“Robert”) formed ..read more

By: Michael J. Ross and Ryan Reilly In Daniel Feldman et al. v. AS Roma SPV GP, LLC, et al., C.A. No. 2020-0314-PAF (Del. Ch. July 22, 2021), the Delaware Court of Chancery (the “Court”) dismissed a suit brought by minority members (“Plaintiffs”) of AS Roma SPV GP, LLC (the “Company”) for breach of fiduciary duties by the managing member for breach of the Company’s limited liability company agreement (“LLC Agreement”) for failure to disclose material information, and breach of fiduciary duties by the investor committee in connection with pandemic-driven financing and recapitalization efforts ..read more

By: Michael Waller and Caitlin Velasco In United Food and Commercial Workers Union and Participating Food Industry Employers Tri-State Pension Fund v. Zuckerberg, et al., C.A. No. 2018-0671 (Del. Ch. Oct. 26, 2020), the Delaware Court of Chancery (the “Court”) dismissed a derivative suit brought by the stockholders (the “Plaintiffs”) of Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) because the Plaintiffs failed to adequately plead demand futility under Court of Chancery Rule 23.1.  The derivative suit accused members of the Facebook board of directors (the “Board”) and Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, of bre ..read more

By: Remsen Kinne and Adam Heyd In In re Anthem-Cigna Merger Litigation, C.A. No. 2017-0114-JTL (Del. Ch. August 31, 2020), the Delaware Court of Chancery (“Court”) rejected claims for damages by Anthem, Inc. (“Anthem”) and by Cigna Corporation (“Cigna”) for breach of covenants under their Agreement and Plan of Merger entered into on July 23, 2015 (“Merger Agreement”).  The Court also ruled against Cigna’s claim for a reverse termination fee. If completed, Anthem’s merger acquisition of Cigna as contemplated by the Merger Agreement would have created the nation’s largest health insurer.&nb ..read more

By: David Forney and Sean Boyle In Deborah Pettry, et al. v. Gilead Sciences, Inc., C.A. No. 2020-0132-KSJM (Del. Ch. Nov. 24, 2020), the Court of Chancery found that plaintiffs may rely on allegations forming the basis of other lawsuits to meet the credible basis standard for demands to inspect books and records under Section 220 of the DGCL. Further, the Court granted plaintiffs leave to move for attorneys’ fees and expenses as a result of Gilead Sciences, Inc.’s (“Gilead”) “overly aggressive defense” at the Section 220 phase, pointing to Gilead’s pre-litigation and litigation-related conduc ..read more