En Banc Category
Fenceposts Without a Fence
May. 31, 2023—Katherine E. Di Lucido, Nicholas K. Tabor & Jeffery Y. Zhang | 76 Vand. L. Rev. 1215 Banking organizations in the United States have long been subject to two broad categories of regulatory requirements. The first is permissive: a “positive” grant of rights and privileges, typically via a charter for a corporate entity, to engage...
Democracy and Disenchantment
May. 17, 2022—Ashraf Ahmed | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 223 (2022) | This piece is a response to Ryan D. Doerfler & Samuel Moyn, The Ghost of John Hart Ely, 75 VAND. L. REV 769 (2022). The Ghost of John Hart Ely is Doerfler and Moyn’s latest salvo against American judicial review. This time, however, their...
Hunting for Nondelegation Doctrine’s Snark
May. 17, 2022—Roderick M. Hills, Jr. | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 215 (2022) | This piece is a response to Ben Silver, Nondelegation in the States, 75 VAND. L. REV. 1211, 1221 (2022). There is much to like about Silver’s article: it is analytically sharp, doctrinally comprehensive, and written with clarity and grace. Moreover, on...
Can Better Juries Fix American Criminal Justice?
May. 17, 2022—Darryl K. Brown | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 205 (2022) | This piece is a response to Daniel Epps & William Ortman, The Informed Jury, 75 VAND. L. REV. 823 (2022). Professors Daniel Epps and William Ortman argue that it could. In their Article The Informed Jury, Epps and Ortman propose that trial...
CHANCERY COURT DECLINED TO APPLY BLASIUS “COMPELLING JUSTIFICATION” STANDARD IN SUSTAINING BOARD’S REJECTION OF OPPOSITION SLATE UNDER “COMMONPLACE” ADVANCE NOTICE BYLAW
May. 12, 2022—Robert S. Reder & Gabrielle M. Haddad | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 195 (2022) | Under § 141(a) of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”), “the business and affairs of every corporation . . . shall be managed by or under the direction of a board of directors . . . .” In light of this sweeping grant of authority to...
CHANCERY COURT PROVIDES ADDITIONAL CLARITY ON DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR ESTABLISHING CORWIN DEFENSE
May. 12, 2022—Robert S. Reder & Stanley N. Medlin | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 187 (2022) | At the other end of the spectrum, as explained by Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III in Galindo v. Stover, CA No. 2021-0031-SG (Del. Ch. Jan. 26, 2022) (“Galindo”), “directors need not provide exhaustive information in seeking a stockholder...
THE WORDS MEAN WHAT THEY SAY: CHANCERY COURT ADHERES TO PLAIN MEANING OF TYPICAL CONTRACT TERMS
May. 12, 2022—Robert S. Reder & Paul W. d’Ambrosio | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 179 (2022) | In Yatra Online, Inc. v. Ebix, Inc., C.A. No. 2020-0444-JRS (Del. Ch. Aug. 30, 2021), Vice Chancellor Joseph R. Slights III ruled that a merger agreement provision stating “there shall be no liability on the part of any...
CHANCERY COURT APPLIES “WELL-WORN FIDUCIARY PRINCIPLES” TO ADDRESS “NOVEL ISSUES” PRESENTED BY SPAC DISCLOSURE LITIGATION
May. 12, 2022—Robert S. Reder | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 167 (2022) | In In Re MultiPlan Corp. S’holders Litig., 268 A.3d 784 (Del. Ch. 2022) (“MultiPlan”), the Delaware Court of Chancery (“Chancery Court”) confronted—for the first time—litigation over one of the most popular devices currently available to privately-held businesses seeking “to access the public...
MFW FRAMEWORK REQUIRES MAJORITY-OF-MINORITY STOCKHOLDER APPROVAL EVEN WHEN CONTROLLER STRUCTURES TRANSACTION TO AVOID STATUTORY STOCKHOLDER VOTE
May. 12, 2022—Robert S. Reder | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 157 (2022) | In Berteau v. Glazek, C.A. No. 2020-0873-PAF (Del. Ch. June 30, 2021) (“Berteau”), Vice Chancellor Paul A. Fioravanti, Jr. of the Delaware Court of Chancery (“Chancery Court”) confronted a “novel,” but ultimately “unpersuasive,” theory concerning the judicial standard of review applicable to...
“NECESSARY BUT NOT SUFFICIENT”: CHANCERY COURT CLARIFIES ROLE OF ENHANCED SCRUTINY IN ASSESSING DAMAGES CLAIMS AGAINST CORPORATE ACTORS IN REVLON TRANSACTIONS
Apr. 11, 2022—Robert S. Reder & Connor J. Breed | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 145 (2022) | Also explains that preliminary steps taken by self-interested corporate officers to tilt playing field for benefit of favored bidder may invite application of Revlon principles several months before board approval of sale transaction. PDF Download Link AUTHORS: Robert...
SUPREME COURT ─ FINDING SELLER’S RESPONSES TO COVID-19 VIOLATED ORDINARY COURSE COVENANT, DESPITE LACK OF “MAE” ─ UPHOLDS CHANCERY DECISION ALLOWING BUYER TO ABANDON SIGNED TRANSACTION
Apr. 11, 2022—Robert S. Reder & Erin N. Embrey | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 133 (2022) | Disregarding similar measures taken by other industry participants in response to pandemic, Court finds that seller’s failure to obtain buyer’s consent to drastic (albeit reasonable) measures as required by sale agreement violated Ordinary Course Covenant. PDF Download Link...
“TOO MUCH DYNAMITE”: BUYER’S FRAUDULENT INDUCEMENT CLAIM SURVIVES SELLER’S DEFENSE BASED ON CONTRACTUAL LIMITATIONS ON POST-CLOSING LIABILITY
Apr. 11, 2022—Robert S. Reder & Zachary R. Ryan | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 123 (2022) | Chancery Court permits buyer to challenge allegedly fraudulent representations in purchase agreement, despite “remarkably robust” contractual provisions designed to shield seller and its affiliates from post-closing liability. PDF Download Link AUTHORS: Robert S. Reder Zachary R. Ryan
Defusing the “[N]uclear [W]eapon of [C]orporate [G]overnance”: Chancery Court Enjoins “Extreme, Unprecedented” Poison Pill Adopted to Defend Against Hypothetical Stockholder Activism
Apr. 11, 2022—Robert S. Reder & Lisa Orucevic | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 109 (2022) | Chancery Court confirms that boards must justify adoption of an “extreme” form of stockholder rights plan based on actual threats perceived at the time of adoption, not on the possibility of “hypothetical future threats.” PDF Download Link AUTHORS: Robert...
CHANCERY COURT EMPLOYS REVLON ANALYSIS IN ASSESSING WHETHER CORPORATE SALE PROCESS WAS REASONABLE
Apr. 11, 2022—Robert S. Reder & Connor J. Breed | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 97 (2022) | The court carves out role for enhanced scrutiny review while recognizing that personal liability requires defendant-by-defendant analysis. PDF Download Link AUTHORS: Robert S. Reder Connor J. Breed
“THERE MOST CERTAINLY WAS A ‘TOMORROW’”: CHANCERY COURT FINDS REVLON REVIEW NOT TRIGGERED WHEN ACQUIRER STOCK CONSTITUTED 58% OF MERGER CONSIDERATION
Apr. 11, 2022—Robert S. Reder & Connor J. Breed | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 87 (2022) | Opinion also indicates that technical noncompliance with DGCL § 203 will not trigger supermajority voting requirements for a negotiated transaction not subject to “abusive takeover tactics.” PDF Download Link AUTHORS: Robert S. Reder Connor J. Breed
Duty and Diversity – Roundtable
Mar. 1, 2022—Chris Brummer & Leo E. Strine, Jr. | 75 Vand. L. Rev. 1 (2022) | In the wake of the brutal deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, lawmakers and corporate boards from Wall Street to the West Coast have introduced a slew of reforms aimed at increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) in corporations. Yet...