2016 – Page 2 – Delaware Docket

Chancery Court Dismisses Derivative Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims as Improperly Pled and the Requests for Declaratory Judgment as Not Ripe

Oct 14 2016

In Chester County Employees’ Retirement Fund v. New Residential Investment Corp., No. 11058-VCMR (Del. Ch. Oct. 7, 2016), the Court of Chancery granted the motion to dismiss brought by defendants (the members of the board of directors of New Residential Corp. (“New Residential”), its manager, the manager’s owner, and its controlling stockholder: (i) for an improperly pled derivative claim (with leave to replead) brought against the defendants for breach of fiduciary duty by the plaintiff, a stockholder of New Residential, (ii) for plaintiff’s failure to sufficiently plead futility in demanding that the board of New Residential bring the derivative suit, and (iii) as to declaratory judgments sought by plaintiff with respect to the Defendants’ liability under certain documents as not being ripe (with leave to replead).

DELAWARE CHANCERY COURT DISMISSES CLAIMS DUE TO A PRIOR BROAD SETTLEMENT RELEASE

Oct 04 2016

By Scott Waxman and Thomas Meyer

In Geier v. Mozido, LLC, C.A. No. 10931-VCS (Del. Ch. Sept. 29, 2016) (Slights, V.C.), the Delaware Court of Chancery granted the motion of Mozido LLC (“LLC”) and Mozido, Inc., a subsidiary of LLC (“Inc.” and together with LLC, “Defendants”), to dismiss claims relating to incentive options promised, but not delivered, to a former director of LLC (“Plaintiff”).

Chancery Court Finds Statute of Limitations Bars Humvee Joint Venture Breach of Contract Claims

Sep 26 2016

By Scott Waxman and Mark Hammes

In AM General Holdings v. The Renco Group, C.A. No. 7639-VCS (Del. Ch. Aug. 22, 2016), the Court of Chancery held that Delaware’s three-year statute of limitations barred contract claims brought by one party in a joint venture to produce Humvee automobiles against its joint venture partner.

AM General LLC (“AM General”) manufactured and sold specialized vehicles including the Humvee. Prior to 2004, its sole member was The Renco Group, Inc. (“Renco”). In August 2004, Renco and MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. (“M&F”) entered into a joint venture with Renco whereby they formed AM General Holdings LLC (“Holdco”). Renco contributed AM General to Holdco and M&F contributed cash. An M&F subsidiary became the managing member of Holdco. A Holdco Agreement set forth the mechanisms for distribution of profits between Renco and M&F and provided for certain contractual protections for Renco, restricting certain related party transactions, management fees, distributions and the like and giving Renco access to books and records of Holdco.

Plaintiff’s Counsel Recovery in a Derivative Case Settling Under the Transitive Property Limited to Actual Benefit to Plaintiffs

Sep 21 2016

By: Nicholas Froio and David Noll

In Baker v. Sadiq, C.A. No. 9464-VCL (Del. Ch. August 16, 2016), the Court held that the proper calculation of an attorney’s contingency fee for a derivative action settled using the transitive property is based upon the actual settlement value. Baker concerned fees owed to plaintiff’s counsel (“Counsel”) after the settlement of a derivative action by minority shareholders for misappropriation by the majority shareholder. The settlement of those claims was a buyout of the minority shareholders at a better pro rata value than could be expected from the derivative action. By holding that the appropriate measure of fees is based upon actual cash payments, Plaintiff’s counsel received approximately one ninth of its expected award to be collected from an entity with no assets.

Chancery Court Finds Unqualified Inspection Right in Statutory Trust Agreement Renders Default Preconditions and Defenses Inapplicable

Sep 16 2016

By: Scott Waxman and Eric Jay

In Grand Acquisition LLC v. Passco Indian Springs DST, C.A. No. 12003-VCMR (Del. Ch. Aug. 26, 2016) the Delaware Court of Chancery found that under the Delaware Statutory Trust Act (the “Act”), the governing instrument of a Delaware statutory trust (DST) does not need to affirmatively disavow the preconditions and defenses applicable to inspection rights related to a DST’s books and records under Section 3819 of the Act in order to create a separate and distinct contractual right that can, in some circumstances, render statutory preconditions and defenses inapplicable to such requests. Read More

Innocence Lost: The Rebuttable Presumption Of Stock Ownership

Sep 16 2016

By Joanna Diakos Kordalis and Priya Chadha

In Pogue v. Hybrid Energy, Inc., C.A. No. 11563-VCG (Aug. 5, 2016), the Court of Chancery held that inclusion of a party (in this case the plaintiff) in a stock record provides a prima facie but rebuttable case that such party is a stockholder of record for purposes of seeking books and records under DGCL Section 220. In Pogue, the Court held that the defendant had successfully rebutted the presumption that plaintiff was a stockholder by clear and convincing evidence and therefore the Court denied the plaintiff the relief sought and granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgement.

Chancery Court Determines the Appropriate Valuation Method for Use in Connection with an Appraisal Action Involving the Greatest Divergence among Valuations the Court Has Seen to Date

Sep 15 2016

By: David L. Forney and David Valenti

In determining the fair value of stock of a privately held corporation at the time of a cash-out merger in connection with an appraisal action by minority stockholders—where one of the minority stockholders’ experts proffered a fair value greater than eight times that provided by the company’s expert—the Delaware Court of Chancery found that the valuation method used by the company’s expert was unreliable. The Court held that in this case the discounted cash flow analysis is the most reliable indicator of fair value because (1) the company’s stock is not publicly traded, (2) historical sales of stock are not reliable indicators of fair value, and (3) no comparable company valuation exists.

Directors Trigger Entire Fairness Review by Approving Merger to Extinguish Potential Liability for Derivative Claims

Aug 12 2016

By Lisa Stark and Claire White

In In Re Riverstone National, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, C.A. No. 9796-VCG (July 28, 2016), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that a board’s approval of a merger agreement containing a release of claims against the directors and entered into while a potential derivative suit for usurpation of corporate opportunity was threatened against such directors warranted entire fairness review.

In an Appraisal Action, Chancery Court Uses Its “Significant Discretion” to Determine that Stock Sold Was Undervalued by Approximately 7%

Aug 08 2016

By Christopher Tillson and B. Ashby Hardesty, Jr.

On July 8, 2016, Chancellor Bouchard issued a memorandum opinion in In re Appraisal of DFC Global Corp., C.A. No. 10107-CB (Del. Ch. July 8, 2016), finding that shares held by former stockholders of DFC Global Corporation (“DFC”) sold to Lone Star Fund VIII (U.S.), L.P. (“Lone Star”), a private equity buyer, for $9.50 per share were undervalued. Chancellor Bouchard determined this through an examination of multiple valuation methods — comparable company and transaction analyses, discounted cash flow analyses, and the transaction price — and ultimately concluded that an equal blend of the three was the most reliable determinate of the shares’ fair value. In doing so, Chancellor Bouchard calculated that the fair market value of the DFC shares was $10.21 per share.

Chancery Court Dismisses Only Certain Counterclaims Against Baseball’s Derek Jeter

Jul 27 2016

By: Merrick Hatcher and Joshua Haft

In a mixed ruling, the Chancery Court denied, in part, baseball legend Derek Jeter’s motion to dismiss claims that he breached his fiduciary duty as a director of undergarment manufacturer RevolutionWear, that he violated the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and that he fraudulently induced a contract with RevolutionWear and fraudulently concealed restrictions in his endorsement contract with Nike that precluded Jeter from fulfilling his promise to allow RevolutionWear to announce his role as a founder, substantial owner, and director.

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