CHOICE OF LAW PROVISION IN STOCKHOLDERS’ AGREEMENT INSUFFICIENT TO CREATE PERSONAL JURISDICTION OVER DELAWARE CORPORATION’S FORMER CEO
By Shoshannah D. Katz and Max E. Kaplan
By order dated August 4, 2017, Vice Chancellor Slights dismissed the complaint seeking to enforce non-compete and non-solicitation provisions in a stockholders’ agreement in EBP Lifestyle Brands Holdings, Inc. v. Boulbain, C.A. No. 2017-0269-JRS (Del. Ch. Aug. 4, 2017), finding that the Delaware Chancery Court lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendant. Specifically, the Court held that defendant’s execution of a stockholders’ agreement governed by Delaware law and concerning a Delaware corporation was insufficient to satisfy the statutory and constitutional requirements to establish personal jurisdiction over an individual not resident or transacting business in Delaware.