Chancery Court Rule 15(aaa) – Delaware Docket

Chancery Court Tosses Complaint For Lacking Foundational Facts Available To Plaintiffs-Stockholders Under Delaware General Corporation Law § 220

Feb 19 2016

In Thermopylae Capital Partners, L.P. v. Simbol, Inc. C.A. No. 10619-VGC (Jan. 29, 2016), Vice Chancellor Glasscock granted defendants’ motion to dismiss, with prejudice. After attempting to unravel the allegations in plaintiffs’ pleadings as to a dilution claim, the Court of Chancery held that the complaint’s omission of pertinent facts tested the limits of “reasonable conceivability” by requiring the Court to speculate as the fundamental facts necessary for plaintiffs to prevail—facts available to plaintiffs under Delaware General Corporation Law § 220.

Plaintiffs—stockholders and former management of defendant Simbol, Inc. (“Simbol”)—claimed that Simbol’s board of directors, executives, and certain defendants-stockholders diluted plaintiffs’ shares in the corporation as part of an elaborate “scheme” to usurp corporate control for the benefit of defendants-stockholders Mohr Davidow Ventures (“MDV”) and Itochu Corporation (“Itochu”). By so doing, defendants purportedly breached their fiduciary duties to minority stockholders, causing them direct harm.

Chancery Court Holds that both Exclusive and Nonexclusive Forum Selection Clauses Can Supplant the McWane First Filed Doctrine

Apr 20 2015

By Scott Waxman and David Valenti

The Chancery Court held that the McWane first filed doctrine does not necessarily require a complaint to be dismissed or stayed in favor of a case pending in another state involving similar claims, parties, and facts, when the claim is based on an agreement including a bargained for, nonexclusive and irrevocable forum selection clause.

On April 15, 2015, the Chancery Court in Utilipath v. Baxter, C.A. No. 9922-VCP (Del. Ch. April 15, 2015) (Parsons, V.C.) denied a Motion to Dismiss a complaint attempting to compel enforcement of an alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) provision in a Redemption Agreement as it pertained to a dispute over closing net working capital. Prior to August, 2013, defendants Baxter McLindon Hayes, Jr., Baxter McLindon Hayes III, and Jarrod Tyson Hayes (the “Hayes Defendants”) were the sole members of defendant Utilipath, LLC (“Old Utilipath,” and together with Hayes Defendants, the “Defendants”), a North Carolina LLC. In August 2013, the Hayes Defendants transferred all of their membership interests in Old Utilipath to defendant Utilipath Holdings, Inc. (“Holdings”), a North Carolina corporation. Subsequently Old Utilipath merged with plaintiff Utilipath, LLC, (“Utilipath”) a Delaware LLC, resulting in Holdings becoming the parent company of Utilipath.

Catagory:Chancery Court Rule 15(aaa)