Many stockholders or classes of stockholders hold rights to appoint individuals to serve as directors on corporate boards. Recent Delaware Chancery Court opinions highlight the risk of liability for designated directors and the stockholders who appoint them. This Legal Update provides guidance on how such directors and stockholders can navigate these risks, particularly in light
Andrew Noreuil
Delaware Law Alert: Another Reason to Consider a Forfeiture-for-Competition Provision in M&A Transactions
The Delaware Supreme Court has affirmed that unreasonable restrictive covenants remain invalid, even if the party seeking to enforce them asserts a claim only for monetary damages and not injunctive relief. This Legal Update discusses implications for buyers in M&A deals, including the court’s comparison of traditional restrictive covenants to “forfeiture-for-competition” provisions.
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Delaware Law Alert: Delaware Case Applying Indemnification Materiality Scrape Creates Risks for the Unwary
An imprecise materiality scrape can significantly expand the scope of a seller’s potential liability for indemnification and fraud claims. In a recent opinion, the Delaware Superior Court, applying a materiality scrape, held that the seller breached its absence of changes representation that no event had occurred that had or reasonably could have an “adverse effect”…
Navigating Recent Amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law: Governing Conflicted Transactions
In this episode of Mayer Brown’s Global Corporate M&A podcast, Mayer Brown partners Andrew Noreuil and Brian Massengill discuss this year’s amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law, which have fundamentally altered the landscape for conflicted transactions. Our partners provide insight into the new statutory safe harbors, updated definitions for controlling stockholders and disinterested directors…
Delaware Law Alert: Books and Records Inspection Under the Amended §220
Delaware has overhauled its framework for stockholder books and records inspection rights. Amendments to Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) §220, enacted on March 25, 2025, seek to address the concern that inspection rights had become overly burdensome for corporations. Amended §220 generally narrows the scope of records available for inspection to a limited set of…
Delaware Law Alert: A Step-by-Step Approach for Boards Evaluating Conflicted Director, Officer, and Controlling Stockholder Transactions Under the Amended Delaware Corporation Law
A significant revision to the Delaware General Corporation Law has changed how corporations approve transactions with their directors, officers, and controlling stockholders. The amendments include “safe harbor” protection from certain equitable and monetary claims for qualifying transactions. This Legal Update offers a step-by-step guide for boards evaluating transactions under this new framework.
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Developments and Trends in Delaware Officer Exculpation Charter Amendments
In August 2022, the Delaware General Assembly amended the Delaware General Corporation Law to allow corporations to adopt charter provisions exculpating certain officers from personal liability for monetary damages for breaches of the duty of care. Since that time, observers have considered to what extent Delaware public company boards would propose officer exculpation amendments (“OEAs”)…
Did the Seventh Circuit Just Sound the Death Knell for Mootness Fees?
For decades, corporate merger and acquisition deals have been plagued by meritless claims asserting, typically, that the companies and their officers and directors have provided insufficient disclosures. Courts have sought to crack down on these lawsuits, but—as in the game of whack-a-mole—the plaintiffs bringing these lawsuits have adjusted their tactics to avoid the judicially imposed…
Delaware Supreme Court Upholds Forfeiture-for-Competition Provision in Limited Partnership Agreement
On January 29, 2024, in Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. v. Ainslie, the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a Chancery Court holding that a forfeiture-for-competition provision in a limited partnership agreement was unenforceable as an unreasonable restraint of trade. Applying the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act (“DRULPA”), the Supreme Court held that (i) the forfeiture-for-competition provision…
Recent Developments in Delaware Officer Exculpation Charter Amendments
Delaware courts have held that officer exculpation amendments do not require a separate class vote. For corporations with multiple classes of stock, this provides certainty to those that have already adopted such amendments and a clear path for corporations that plan to propose them. The vast majority of public company proposals to adopt officer exculpation…
