En Banc Category
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...
Radicalism and Democracy in Monetary System Reform
Feb. 1, 2022—John Crawford | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 55 (2022) | The People’s Ledger is meant to offer “a blueprint for reform that would radically democratize access to money and control over financial flows in the nation’s economy.” Admitting that radical reform of the current system demands consideration, and that democratizing money is desirable,...
Road to Reform: The Case for Removing Police from Traffic Regulation
Jan. 11, 2022—Aaron Megar | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 13 (2022) | This Note advocates for the removal of police from traffic-law enforcement and the creation of unarmed Civilian Traffic Forces (“CTF”) at the municipal and state levels. Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Whren, there has been a significant amount of legal scholarship criticizing...
Criminal Injustice
Jan. 11, 2022—Edward Rubin | 75 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 1 (2022) | Reviewed: JED S. RAKOFF, WHY THE INNOCENT PLEAD GUILTY AND THE GUILTY GO FREE: AND OTHER PARADOXES OF OUR BROKEN LEGAL SYSTEM, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux 2021. Pp. 208. $27.00 Hardcover. As its title suggests, Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty...
Deciding Not to Decide: Mahonoy Area School District v. B.L. and the Supreme Court’s Ambivalence Towards Student Speech Rights
Nov. 3, 2021—Jenny Diamond Cheng | 74 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 511 (2021) | In June 2021, the Supreme Court issued opinions in its first school speech case in over fourteen years. In Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., an eight-member majority held that high school officials violated a teenager’s First Amendment rights when they suspended...
Reimagining Energy
Sep. 21, 2021—Monika U. Ehrman | 74 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 489 (2021) | This Response suggests that energy laws should support the advancement of carbon-neutral technologies and other infrastructure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This support requires a reimagining of our energy system, involving the entire energy lifecycle—from production to consumption, through abandonment and reuse....
The Distributive Impacts of Nudnik-based Activism
Sep. 10, 2021—Meirav Furth-Matzkin | 74 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 469 (2021) | In Theory of the Nudnik: The Future of Consumer Activism and What We Can Do to Stop It, Professors Yonathan Arbel and Roy Shapira propose that nudnik customers should be lauded for acting as engines of market discipline. According to Arbel and Shapira,...