En Banc
Neighborhood Names: Why Should the Law Care?
Aug. 27, 2019—Nadav Shoked | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 267 | Names matter. We all realize that they matter for our lives, but we do not intuitively assume that names matter for the law just as well. And yet, in many legal fields, they clearly do. In international law, the question what country gets to...
Corporate Incapacitation: A Handmaid’s Tale?
Aug. 27, 2019—Mihailis E. Diamantis | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 251 | In Incapacitating Criminal Corporations, W. Robert Thomas argues that corporate criminal law should think more creatively about incapacitation. As a general rule, I could not agree more with his motivating sentiment: inflexible dominant paradigms have stifled thought about how to sanction corporations for...
Chancery Court Applies M&F Framework to Transactions in Which Controlling Stockholders Allegedly Received “Unique Benefits”
May. 9, 2019—Robert S. Reder & Elizabeth F. Shore | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 221 | MFW Trio | Chancery Court Applies M&F Framework to Transactions in Which Controlling Stockholders Allegedly Received “Unique Benefits” | PDF Download Link | Three recent Chancery Court decisions focus on circumstances in which controlling stockholders, each alleged to have...
Chancery Court Finds that Adverse Directors Not Entitled to Privileged Board Communications Concerning a Potential Merger
May. 9, 2019—Robert S. Reder & Katie Clemmons | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 249 | CBS Litigation | Chancery Court Finds that Adverse Directors Not Entitled to Privileged Board Communications Concerning a Potential Merger | PDF Download Link | Chancellor Andre G. Bouchard’s letter ruling in CBS Litigation provides a useful analysis how a board...
Chancery Court Finds Corwin Applicable to Third-Party Buyout of a Company Controlled by a Large Stockholder
May. 9, 2019—Robert S. Reder | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 213 | English v. Narang | Chancery Court Finds Corwin Applicable to Third-Party Buyout of a Company Controlled by a Large Stockholder | PDF Download Link | The Chancery Court again considered the availability of a Corwin defense in connection with a third-party buyout of...
Delaware Supreme Court Explores Application of MFW’s “Ab Initio” Requirement in Controlling Stockholder-Related Litigation
May. 9, 2019—Robert S. Reder | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 237 | Synutra and Olenik Appeals | Refusing to draw a bright-line, the Court focuses on the point at which “substantive economic negotiations” begin in determining whether failure to include MFW’s dual procedural protections in the initial offer may not be fatal to pleading-stage dismissal...
Delaware Chancery Court Rejects Federal Forum Selection Clause for Securities Act Claims
May. 3, 2019—Robert S. Reder & Jóna N. Mays | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 183 | Sciabacucchi | Citing Boilermakers ruling, court distinguishes between internal and external claims | PDF Download Link | Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster granted summary judgment to a plaintiff who attacked three such forum selection clauses, opinion that “[t]he constitutive...
What to do about Chevron—Nothing
Apr. 29, 2019—Nicholas R. Bednar | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 151 | For thirty-five years, doctrinalists have tormented themselves trying to dissect the Supreme Court’s most infamous administrative-law doctrine: Chevron deference. We have asked when and how it applies. At the same time, we have asked whether Chevron should exist at all. In other words, does Chevron have any...
Dell Appraisal: Delaware Supreme Court Rejects Chancery Court Valuation Giving No Weight to Deal Price in Connection with Management-Led LBO
Apr. 29, 2019—Robert S. Reder & Micah N. Bradley | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 201 | Dell MBO | Reverses Chancery Court valuation that relied exclusively on a discounted cash flow analysis while giving no weight to deal price or stock market trading values | PDF Download Link | Delaware General Corporation Law §262 (“DGCL...
Towards Optimal Enforcement
Apr. 2, 2019—Kent Barnett | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 127 | Enforcing federal law seems simple enough. Federal agencies, which exist for exactly this purpose, enforce by identifying violations of a particular federal statutory scheme and accompanying regulations. But complications quickly arise. How should agencies enforce—by initiating judicial proceedings, by enacting rules or guidance to...
Chancery Court Analyzes MFW’s “Ab Initio” Requirement in Controlling Stockholder Litigation
Feb. 15, 2019—Robert S. Reder & Ashleigh C. Bennett | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 117 | Olenik v. Lodzinski | Chancery Court Analyzes MFW’s “Ab Initio” Requirement in Controlling Stockholder Litigation | PDF Download Link | Distinguishes exploratory “discussions” from “negotiations” in determining that MFW’s “ab initio” requirement was satisfied.
Personal Jurisdiction: The Walls Blocking an Appeal to Rationality
Feb. 6, 2019—Richard D. Freer | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 99 | Personal jurisdiction is a gateway to the judicial system. Without it, a plaintiff cannot vindicate her claims and the community cannot benefit from private enforcement of the law. In 2011, the Supreme Court returned to personal jurisdiction after a twenty-one year hiatus. Over...
Chancery Court Declares Corwin is not a “Massive Eraser” for all Fiduciary Wrongdoing
Nov. 2, 2018—Robert S. Reder | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc, 93 | In Re Massey Energy Co. | Chancery Court Declares Corwin is not a “Massive Eraser” for all Fiduciary Wrongdoing | PDF Download Link | Delaware court demands “a far more proximate relationship” between the transaction approved by stockholders and the claims sought to be...
Chevron on Stilts: A Response to Jonathan Siegel
Oct. 15, 2018—Chevron-on-Stilts-A-Response-to-Jonathan-Siegel AUTHOR: Philip Hamburger
Delaware Supreme Court Once Again Reverses Dismissal of Fiduciary Breach Claims Brought Against Target Company Directors
Oct. 10, 2018—Robert S. Reder | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 71 | Morrison v. Berry | Delaware Supreme Court Once Again Reverses Dismissal of Fiduciary Breach Claims Brought Against Target Company Directors | PDF Download Link | Corwin defense defeated due to tendering stockholders not being “fully informed” as to founder’s side deal with winning bidder.
Chancery Court Determines That 22.1% Stockholder Controls Corporation, Rendering Corwin Inapplicable
Sep. 20, 2018—Robert S. Reder | 72 Vand. L. Rev. En Banc 61 | Tesla Motors, Inc. Stockholder Litigation | Chancery Court Determines That 22.1% Stockholder Controls Corporation, Rendering Corwin Inapplicable | PDF Download Link | Determines on a “close call” that minority blockholder exhibited sufficient indicia of control to create “inherent coercion”