Delaware

May 01, 2025
States Urge 1st Circ. To Reinstate Federal Housing Grants

A coalition of states urged the First Circuit to reinstate a ruling that had blocked the Trump administration from cutting $30 million in fair housing grants, saying the federal government failed to consider the impact this decision would have on the groups' operations.
May 01, 2025
E-Commerce Service Provider Digital River Files For Ch. 7

Digital River Marketing Solutions Inc., an e-commerce services firm based in Minnesota, filed for Chapter 7 on Thursday, citing approximately $45.2 million in secured debt and less than $50,000 in assets.
April 30, 2025
BetMGM Beats Problem Gambler's 3rd Circ. Fraud Suit Appeal

The Third Circuit has declined to revive a man's consumer fraud suit accusing BetMGM and others of pushing him to continue gambling through more than 1,800 text messages, finding in a nonprecedential opinion that he failed to state a claim under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.
April 30, 2025
Judge Keeps Pfizer Foe's COVID Vaccine Patent Case Alive

The chief judge for the Delaware federal court has turned down a bid from Pfizer and BioNTech to invalidate patent claims asserted against their blockbuster COVID-19 vaccine, in a case set to go before a jury later this year.
April 30, 2025
ICE Agent Tells 3rd Circ. Jury Can Handle Sig Sauer Defect Suit

The Third Circuit wondered Wednesday why a jury couldn't be allowed to examine the same type of gun, or at least a replica of one, that a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer claims spontaneously fired into his leg at a design defect trial that he wants revived.
April 30, 2025
Del. Judge Won't Let MSN Fight Entresto Orange Book Entry

A Delaware federal judge has shot down MSN Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s attempt to get its generic version of Novartis' blockbuster cardiovascular drug Entresto on the market immediately by removing the branded-drug maker's patent from a federal database.
April 30, 2025
Del. Justices Mull 'Deemed' Phrase In AMC Stock Dilution Suit

The meaning of "deemed to be issued" was the focus of a Wednesday hearing before the Delaware Supreme Court in a case involving AMC and preferred stockholders who say their shares' value was wrongly reduced last year in a deal that settled a hotly contested share conversion and reverse split.
April 30, 2025
Trade Desk Sued In Del. For Docs On Nevada Move

A stockholder of formerly Delaware-chartered branding and marketing venture The Trade Desk Inc. sued on Wednesday in the First State's Court of Chancery for access to company records, citing concerns that the business rechartered in Nevada to derail challenges to its dual-class share structure.
April 30, 2025
Akoustis Gets OK For $30M Sale To SpaceX Subsidiary

A Delaware bankruptcy judge has approved a $30 million sale of some of the assets of radio frequency filter maker Akoustis Technologies to a SpaceX subsidiary after the debtor reached an agreement with a competitor that had concerns about trade secrets possibly being sold.
April 30, 2025
3rd Circ. Preview: NJ To Defend ICE Contractor Law In May

The Third Circuit's argument lineup for May will see the state of New Jersey defend a law barring its immigration detention centers from contracting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while Rutgers University seeks to keep its victory over claims it falsely inflated its business school's ranking.
April 30, 2025
Activant Unit Seeks $7.5M Fee After $37M Bolt Suit Win

An Activant Capital Group fund has petitioned Delaware's Court of Chancery to approve a $7.5 million company-paid corporate benefit fee, citing a successful battle for cancellation of more than $37 million in Bolt Financial Group shares held by a controller who defaulted on a more-than $30 million company-guaranteed loan.
April 30, 2025
PTAB Axes AbbVie Unit's Cancer Drug Patent As Invalid

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found claims in a patent owned by AbbVie's Pharmacyclics unit related to its cancer drug Imbruvica were invalid, the latest in a larger intellectual property fight with BeiGene.
April 30, 2025
3rd Circ. Sides With Pa. Transit Agency In Race Bias Suit

The Third Circuit on Wednesday upheld a Pennsylvania public transportation authority's defeat of a Black employee's lawsuit alleging she was given lower raises than white colleagues and transferred to a different department when she complained, saying she hadn't provided enough evidence to sustain her claims.
April 30, 2025
McDonald's Operator Loses Assault Suit Coverage Appeal

Two insurers were correct to deny coverage for a former Pittsburgh-area McDonald's franchisee in a lawsuit accusing it of failing to stop a supervisor from sexually harassing and assaulting underage employees, since the litigation that sent it into bankruptcy fell under exceptions to the insurance policies, a Third Circuit panel ruled Wednesday.
April 29, 2025
FTX Ch. 11 Trust Asks To Keep Customer Info Confidential

In a just-under-the-wire move, the FTX bankruptcy recovery trust has sought a seventh extension for a mid-2023 ruling by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware allowing confidential treatment of its 9 million customers' information, citing the data's continued value to the estate.
April 29, 2025
Chancery Ruling In Fox News Case Raises Experts' Eyebrows

Experts are questioning a Delaware Chancery Court order for review of a Fox Corp. director's independence in a suit seeking recoveries for 2020 election-tied defamation damages, raising the potential for the suit's dismissal four months after a different jurist on the same court moved the case toward trial.
April 29, 2025
2 Dozen States Say DOGE Can't 'Dismantle' AmeriCorps

Two dozen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging layoffs and $400 million in funding cuts to the national volunteer agency AmeriCorps, alleging the Trump administration is trampling over Congress' authority by trying to dismantle the agency.
April 29, 2025
Chicken Joint Sticky's Gets $2M Sale After Turnaround Woes

Chicken restaurant Sticky's won a Delaware bankruptcy judge's tentative permission Tuesday to sign a contract to sell its assets to an investment fund for $2 million after surging poultry prices and New York City's congestion pricing program imperiled the company's Chapter 11 turnaround plan.
April 29, 2025
3rd Circ. Denies Post-Gazette Bid To Tweak Benefits Order

The publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette can't get the Third Circuit to clarify or tweak an order to put its newsroom employees back on their old health insurance plan, despite concerns from the newspaper company that it may not have been eligible to reenroll them in the plan and would rather go back to bargaining instead.
April 28, 2025
Feds' Bid To Spring False Biden Accuser Shot Down By Judge

A California federal judge rejected a request Monday by prosecutors to release a former FBI informant imprisoned for lying to federal agents that former President Joe Biden accepted bribes, saying he does not agree the court made a mistake at sentencing that should result in his release pending appeal.
April 28, 2025
3rd Circ. Won't Rethink Teamsters Fund's Win In $39M Row

The Third Circuit won't give a group of dairy businesses a second chance to prevent a Teamsters union pension fund from suing them and their affiliates to enforce a $39 million settlement, the court announced Monday.
April 28, 2025
Chinese Cos. Lose Immunity Fight In 9th Circ. IP Case

The Ninth Circuit on Monday shot down arguments from related Chinese steel companies that they shouldn't have to face espionage charges that they stole DuPont trade secrets for creating titanium dioxide, saying they aren't protected by foreign sovereign immunity.
April 28, 2025
Chancery OKs Shortcut For Derivative Fox Suit

A Delaware vice chancellor late Monday approved an unprecedented Fox Corp. call for a targeted summary judgment proceeding focused on a single Fox director's independence after a different jurist rejected, in November, dismissal of the suit, which seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in defamation damages in connection with broadcasts of bogus 2020 election claims.
April 28, 2025
Imerys Halts Ch. 11 Trial Over Foreign Claimant Issues

Bankrupt talc suppliers Imerys Talc America and Cyprus Mines Corp. and parties supporting their Chapter 11 plan to deal with asbestos injury claims unexpectedly announced Monday they wanted to halt the plan confirmation proceedings, following more than four days of evidence, citing issues surrounding the treatment of foreign claims against the debtors.
April 28, 2025
Mobile Comm Co. Sued For Docs In Del. Ahead Of Board Vote

Two Sonim Technologies Inc. corporate stockholders have accused the mobile communications tech company of weaponizing board nomination rules "purely for entrenchment" of incumbents, in a Delaware Court of Chancery suit and preliminary injunction bid filed ahead of an upcoming annual meeting and takeover fight.

Editor's Picks

DocuSign's Bad Conduct Warrants Fee Shift, Ex-CEO Says

DocuSign's ex-CEO wants the Delaware Chancery Court to order the e-signature company to pay at least $709,000 for legal fees he has incurred in litigation alleging the company tried to "bully" him into resigning from its board and made false filings saying he resigned as a director.

Expert Analysis

Series

Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Serving as an adjunct college professor has taught me the importance of building rapport, communicating effectively, and persuading individuals to critically analyze the difference between what they think and what they know — principles that have helped to improve my practice of law, says Sheria Clarke at Nelson Mullins.
Series

Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Enviro To Mid-Law

Practitioners leaving a longtime government role for private practice — as when I departed the U.S. Department of Justice’s environmental enforcement division — should prioritize finding a firm that shares their principles, values their experience and will invest in their transition, says John Cruden at Beveridge & Diamond.
Legal Ethics Considerations For Law Firm Pro Bono Deals

If a law firm enters into a pro bono deal with the Trump administration in exchange for avoiding or removing an executive order, it has an ethical obligation to create a written settlement agreement with specific terms, which would mitigate some potential conflict of interest problems, says Andrew Altschul at Buchanan Angeli.
Del. Dispatch: Open Issues After Corp. Law Amendments

Recent amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law represent a significant change in the future structuring of boards and how the First State will approach conflicted transactions, but Delaware courts may interpret the amendments narrowly, limiting their impact, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
Series

Playing Football Made Me A Better Lawyer

While my football career ended over 15 years ago, the lessons the sport taught me about grit, accountability and resilience have stayed with me and will continue to help me succeed as an attorney, says Bert McBride at Trenam.
What Del. Supreme Court LKQ Decision Means For M&A Deals

The Delaware Supreme Court's recent decision in LKQ v. Rutledge greatly increases the enforceability of forfeiture-for-competition provisions, representing an important affirmation of earlier precedent and making it likely that such agreements will become more common in M&A transactions, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
10 Arbitrations And A 5th Circ. Ruling Flag Arb. Clause Risks

The ongoing arbitral saga of Sullivan v. Feldman, which has engendered proceedings before 10 different arbitrators in Texas and Louisiana along with last month's Fifth Circuit opinion, showcases both the risks and limitations of arbitration clauses in retainer agreements for resolving attorney-client disputes, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.
Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

The first quarter of 2025 was filled with the refinement of old theories in the property and casualty space, including in vehicle valuation, time to seek appraisal and materials depreciation, says Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler.
Perspectives

The Benefits Of Aligning States On Legal Paraprofessionals

Texas' proposal to become the latest state to license paraprofessional providers of limited legal services could help firms expand their reach and improve access to justice, but consumers, attorneys and allied legal professionals would benefit even more if similar programs across the country become more uniform, says Michael Houlberg at the University of Denver.
10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master

As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.
An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future

Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.
Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.
How Courts Weigh Section 1782 Discovery For UPC Cases

A look at cases from six different federal district courts reveals a number of discretionary factors that influence how courts consider Section 1782 discovery applications in connection with Unified Patent Court proceedings, say attorneys at Finnegan.
Series

Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.
E-Discovery Quarterly: The Perils Of Digital Data Protocols

Though stipulated protocols governing the treatment of electronically stored information in litigation are meant to streamline discovery, recent disputes demonstrate that certain missteps in the process can lead to significant inefficiencies, say attorneys at Sidley.