48 results for 'court:"Delaware Supreme Court"'.
J. Valihura finds that shareholders of a health care technology company were not adequately informed about its acquisition by a Swedish private equity firm. The trial court improperly held that the transaction satisfied the elements of "Khan v. M&F Worldwide Corp," and the transaction is reviewed under entire fairness.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Valihura, Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: 305, 2023, Categories: Fiduciary Duty
J. Griffith finds that a law firm may have breached the standard of care owed by Delaware attorneys in representing an insurance company in claims contending a new employee breached the non-compete agreement with his prior employer, a competing insurer. The trial court failed to acknowledge the negative effects of the law firm's discovery deficiencies on the summary judgment proceedings in chancery court, which cost the insurer significant damages in fees and costs and a $1.2 million settlement.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Griffiths, Filed On: April 19, 2024, Case #: 213, 2023, Categories: Insurance, Settlements, Legal Malpractice
J. LeGrow finds that the lower court improperly exercised jurisdiction to stay the implementation of the Medicare Advantage Plan because the adoption of a new health plan by an employee benefits committee for state retirees did not constitute a regulation as defined in Delaware's Administrative Procedures Act. Thus, the cross-appeal seeking attorney fees should be dismissed as moot.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: LeGrow, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 178, 230, Categories: Administrative Law, Medicare, Attorney Fees
J. Griffiths finds that an amendment of form and not of substance had been made to an indictment during trial and thus was permissible. Meanwhile, a prosecutor's improper statements did not constitute plain error under "Wainwright," and the statements did not warrant reversal under "Hunter" since they were not persistent through multiple trials.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Griffiths, Filed On: April 8, 2024, Case #: 232, 2023, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Assault
J. Seitz finds that the court of chancery should have held IAC/InterActiveCorp's reverse spinoff of Match Group Inc. subject to review under the entire fairness standard because the separation committee formed to review the transaction included a conflicted member, which failed to satisfy the "MFW" framework. Dismissal of Chairperson Barry Diller must now be remanded.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Seitz, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 368, 2022, Categories: Civil Procedure, Fiduciary Duty
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J. Valihura finds that shareholders were not adequately informed about anticipated management fees and conflicts of interest concerning advisors to a special committee formed to evaluate a proposed merger, and thus the merger failed to satisfy the elements of "Khan v. M&F Worldwide Corp." Reversed.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Valihura, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 241, 2023, Categories: Fiduciary Duty
J. Traynor finds that defendant's detention on suspicion of loitering was unreasonable because the supposed violation was based on a flawed understanding of the loitering statute, and so the subsequent investigative seizure and nonconsensual search that revealed a concealed firearm was unlawful. As such, the unlawfully seized evidence should have been suppressed by the trial court, which would have precluded a finding beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime was committed. Vacated.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Traynor, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: 170, 2023, Categories: Evidence, Search
J. Traynor finds that a lawyer's letter threatening an insured with litigation did not constitute a "claim for damages" under a policy not yet in effect because the letter was "unclear and amorphous." Affirmed.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Traynor, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 135, 2023, Categories: Insurance
J. Valihura finds that litigation fees should not be awarded merely because a lawsuit seeks to compel the government to perform properly. This litigation involves taxpayers but is not a taxpayer suit under "Korn v. New Castle Cnty" because that standard applies only where there exists a quantifiable, non-speculative monetary benefit for all taxpayers.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Valihura, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: 138, 2023, Categories: Tax, Attorney Fees
J. Griffiths finds that a father's parental rights were improperly terminated for lack of clear and convincing evidence that he intentionally abandoned his child because the record indicates the father demonstrated willingness to assume custody during the six-month statutory period. Reversed.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Griffiths, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: 174, 2023, Categories: Family Law
J. Traynor finds that a partnership agreement containing a forfeiture-for-competition provision is enforceable against former partners absent unconscionability, bad faith, or some other extraordinary circumstance. The court improperly aligned the partnership provision with restrictive employment covenants by subjecting it to the review for reasonableness.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Traynor, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 162, 2023, Categories: Partnerships
[Consolidated.] J. Seitz finds that officer exculpation charter amendments adopted by two corporations did not violate the rights of Class A non-voting common stockholders because a separate class vote is not required for adoption of the amendments due to a lack of a class-based power stated in either corporation's charter that grants the right to sue corporate officers for damages for the breach of the duty of care. Affirmed.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Seitz , Filed On: January 18, 2024, Case #: 120, Categories: Corporations
J. Griffiths finds that defendant was properly convicted on all charges because the state's use of STRmix software to analyze his DNA was reliable under Delaware law and the "Daubert" inquiries. Also, the trial court properly held that cell tower warrants passed constitutional muster and requisite probable cause. Affirmed.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Griffiths, Filed On: January 9, 2024, Case #: 302, 2022, Categories: Dna, Search
J. LeGrow finds that an orthopaedic practice did not establish standing to challenge the denial of workers' compensation because the insurer discontinued use of a billing code that allegedly violated state workers' compensation law. The trial court both improperly applied the mootness doctrine and held that the practice established injury due to the insurer's failure to correct 19 claim denials. However, declaratory judgment would not provide retrospective relief.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: LeGrow, Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 27, 2023, Categories: Civil Procedure, Insurance, Workers' Compensation
J. Seitz finds that the trial court properly reduced the award received by a homeowners' association for water damage caused by faulty construction from $11.3 million to $3 million because the award had been inflated by inadmissible and speculative evidence. Meanwhile, the court properly granted judgment on column damages because evidence did not demonstrate complex-wide damages.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Seitz, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 94, 2023, Categories: Construction, Damages, Negligence
J. Traynor rules that the lower court improperly dismissed shareholder derivative claims seeking to hold directors and officers of a giant pharmaceutical distribution company liable for lack of oversight during the opioid epidemic. The trial court gave too much weight to the bellwether decision entered in federal court in West Virginia since plaintiffs possessed derivative standing and entered well pleaded "Caremark" claims. Reversed.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Traynor, Filed On: December 18, 2023, Case #: 22, 2023, Categories: Fiduciary Duty, Jurisdiction
J. Seitz finds that state law fraudulent transfer claims brought by a post-bankruptcy litigation trust constituted direct claims because the relief went to the creditors, not the company. Thus, the settlement payment and defense costs were not covered under insurance policies as a securities claim.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Seitz, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 478, 2022, Categories: Settlements, Securities, Trusts
J. Seitz finds that that the limiting phrase "prior or subsequent convictions" does not include out-of-state convictions as relating to expungement of certain criminal records in the state's Adult Expungement Reform and Clean Slate Acts.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Seitz, Filed On: December 8, 2023, Case #: 1, 2023, Categories: Sentencing
J. Valihura finds that resentencing did not violate defendant's double jeopardy rights because he had not served time for his conviction for failing to comply with bond, and he lacked a legitimate expectation of finality for the original sentencing package, as defendant understood that the state intended him to serve five years at level five supervision.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Valihura, Filed On: November 7, 2023, Case #: 386, 2022, Categories: Sentencing, Double Jeopardy
J. Traynor finds that the lower court properly declined to suppress evidence of a body discovered lying motionless at the foot of a stairway when police, who had been trying to locate the mother of a recent arrestee's children, pushed open the back door. Entering the dwelling was reasonable because police could see the prostrate form of the woman at the base of a staircase from the back window. Affirmed.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: Traynor, Filed On: October 24, 2023, Case #: 376, 2022, Categories: Murder, Search
J. LeGrow finds that defendants should not suffer collateral consequences after receiving unconditional pardons if defendants are released from custody after filing timely postconviction motions. The trial court improperly dismissed postconviction claims as moot moot because the collateral consequences of defendant's new conviction operate in the same manner as for a first-time felon. Reversed.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: LeGrow, Filed On: October 9, 2023, Case #: 112, 2021, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Due Process
J. LeGrow finds that an employer or its workers' compensation insurance carrier may place a lien on benefits procured by an employee through other sources. In overturning the decision in "Simendinger v. National Union Fire Insurance," the decision holds that the workers' compensation act expressly allows subrogation liens against benefits paid under the employer's uninsured motorist policy.
Court: Delaware Supreme Court, Judge: LeGrow, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 172, 2022, Categories: Insurance