alerts & publications

From Chancery Court to Federal Court: The Obstacles to a Post-Trulia Migration

In this bylined article in The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulation, partner Abby Rudzin, senior counsel Scott Widen, and associate Matthew Murphy discuss the fate of shareholder suits challenging corporate mergers and acquisitions following the Delaware Court of Chancery’s rejection of a 2016 settlement in In re Trulia, Inc. Stockholder Litigation. For years, these shareholders suits have followed the same script: “deal to lawsuit to negotiated settlement, the outcome was invariably swift: defendants gained broad releases from liability; plaintiffs’ lawyers won hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees; and shareholders received token disclosures supplementing the proxy statement.”

Though the federal courts may seem like the next arena for plaintiff’s attorneys post-Trulia, the authors explain that federal securities laws have their own challenges. After discussing the Trulia decision and potential migration of shareholder suits to federal courts, the authors highlight a recent Seventh Circuit decision that suggests these settlements may not be better off leaving the Delaware Court of Chancery.

To read the full article, click here.