Archive for November 2013

Harini Kidambi In the fast-tracked case Hayes v. Activision Blizzard Inc.[1], the Delaware Supreme Court unanimously reversed the lower court’s injunction and allowed Activision Blizzard, Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment, to move forward with the completion of a transaction that would result in the Company acquiring 429 million shares.

Danielle Hartl Crowdfunding is “the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet.”[1]  Companies in need of financial assistance launch a fundraising campaign online where a mission statement is presented, a goal amount is set, investments from the general…

Chris O’Mahoney The Delaware Court of Chancery has shown a renewed interest in holding corporate founders also serving as directors subject to shareholder derivative actions when the founders engaged in self-dealing to leverage control over the board. On October 28, 2013, the Delaware Court of Chancery handed down in the case TVI Corporation et al.…

Addison Pierce In December of 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder announced a precedent-setting $335 million settlement with Bank of America.[1]  The deal settled claims that Countywide Financial, acquired by Bank of America, charged black and Hispanic borrowers higher mortgage fees and steered them into risker loans.[2]  The Obama administration, among others, applauded the efforts by…

Dylan Mooney In Winshall v. Viacom Int’l. Inc.,[1] the Delaware Supreme Court held that in corporate mergers, a parent company is not guaranteed indemnification from its selling shareholders for all alleged breaches of representations and warranties unless it is explicitly stated within the merger agreement.  This decision demonstrates that selling shareholders are obligated to indemnify…

Lara Samuels  On October 23, 2013, a federal jury in the Southern District of New York returned a guilty verdict for Bank of America and one of Countrywide’s former executives, Rebecca Mairone, for fraud charges arising out of actions related to the financial crisis.[1]  The matter originated from a “whistleblower” case brought by former Countrywide…

Anna Cloeter In Securities and Exchange Commission v. Cuban, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas found Mark Cuban not guilty on charges of securities fraud for insider trading.[1] The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) originally filed its complaint against Mr. Cuban on November 17, 2008, alleging that Mr.…

Ryan Van Olst In Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. FilmOn X LLC,[1] the D.C. District Court granted Fox Television Stations and several other television network providers a preliminary injunction against FilmOn X for possibly infringing their public performance right under the Copyright Act.  Fox alleged that FilmOn X unlawfully streamed television shows over the Internet…