TheCorporateCounsel.net

January 8, 2009

Updated: Year-End Section 16 Checklist

On Section16.net, Alan Dye has updated his “Year-End Compliance Reminders” as well as his “Section 16 Year-End Compliance Checklist.”

Catch Alan in his popular annual webcast “Alan Dye on the Latest Section 16 Developments” to hear all the latest developments you need to know. As all Section16.net memberships are on a calendar-year basis, renew for ’09 now.

Study Finds Emergency Short-Selling Restrictions Had No Impact

Linda DeMelis notes: According to a recent study, the emergency restrictions on short selling imposed by the US, the UK and other European countries last fall had no significant impact on stock price behavior. Their research suggests that the restrictions were not effective in reducing the probability of large stock price drops, which was a principal reason the restrictions were imposed.

There has been scant research published on the impact of the hurriedly-imposed short-selling restrictions. Once the new Obama Administration gets going, I suspect we are going to see a lot of proposals to reform various regulations, including the short-sale rules, and studies like this are going to get more attention. We have posted the study in our “Short Sales” Practice Area.

How to Issue FDIC-Guaranteed Debt under the TLGP

We have posted the transcript from our popular webcast: “How to Issue FDIC-Guaranteed Debt under the TLGP.”

Delaware Chancellor Weighs in on Drafting LLC Agreements

From Brad Aronstam of Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz:

Given the increasing popularity of limited liability companies and the ability of parties to define the scope of fiduciary duties in the governing agreements of these entities, the attached decision by Chancellor Chandler recently in Kahn v. Portnoy (C.A. No. 3515-CC) denying a motion to dismiss a breach of fiduciary action involving an LLC dispute warrants noting and review – particularly for people involved in the drafting of LLC agreements.

The plaintiff, a shareholder of TravelCenters of America, LLC, alleged that the director defendants of TA breached their fiduciary duties by approving a self-dealing transaction allegedly designed to benefit a TA director at the expense of the company. Given TA’s status as an LLC, the fiduciary duties of TA’s directors are interpreted by reference to the entity’s LLC agreement. As explained by the Chancellor, “[t]he well settled policy of the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act is to give maximum effect to the principle of freedom of contract” and “all fiduciary duties, except the implied contractual covenant of good faith and fair dealing, can be waived in an LLC Agreement.”

The terms of TA’s governing LLC agreement provided that the “‘authority, powers, functions and duties (including fiduciary duties)’ of the board of directors will be identical to those of a board of directors of a business corporation organized under the . . . DGCL, unless otherwise specifically provided for in the LLC Agreement.” Another section of the Agreement (Section 7.5(a)) dealt specifically with conflict of interest transactions and provided, among other things, that a challenger of board action “shall have the burden of overcoming [a presumption that the board acted properly and in accordance with its duties (including fiduciary duties)] by clear and convincing evidence.”

While the allegations in the complaint were sufficient to state a claim under general Delaware fiduciary duty case law, defendants argued that Section 7.5(a) of the Agreement altered the applicable pleading standard and mandated dismissal. The Court disagreed, finding that, at the pleading stage, the above language was arguably limited by preceding language in the Agreement suggesting that the clause “would only create a presumption for transactions in which there is a conflict between a shareholder and the board or a shareholder and the Company, but not where there is a conflict between a director and the company.” The Chancellor accordingly denied defendants’ motion to dismiss given that he only needed to “determine whether plaintiff would be entitled to relief under any reasonable interpretation of the facts alleged” and not by “apply[ing] a standard of proof” at the pleading stage.

Portnoy therefore illustrates the importance of clear language in contractual limitations of fiduciary duties in LLC agreements and provides insight into the manner in which courts analyze these provisions. Indeed, the founders (and directors) of TA most likely intended – and believed – that the above quoted language protected the directors in all conflict of interest transactions. The Court did not necessarily disagree; rather, it merely found that the above ambiguity gave way to more than one reasonable interpretation and thus precluded dismissal. As a result, the litigation will proceed to discovery before the defendants will again have the opportunity of attempting to reap the benefits of the above provision. The decision thus warrants careful review by practitioners drafting (or litigating) such provisions.

Also note that the opinion contains helpful primers on a multitude of other corporate fiduciary concepts, including succinct summaries on the meaning of “good faith” (See Op. at 18) and the concepts of “independence” and “disinterestedness” for purposes of demand futility (See Op. at 26).

– Broc Romanek