Kitchen-Sink Pleading Will Not Fly In Delaware
Vice Chancellor Glasscock recently affirmed in BV Advisory Partners, LLC v. Quantum Computing Inc., C.A. No. 2022-0719-SG, that more is not always better when it comes to pleading claims. In ruling on motions to dismiss filed by all defendants, the Court dismissed six Defendants for failure to plead personal jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(2), and also dismissed eight of ten causes of action pled against the remaining Defendants for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6). In each of the Court’s holdings dismissing both Defendants and causes of action (summarized below), the Court identified the various ways in which Plaintiff relied to its detriment on conclusory allegations and impermissible bootstrapping. This ruling serves as a reminder to litigants that the Court of Chancery is well-equipped to strip down complaints bloated by tangential claims and theories of liability that are not sufficiently supported by alleged facts.
Follow the (Stone) Paper Trail: Court Addresses the Difficult Defense of Acquiescence
A recent opinion issued by the Delaware Court of Chancery in Stone & Paper Investors LLC v. Blanch resolved dueling allegations of corporate mismanagement and fraud that pitted a pair of long-time business partners against their protégé and his associates. In the 100+ page opinion, Vice Chancellor Paul A. Fioravanti, Jr., described a years-long scheme to induce a multi-million dollar investment in a new stone-based paper venture and then, when that venture fizzled, to drain the invested funds for personal gain in a series of undisclosed interested transactions. The facts of this case are extreme and involve an extended pattern of intentional wrongdoing. However, as an illustration of what can happen when bad actors take control, Stone & Paper provides important guidance to honest managers and other interested parties who draw salaries from, or otherwise transact with, the companies they control. Interested parties who engage in such transactions should take care that the material facts underlying any interested transactions have been fully disclosed and that they have complied with the requirements of the operating agreement, including documenting any necessary approvals. And if, by inadvertence or mistake, managers fail to secure the necessary approval for these transactions in advance, they should disclose all of the material facts as promptly as possible after the fact, such that the Board may be deemed to have acquiesced in the transactions.
