Takeover Litigation in 2015

10 Pages Posted: 16 Jan 2016

See all articles by Matthew D. Cain

Matthew D. Cain

Berkeley Center for Law and Business

Steven Davidoff Solomon

University of California, Berkeley - School of Law; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Date Written: January 14, 2016

Abstract

This report provides preliminary statistics for takeover litigation in 2015. Takeover litigation was substantially disrupted in 2015 by the Delaware courts' willingness to challenge "disclosure only" settlements. For the full year, lawsuits were brought in 87.7% of completed takeovers versus 94.9% in 2014. However, the lawsuit rate dropped precipitously in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 21.4% of all transactions in the wake of Delaware's challenge. There were also substantial delays in the approval of litigation settlements and attorneys' fee awards. Multi-jurisdictional litigation continued its sharp decline, falling approximately 50% from its 2012 high. Despite the higher rates of dismissals, large awards and settlements were give in litigation arising from the Rural/Metro, Dole and Freeport-McMoRan transactions, among others.

Keywords: merger litigation, takeover litigation, Delaware, jurisdictional competition, peppercorn paper

Suggested Citation

Cain, Matthew D. and Davidoff Solomon, Steven, Takeover Litigation in 2015 (January 14, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2715890 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2715890

Matthew D. Cain

Berkeley Center for Law and Business ( email )

215 Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

Steven Davidoff Solomon (Contact Author)

University of California, Berkeley - School of Law ( email )

215 Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,118
Abstract Views
9,496
Rank
35,783
PlumX Metrics