Francis Pileggi Quoted in Law360 Article on Recent Significant Delaware Court Rulings

Wilmington, Del. (July 9, 2020) – Delaware Managing Partner Francis G.X. Pileggi was quoted in a Law360 article titled “Top Delaware Cases of 2020: A Midyear Report,” which describes several recent Delaware court rulings and their implications.

Mr. Pileggi, who is the managing partner of Lewis Brisbois’ Wilmington office and a member of its Complex Business & Commercial Litigation Practice, shared his insights with Law360 concerning two recent opinions issued by the Delaware Supreme Court – Salzburg v. Sciabacucchi, No. 346, 2019 (Del. Mar. 18, 2020) and AmerisourceBergen v. Lebanon County Employees’ Retirement Fund et al., No. 60, 2019 (Del. Apr. 29, 2020).

As the article describes, in Salzburg, a unanimous court held that companies may adopt federal forum selection provisions for litigation involving the Securities Act of 1933. Mr. Pileggi told Law360 that this was the first Delaware Supreme Court decision that held that a Delaware company’s bylaws could require certain claims to be filed in federal court. "The ramifications of that have not yet been fully felt, because there are certain variations on that decision that are not quite predictable in terms of how the court will rule," he said. "Whether that same reasoning would apply to arbitration provisions is an open question in some circles," he added.

Moreover, the article explains that in AmerisourceBergen, the court upheld a finding that AmerisourceBergen needed to provide stockholders with books and records that the company already had released to investors in a prior federal stockholder action. Delaware General Corporation Law “Section 220,” which governs investors’ rights to access corporate books and records, was at the heart of the lawsuit. Mr. Pileggi told Law360 that the AmerisourceBergen decision was one of the most significant recent decisions on this issue. He explained that through its ruling, the court suggested that there were “a lot of Section 220 decisions that have strayed” from the language of the law.

You can read the full article on Law360 (subscription may be required).