Print
E-MailMatthew M. Greenberg is a partner and Taylor B. Bartholomew, and Christopher B. Chuff are associates at Troutman Pepper. This post is based on their Troutman Pepper memorandum and is part of the Delaware law series; links to other posts in the series are available here.
In the context of an M&A transaction, practitioners are routinely left to navigate the various standards of review that are applied by the Delaware courts to evaluate whether a Delaware corporation’s directors have complied with their fiduciary duties. Determining which standard of review will apply to a given transaction is particularly critical—depending on the applicable standard, a Delaware court may heavily scrutinize a transaction or determine that the directors may face personal liability for their decisions in connection with the transaction. The flowchart below has been prepared to serve as a quick-reference tool for M&A practitioners when determining which standard of review might apply. While this chart has been prepared in accordance with applicable case law decided to date, it is important to bear in mind that each step set forth below necessarily involves a fact-intensive analysis and that this flowchart should not be exclusively relied upon.
