The Delaware Court of Chancery on Friday rejected a “novel theory” to expand the state’s narrow doctrine allowing some claims to be treated as both derivative and direct. The rejection comes in a decision that nixed an investor lawsuit seeking to undue the $124 million merger of Herman Miller Inc. and Design Within Reach Inc.

The post-trial ruling from Chancellor Andre G. Bouchard rebuffed one set of claims from former DWR stockholders Charles Almond and Andrew Franklin, who alleged in a 2014 lawsuit that a series of technical flaws had prevented the merger of two of the biggest names in the modern furniture industry from taking effect.