The Delaware Supreme Court has reversed a portion of a 2012 Delaware Court of Chancery decision and, in doing so, granted a plaintiff the right to opt out of a class action settlement reached between two defendants and the shareholders of one of the defendants. Although some have alleged that the decision could make it more difficult for corporations to end litigation, two legal analysts say the Supreme Court’s ruling will not have a major impact on future shareholder litigation because facts in the case before the high court were unique and unlikely to be duplicated.
The en banc court, which included President Judge James T. Vaughn Jr., who was sitting by designation for Chief Justice Myron T. Steele, issued the 34-page opinion December 27 in BVF Partners L.P. v. New Orleans Employees’ Retirement System. When the case appeared before the Court of Chancery, it was captioned as In re Celera Shareholder Litigation.
