I Write Letters!

Here is the text of a letter I submitted in advance of the Delaware House Judiciary Committee Meeting regarding the proposed amendments to the DGCL:

Dear Chair Griffith:

I write to express my concerns about S.B. 313, and in particular the proposed amendments to Section 122 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL).  I believe the proposed amendments will cause Delaware to lose control over its law.

As proposed, the statute authorizes a shift of corporate governance from the charter to private contracts.  Corporate charters are subject to the law of the chartering state, thus, Delaware law.  Private stockholder agreements are not necessarily subject to the law of the chartering state.  That means other states’ laws would govern the interpretation of these contracts, and the appropriate remedies for any breaches.[1]

Additionally, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) provides that agreements to arbitrate disputes “shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable.”[2]  In practical effect, the FAA bars states, including state courts, from prohibiting or regulating arbitration agreements, and requires that such agreements be enforced as written.  It is likely that the FAA does not apply to corporate charters,[3] which is why Delaware was able to adopt Section 115 of the DGCL, prohibiting corporations from including forum provisions in their charters that would bar access to the Delaware courts.[4]

By contrast, the FAA almost certainly would apply to stockholder agreements.  If parties to a stockholder agreement agree to arbitrate disputes, a Delaware court will be required to enforce that provision.  Those disputes could easily include questions about the legality of the contract under Delaware law, or whether a stockholder took on fiduciary obligations, and abused them, as a result of the control conferred by the contract.[5]  As a result, important questions of Delaware law would be decided by non-Delaware actors, often in confidential proceedings.  Arbitration provisions could also bind public stockholders who bring derivative actions on the corporation’s behalf.[6]   Even stockholders who bring direct actions regarding stockholder agreements, on behalf of themselves rather than the corporate entity, may find themselves bound to arbitrate disputes regarding the agreement.[7]

Moreover, as drafted, the amendments would explicitly permit stockholder agreements to select a forum for disputes outside of Delaware – either in arbitration or another state.  Once again, that would mean that other states, or arbitrators, would decide whether the stockholder contract violated Delaware law, and whether the stockholder abused its governance rights under the contract.

Delaware’s value to incorporators includes its robust body of caselaw decided by expert Delaware judges. The proposed amendments endanger that value proposition.

                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                                    Ann M. Lipton

 

[1] See generally Ann M. Lipton, Inside Out (or, One State to Rule Them All): New Challenges to the Internal Affairs Doctrine, 58 Wake Forest L. 321 (2023); see also KT4 Partners v. Palantir, 203 A.3d 738 (Del. 2019) (involving an investor in a Delaware corporation with a stockholder agreement governed by California law).

[2] 9 U.S.C. § 2.

[3] See generally Ann M. Lipton, Manufactured Consent: The Problem of Arbitration Clauses in Corporate Charters and Bylaws, 104 Geo. L.J. 583 (2016).

[4] Del. Code tit. 8, § 115.

[5] See, e.g., Basho Techs. Holdco B, LLC v. Georgetown Basho Invs., LLC, No. 11802, 2018 WL 3326693 (Del. Ch. July 6, 2018) (involving such a scenario).

[6] See, e.g., Ernst & Young, LLP v. Tucker ex rel. HealthSouth Corp., 940 So. 2d 269 (Ala. 2006).

[7] See Richard J. Tyler, Kicking and Screaming: Joinder of Non-signatories in Arbitration Proceedings, 75 Disp. Resol. J. 111 (2020).