Enron’s Downfall Nexus to the Legal Theories USA’s premier forum for resolving the disputes involving the internal affairs of the many Delaware corporations and other business entities around the world dedicated to global business transactions. The court is known to possess a unique and incomparable competence and exposure to issues of business law unparalleled by any other court, in the USA or worldwide. The Delaware Court of Chancery is particularly influential in the interpretation of corporate law: more than 50% of USA publicly traded corporations and 60% of the Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware. In August 1995, Michael Ovitz and The Walt Disney Company entered into an employment agreement under which Ovitz would serve as President of Disney for five years. In December 1996, Ovitz was terminated without cause. Disney’s BOD ordered a severance payment to Ovitz close to $130 million. In January 1997, several Disney shareholders brought derivative actions in the Court of Chancery, on behalf of Disney, against Ovitz and the BOD members of Disney. The plaintiffs claimed that the severance payout was a breach of fiduciary duty by the Disney BOD members. On June 8, 2006, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision exonerating Disney’s BOD members of the charges against them in the shareholder lawsuit. Justice Jack B. Jacobs, and the five-judge panel upheld the August 2005 decision by Chancellor William B. Chandler III of the State Court of Chancery.
IN
RE
THE
WALT
DISNEY
COMPANY
DERIVATIVE LITIGATION, C.A. No. 15452 In one of its latest memorandum opinions, IN RE THE GOLDMAN
SACHS
GROUP, 2013-2014
INC.
SHAREHOLDER 331