No sooner does a company offer to buyout another than some trial lawyer files a lawsuit to challenge the deal, and many of these ubiquitous suits may be little more than vehicles by which to generate lucrative attorneys' fees.
Indeed, in the Delaware Chancery Court where many of these M&A deal cases are filed, judges increasingly are casting a critical eye on the practice resulting in "significantly reduced requested plaintiffs attorneys fees" as reported by Gina Chon for The Wall Street Journal:
Delaware is now almost actively hostile toward cases they think are without merit," said Larry Hamermesh, a professor at Widener's Institute of Delaware Corporate Law. "They are saying, 'Don't waste my time with this stuff.'"
It's about time that judges stopped rubber stamping the fee applications submitted by trial lawyers.
Further reading that may be of interest:
