Not Your Average Fee-Shifting Provision

Jennifer Buckley (Widener Delaware ’16) concludes her article on the fee-shifting controversy as follows:

The current effort to legislate away fee-shifting bylaws is to be applauded for attempting to combine strong protection of shareholder interests with an acknowledgement of corporate concerns in the legitimization of forum selection bylaws. If it passes, then those concerned about excessive litigation will no doubt develop another tool for deterring frivolous shareholder lawsuits. If it does not pass, then one way to generate broad support could be to adopt one or more of the moderate approaches described here. These proposals seek to balance the legitimate interests of plaintiff shareholders with those of the corporations in which they invest. Moving forward, any legislation that seeks to protect shareholders must keep in mind the business community’s concern over excessive litigation. Likewise, proponents of fee-shifting bylaws must be willing to agree to reasonable limitations that soften their negative impact on plaintiff shareholders, especially those without a ready market for their shares. As with most policy debates, the answer likely lies somewhere in the middle ground.

Ms. Buckley’s article can be reviewed at:

Buckley.Note.REVISED.052015

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