Corporate Litigation: Mootness Fees in Disclosure-Focused Deal Litigation
In their monthly Corporate Litigation column in the New York Law Journal, Litigation Partner Joe McLaughlin and Associate Shannon McGovern discuss “mootness fees” to plaintiffs’ counsel after a voluntary dismissal of deal litigation resolved before a stockholder motion to enjoin a transaction based on alleged proxy disclosure deficiencies is decided. The authors explain important differences between disclosure-only settlements and mootness dismissals and discuss a recent federal decision currently on appeal to the Seventh Circuit taking a different approach than Delaware to judicial review of mootness fees.