Smith v. Van Gorkom

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that \Trans Union’s board was grossly negligent in that it failed to act with informed reasonable deliberation in agreeing to the Pritzker merger proposal_\
• holding that directors may be personally liable in money damages for gross negligence in the decision-making process
• holding that merger price offered by CEO in a leveraged buyout could not be accepted as adequate without further investigation since the offer only calculated the amount that would allow the CEO to perform the transaction
• holding that \the directors of Trans Union breached their fiduciary duty to their stockholders (1) by their failure to inform themselves ... and (2) by their failure to disclose all material information” and that \an award of damages maybe entered”
• finding that the board of directors violated its duty of care in evaluating a merger proposal and recommending it for shareholder approval
• finding that by failing to disclose facts and showing hasty careless approval of merger by its members from shareholders, the board breached its duty to disclose.

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Cited by

262 cases in this archive cite this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

• Brehm v. Eisner
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 2000-02-09· cited 877×
• Cede & Co. v. Technicolor, Inc.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1994-01-18· cited 456×
• In Re Caremark International Inc. Derivative Litigation
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 1996-09-25· cited 387×
• Revlon, Inc. v. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1986-03-13· cited 386×
• Abry Partners V, L.P. v. F & W Acquisition LLC
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 2006-02-14· cited 354×
• Unocal Corp. v. Mesa Petroleum Co.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1985-06-10· cited 322×
• In Re Santa Fe Pacific Corp. Shareholder Litigation
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1995-11-22· cited 306×
• Kahn v. Lynch Communication Systems, Inc.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1994-04-05· cited 299×
• Grobow v. Perot
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1988-03-15· cited 295×
• Malone v. Brincat
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1998-12-18· cited 273×
• Rosenblatt v. Getty Oil Co.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1985-05-09· cited 268×
• Paramount Communications Inc. v. QVC Network Inc.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1994-02-04· cited 265×
• Arnold v. Society for Savings Bancorp, Inc.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1994-12-28· cited 251×
• Trenwick America Litigation Trust v. Ernst & Young, L.L.P.
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 2006-08-10· cited 250×
• Stroud v. Grace
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1992-04-09· cited 246×
• Mills Acquisition Co. v. MacMillan, Inc.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1989-05-03· cited 245×
• Gantler v. Stephens
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 2009-01-27· cited 244×
• Cinerama, Inc. v. Technicolor, Inc.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1995-07-17· cited 242×
• In Re Walt Disney Co. Derivative Litigation
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 2005-08-09· cited 206×
• Jardel Co., Inc. v. Hughes
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1987-03-23· cited 198×

Cites

39 cases in this archive are cited by this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

• Aronson v. Lewis
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1984-03-01· cited 1,206×
• Weinberger v. UOP, Inc.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1983-02-01· cited 690×
• Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. United States
  Supreme Court· 1939-02-13· cited 677×
• Guth v. Loft, Inc.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1939-04-11· cited 466×
• Zapata Corp. v. Maldonado
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1981-05-13· cited 335×
• Levitt v. Bouvier
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1972-01-04· cited 265×
• Donovan v. Cunningham
  Fifth Circuit· 1983-10-17· cited 264×
• Sinclair Oil Corporation v. Levien
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1971-06-18· cited 258×
• Pogostin v. Rice
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1984-06-21· cited 195×
• Schnell v. Chris-Craft Industries, Inc.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1971-11-29· cited 164×
• Michelson v. Duncan
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1979-10-02· cited 142×
• Gimbel v. Signal Companies, Inc.
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 1974-01-10· cited 116×
• Dugan v. Dugan
  Supreme Court of New Jersey· 1983-02-28· cited 114×
• Deberry v. State
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1983-01-27· cited 112×
• Allied Chemical & Dye Corp. v. Steel & Tube Co. of America
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 1923-03-28· cited 104×
• Gimbel v. Signal Companies, Inc.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1974-02-07· cited 100×
• Lynch v. Vickers Energy Corp.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1977-10-18· cited 94×
• Gottlieb v. Heyden Chemical Corp.
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1952-08-29· cited 88×
• Beard v. Elster
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1960-02-11· cited 85×
• Cheff v. Mathes
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1964-03-17· cited 83×