1 in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware Julie
IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE JULIE FRIEDMAN, derivatively on behalf of ) EXPEDIA, INC., ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) DARA KHOSROWSHAHI, BARRY ) C.A. No. 9161-CB DILLER, VICTOR A. KAUFMAN, A. ) GEORGE BATTLE, JONATHAN L. ) DOLGEN, CRAIG A. JACOBSON, PETER ) M. KERN, JOHN C. MALONE, JOSE A. ) TAZON and WILLIAM R. FITZGERALD, ) ) Defendants, ) ) and ) ) EXPEDIA, INC., a Delaware Corporation, ) ) Nominal Defendant. ) MEMORANDUM OPINION Date Submitted: June 16, 2014 Date Decided: July 16, 2014 David A. Jenkins and Neal C. Belgam of Smith Katzenstein & Jenkins LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; Eduard Korsinsky and Steven J. Purcell of Levi & Korsinsky LLP, New York, New York, Attorneys for Plaintiff. Gregory P. Williams, Lisa A. Schmidt and Susan M. Hannigan of Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware; Warren R. Stern and Jonathon R. LaChapelle of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz LLP, New York, New York, Attorneys for Defendants. BOUCHARD, C. 1 I. INTRODUCTION This action involves a seemingly increasing area of litigation in this Court: claims challenging the payment of compensation to an officer or director of a Delaware corporation based on an alleged violation of the terms of a compensation plan. Asserting such claims derivatively, stockholders invariably argue that demand is excused on the theory that a violation of an unambiguous provision of a compensation plan raises a reasonable doubt the transaction resulted from a valid exercise of business judgment and, as the plaintiff here put it, “ ipso facto establishes demand futility under the second prong of Aronson. ”1 In this case, plaintiff Julie Friedman asserts claims for breach of fiduciary duty (Count I) and unjust enrichment (Count II) concerning the decision of the compensation committee of the board of directors of Expedia, Inc.
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