Paul, Weiss is widely recognized as having one of the nation’s preeminent securities litigation and regulatory practices. For two decades, our lawyers have guided global corporations and financial institutions through a series of “bet-the-company” securities-related crises, consistently reducing or eliminating their most damaging claims and negotiating favorable resolutions.
Blackstone Funds Win Dismissal of Derivative Action
- Client News
- August 25, 2021
Paul, Weiss achieved a significant victory for certain funds affiliated with The Blackstone Group in the Delaware Court of Chancery when the court dismissed with prejudice a consolidated derivative lawsuit brought by purported stockholders of Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.
In a complaint filed in June 2020, the plaintiffs alleged that certain of Zimmer Biomet’s current and former directors and officers violated federal and state laws by allegedly concealing that the company was facing serious regulatory compliance challenges. These challenges arose from public statements made to the market while facilitating sales of company stock by certain private equity funds that purportedly possessed material, nonpublic information, according to the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs also claimed that these private equity funds, including the Blackstone funds, helped conceal the alleged scheme to engage in the stock sales.
The court dismissed the complaint in its entirety and with prejudice, finding that the plaintiffs had failed to satisfy Delaware’s demand futility standards by failing to plead that a majority of Zimmer Biomet’s board of directors was unable to impartially determine whether to assert the claims directly on the company’s behalf.
The Paul, Weiss team included litigation partners Andrew Ehrlich and Brette Tannenbaum and counsel Daniel Mason.