In Dennis v. Hart, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 15648 (9th Cir. July 31, 2013), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that plaintiffs’ “say-on-pay” shareholder derivative suits alleging breach of fiduciary duty were improperly removed to federal court, vacated the district court’s decisions and dismissed the parties’ cross-appeals for lack of jurisdiction. The Ninth Circuit held that the federal court did not have jurisdiction to hear the action because defendants had held an advisory vote in compliance with the federal Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 78n-1, and plaintiffs had only alleged state law causes of action. This holding indicates that challenges to board actions in response to “say-on-pay” votes are not enough to confer federal jurisdiction without additional, specific violations of federal law.Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Vacates Dismissal and Remands Shareholder Derivative “Say-on-Pay” Suits to California State Court

With the end of April 2011, it has been one-hundred days since shareholders were able to render advisory votes on the executive compensation provided at their publicly-held companies in accordance with rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") in January 2011 ("Say-On-Pay").  These rules were promulgated under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Reform Act").  Our Say-On-Pay Site provides periodic blogs on Say-on-Pay developments, along with an overview of the applicable rules and requirements, and there are also updated Say-On-Pay voting results and statistics.
 Continue Reading The First 100 Days of Say-On-Pay Mark Many More Failed Votes and the Advent of Say-On-Golden Parachutes

Say-On-Pay Blogs and Up-to-Date Voting Results

Please read our latest update on Say-on-Pay and frequency voting results, which includes summary results and detailed company-by-company results.  The results are sorted by the company’s SEC filer status and by the date on which the annual shareholder meeting was held.  We will be regularly updating this information as well as periodically posting new  blogs in this section so please check back to obtain the latest results and commentary.Say-on-Pay essentially provides public company shareholders with the ability to render an advisory vote on the compensation arrangements for their company’s named executive officers.  In addition, shareholders also can provide an advisory vote on the frequency that their company will conduct a Say-on-Pay vote.  The blogs in this section provide further information on this new and important topic.If you have any questions regarding Say-on-Pay, please contact Greg Schick at (415) 774-2988 or gschick@sheppardmullin.com.

Continue Reading — Up-to-Date Say-On-Pay Voting Results —