Attorneys here at Lowenstein congratulate students of The Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law on their victory in the 2016 Ruby R. Vale Corporate Moot Court Competition, as well as all the other teams participating. The competition problem, authored by Professor Lawrence Hamermesh, considered issues of appraisal rights raised by recent cases Merion Capital LP v. BMC Software, Inc., In re Appraisal of Ancestry.com, and In re Appraisal of Dell Inc. According to the Widener Law School Blog, “The issues centered around the question of the appropriate interpretation of the statutory term ‘stockholder of record,’ and its effect on so-called ‘appraisal arbitrage,’ in which purchasers of shares after the record date for voting on a merger seek judicial appraisal of their shares.”
The focus on appraisal rights among practitioners, academics, and, in this case, students, highlights their importance to investors and investor rights.