A group engaged in a long-running battle over a business sale says a quote from Hunter Biden bolsters its claims that the Chancery Court is in need of major changes.
Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware took note of a story from the Washington Post that quoted Hunter Biden.
“I will bring suit in the Chancery Court in Delaware — which as you know is my home state, and I am privileged to have worked with and know every judge in the chancery court,” Hunter wrote on March 14, 2018, the Post reported.
“This report just confirms what we’ve known for years: the Chancery Court is an old boys’ club where who you play golf with matters far more than the case you make. Even Hunter Biden agrees that the Chancery’s dysfunction makes it more akin to a kangaroo court than the illustrious business court it claims to be. When powerful Delawareans know that their personal connections to judges will influence the court’s decisions, it’s clear that the entire system must be transformed,” a spokesman for Citizens stated.
The group has been calling for changes since one of the 50-50 partners of TransPerfect asked the court to handle the sale after no agreement could be reached. While the sale issue was resolved, TransPerfect and owner Phil Shawe were not happy with the billing practices by the court-appointed custodian handling the sale.
More recently, Citizens took the Delaware court system to task for lack of diversity and called for a Black chancellor to be named after a vice chancellor moved to the state Supreme Court. The group was unhappy when a white female and a white male were appointed to fill Chancery vacancies.
Critics in the Delaware corporate law community claim Citizens is an “Astroturf” group bankrolled by Shawe. Citizens says it has 5,000 members, including Delaware residents. Citizens spent millions of dollars in advertising to make their case.
TransPerfect has no physical presence in Delaware.
