Artificial intelligence (AI) is an increasingly important part of business strategy for many companies. As AI has become increasingly important in the corporate world, some commentators suggest that corporate boards not only need AI fluency but in fact need a specialized AI expert.  These suggestions about board expertise may present challenges for many boards, as boards seek to balance a host of competing objectives and interests. An April 15, 2026, memo from the Debevoise & Plimpton law firm (here) takes a pragmantic approach, proposing that the appropriate AI governance framework “will differ for each company and should align with the company’s strategic needs and relationship to technology.”

Continue Reading AI and Corporate Governance: Do Boards Need an AI Expert?

The recent Chapter 11 filing of QVC Group, Inc. (QVC) underscores a trend that has been building over the past year: consumer-facing companies, facing a combination of leverage, shifting consumer behavior, and tightening credit conditions, are increasingly turning to the bankruptcy courts to restructure their obligations. As recent reporting has highlighted, the QVC’s filing follows mounting losses and ongoing pressure on its traditional television-based retail model, as consumers continue to migrate toward digital and social commerce platforms. Against this backdrop, the QVC filing reflects not only company-specific challenges but also broader structural shifts affecting legacy retail and media-driven commerce businesses.

Continue Reading QVC’s Chapter 11 Filing and the Continuing D&O Coverage Challenges in Bankruptcy

In recent months, securities class action litigation patterns involving AI-related disclosures have emerged and developed, as has been documented on this site (most recently, for example, here). There has of course been a great deal of other kinds of AI-related litigation, including lawsuits involving intellectual property issues, privacy and data-collection concerns, discrimination and bias claims, and a variety of different kinds of tort allegations.

In a shareholder derivative lawsuit recently filed against the board of software firm Adobe, these two lines of AI-related litigation crossed; the plaintiff shareholder alleges that the defendants violated their board duties by knowingly permitting the company to train its artificial intelligence tools using material copyrighted by others and in a way that subjected the company to IP-related litigation. As discussed below, the new lawsuit illustrates how the broader range of AI-related litigation can translate into follow-on D&O claims, representing yet another area of AI-related D&O risk.

Continue Reading AI-Related IP Litigation Triggers Follow-On D&O Lawsuit
Tirana

The D&O Diary’s European travels continued earlier this week with a first-time ever visit to Albania, the rugged country on the Adriatic and Ionian coasts of the Balkan Peninsula, tucked between Montenegro and Greece. The country still retains many vestiges of its 20th century communist era, but it is modernizing quickly, and it remains a topographically diverse, naturally beautiful country.

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Federal regulators are increasingly adopting a more crypto-friendly, and more formal approach to bank supervision, one that may have important implications for D&O liability.  Following the President’s August 2025 “Guaranteeing Fair Banking” Executive Order (EO), the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) issued bulletins in September 2025 to curb “debanking”.  This guidance forces banks to base service decisions on objective risk, rather than social or political motives. Guidance that is further reinforced by the February 26, 2026 Federal Register release and proposal to restrict banking officials from forcing banks to cut ties with clients engaging in controversial but lawful activities.

Continue Reading Debanking, Crypto, and the Next Wave of D&O Exposure

Peloton Interactive, Inc. (Peloton) has faced well-publicized operational and reputational challenges over the past several years. The company’s trajectory, from pandemic-era growth darling to post-pandemic recalibration and product safety scrutiny, has resulted in securities litigation. As previously discussed on the D&O Diary, Peloton successfully defeated a COVID-19-related securities suit at the pleading stage. More recently, the company faced a second securities class action tied to alleged product defects in its flagship bike (Peloton SCA). In a March 31, 2026, decision, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York granted Peloton’s motion to dismiss, rejecting plaintiff shareholders’ attempt to convert operational challenges into actionable securities fraud.

Continue Reading Peloton SCA Dismissed: Product Safety Allegations and D&O Exposure
The Bay of Kotor

The D&O Diary’s European assignment continued last week with a long weekend visit to Montenegro. Montenegro is a small country with rugged mountains and an interesting history, tucked along the Adriatic coast on the Balkan peninsula. It was my first time in the country, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I discovered was a pleasant surprise. It turns out, Montenegro is an absolute gem.

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Amid signs of a renewed uptick in SPAC activity, courts continue to grapple with D&O insurance coverage issues arising out of older de-SPAC transactions. In a March 30, 2026,  decision involving the de-SPAC of View Operating Corporation (View), the Delaware Superior Court held, in part, that View’s D&O policy “public offering” exclusion did not apply to preclude coverage for claims arising out of a de‑SPAC transaction and that additional payment conditions could not be imposed unless expressly stated in the policy.

Continue Reading Delaware Court Rejects “Public Offering” Exclusion in De-SPAC Coverage Dispute

The following guest post examines the resolution of class certification motions in securities class action lawsuits during 2025; considers the parties’ economic arguments in support of or in opposition to class certification; and analyzes the courts evaluation of those arguments. The article is written by Andrew Roper, Mame Maloney, Brendan Rudolph, and Ravi Sinha, Principals at The Brattle Group, and Aidan Kutner, an Associate at The Brattle Group. We would like to thank the authors for allowing us to publish their article as a guest post on our site. Here is the authors’ article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Key Trends in 2025 Class Certification Decisions: Fraud-on-the-Market Under Fire

A new study highlighted on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, and posted by Subodh Mishra, Global Head of Communications at ISS STOXX, on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, quantifies how cyber incidents can have sustained and measurable negative impacts on shareholder value. The report, based on research conducted by ISS STOXX and ISS-Corporate (the study), analyzed cyber incidents among companies in the Russell 3000 over a multi-year period. Its findings are stark: companies experiencing significant cyber incidents underperform the broader market by approximately 5% on average over a three-year time period. 

Continue Reading Cyber Incidents’ “Long Tail” Impact on Shareholder Value