COURT OF CHANCERY APPLIES POLITICAL QUESTION DOCTRINE IN DEFERRING TO U.S. PRESIDENT’S RECOGNITION OF VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT AND HOLDS THAT EXTRA-TERRITORIAL EFFECTS DO NOT PRECLUDE APPLICATION OF THE ACT OF STATE DOCTRINE
By: CJ Voss and Teresa Teng
In Jiménez v. Palacios et al., C.A. No. 2019-0490-KSJM (Del. Ch. Aug. 2, 2019), the Delaware Court of Chancery accepted as binding the U.S. President’s recognition of a foreign government and upheld the validity of that government’s appointments to the board of directors of a state-owned oil company. In turn, the state-owned oil company could validly appoint the board of directors of its Delaware subsidiaries. However, the court determined that the consents appointing the boards of directors of the Delaware subsidiaries were not appropriately considered on a motion for judgment on the pleadings and granted the plaintiffs the opportunity to identify facts in dispute foreclosing summary judgment in favor of the defendants.
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