In my plaintiff-centric practice, my opening move – or rather, in keeping with the “litigation is war” analogy, “shot across the bow” – is, more often than not, a demand letter. At worst, such a letter will be ignored by one’s adversary; at best, it may lead to a lucrative settlement before litigation expenses kick in and, maybe, lead to the ouster of a multi-billion dollar company’s CEO.
Below is the letter (authored by California attorney Gloria Allred) detailing HP contractor Jodie Fisher’s sexual harassment allegations against (former) CEO Mark Hurd that, it appears, led to Mr. Hurd’s ejection from his position. Its publication was recently authorized by the Delaware Supreme Court, which held that Mr. Hurd failed to demonstrate the “good cause” necessary to keep the document under seal.
For those of you who are interested in the legal procedures by which shareholder in a Delaware corporation may obtain copies of the corporation’s books and records, the decision accessible at the link above is certain to delight. For those of you, however, interested in the salacious details of high-level corporate hanky panky (a wildly underused phrase, in my opinion), see below:
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