CSV Wins Delaware Supreme Court Appeal, Reviving Investment Banker’s Claims Against M&A Advisory Firm Centerview Partners
March 19, 2026
In a 22-page opinion issued on March 18, 2026, the Delaware Supreme Court revived CSV client David Handler’s claims against M&A advisory firm Centerview Partners. Mr. Handler’s claims seek over $100 million in unpaid compensation under a 2008 employment agreement. In its opinion, the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a June 2025 Delaware Chancery Court decision that held that an earlier ruling by a different vice chancellor in a related books-and-records case “collaterally estopped” Mr. Handler from now asserting his rights under the 2008 agreement. Agreeing with CSV’s arguments, the Supreme Court held that the earlier ruling didn’t bar Mr. Handler’s claims under the 2008 agreement, because his “rights as an employee” were “not litigated and decided by a valid and final judgment in the” books-and-records case, and that the statements in the earlier decision about Mr. Handler’s compensation were not essential to the judgment, as those statements were “best read as merely commenting on what compensation Handler received as opposed to reaching a firm and final conclusion about the terms of his compensation.” The Delaware Supreme Court panel consisted of Justices Hon. Karen L. Valihura, Hon. Gary F. Traynor, and Hon. Abigail M. LeGrow; Justice Valihura authored the opinion.
CSV’s Chris Clark argued the case for Mr. Handler. CSV attorneys Chris Clark, Brian Burns, Geoff Coll, Pauline Oostdyk, and Adam George represented Mr. Handler in the appeal, along with Richie Jones of Berger McDermott LLP.