A Washington state judge has delayed litigation in a stock-option backdating case pending the outcome of parallel federal lawsuits, giving defendants hope that state courts will not march in lockstep to follow a Delaware Chancery Court decision that state and federal suits could be heard at the same time.
The Delaware case, Ryan v. Gifford, involved a shareholders’ lawsuit against directors of Maxim Integrated Products, a California company incorporated in Delaware, for alleged backdating of stock option grants to employees. In February, the Chancery Court denied a motion from Maxim to delay state lawsuits there until a federal case in California was concluded, citing Delaware’s strong interest in developing Delaware law on the issue.
