IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

IN RE ORACLE CORPORATION 

DERIVATIVE LITIGATION

)

)

CONSOLIDATED

C.A. No. 2017-0337-SG

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Date Submitted: February 16, 2021

Date Decided: June 21, 2021

Joel Friedlander and Jeffrey M. Gorris, of FRIEDLANDER & GORRIS, P.A., 

Wilmington, Delaware; OF COUNSEL: Randall J. Baron and David A. Knotts, of 

ROBBINS GELLER RUDMAN & DOWD LLP, San Diego, California; Christopher

H. Lyons, of ROBBINS GELLER RUDMAN & DOWD LLP, Nashville, Tennessee; 

Brian J. Robbins, Stephen J. Oddo, and Gregory Del Gaizo, of ROBBINS LLP, San 

Diego, California, Attorneys for Lead Plaintiff Firemen’s Retirement System of St. 

Louis.

Kenneth J. Nachbar, John P. DiTomo, and Thomas P. Will, of MORRIS, NICHOLS, 

ARSHT & TUNNELL LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; OF COUNSEL: Sara B. Brody 

and Jaime A. Bartlett, of SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP, San Francisco, California; Matthew 

J. Dolan, of SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP, Palo Alto, California, Attorneys for Defendants 

Jeffrey O. Henley, Renée J. James, and Paula R. Hurd as Trustee of the Hurd Family 

Trust.

Thomas A. Beck, Blake K. Rohrbacher, Susan M. Hannigan, Matthew D. Perri, and 

Daniel E. Kaprow, of RICHARDS, LAYTON & FINGER, P.A., Wilmington, 

Delaware, Attorneys for Nominal Defendant Oracle Corporation.

Kevin R. Shannon, Berton W. Ashman, Jr., of POTTER ANDERSON & CORROON 

LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; OF COUNSEL: Arthur H. Aufses, Jonathan M. 

Wagner, and Jason M. Moff, of KRAMER LEVIN NAFTALIS & FRANKEL LLP,

New York, New York, Attorneys for Non-Party Special Litigation Committee of the 

Board of Directors of Oracle Corporation.

Elena C. Norman, Nicholas J. Rohrer, Richard J. Thomas, Benjamin Potts, and 

Kevin P. Rickert, of YOUNG CONAWAY STARGATT & TAYLOR, LLP, 

Wilmington, Delaware; OF COUNSEL: Peter A. Wald, of LATHAM & WATKINS 

LLP, San Francisco, California; Blair Connelly, of LATHAM & WATKINS LLP, 
New York, New York, Attorneys for Defendants Lawrence J. Ellison and Safra A. 

Catz.

GLASSCOCK, Vice Chancellor
1

This is my fifth memorandum opinion in this matter, and yet the case is still 

in the motion to dismiss stage. Not coincidentally, the Motions to Dismiss before 

me are addressed to the Fifth Amended Complaint. The number of complaints is 

not due to the vagaries, indecision, or frolicsome nature of the Plaintiffs’ counsel—

the matter has been procedurally complex due in part to the improbable progression 

of this derivative action through a special litigation committee and back to the 

Plaintiffs. At this stage, the facts relating to a challenged acquisition by Oracle 

Corporation of a competitor are well rehearsed. I commend interested readers to my 

Memorandum Opinions of March 19, 20181 and June 22, 20202 for a full overview,

albeit based on earlier iterations of the complaint. For this Motion to Dismiss, 

brought by three individual defendants, an abbreviated factual background sufficient

to resolution of the motions is laid out below. I then address the merits of the 

Motions, with mixed results.

I. BACKGROUND3

The Plaintiffs, stockholders of Oracle Corporation (“Oracle”), challenge 

Oracle’s acquisition of NetSuite, Inc. (“NetSuite”) as a controlled self-dealing 

1 In re Oracle Corp. Deriv. Litig., 2018 WL 1381331 (Del. Ch. Mar. 19, 2018) [hereinafter “Oracle 

I”].

2 In re Oracle Corp. Deriv. Litig., 2020 WL 3410745 (Del. Ch. June 22, 2020). 

3 The facts, except where otherwise noted, are drawn from the Verified Fifth Am. Deriv. Compl., 

Dkt. No. 484 [hereinafter “Compl.”], and exhibits or documents incorporated therein, and are 

presumed true for the purposes of this Motion to Dismiss.
2

transaction; they allege that various officers and directors of Oracle breached their 

fiduciary duties to the Plaintiffs. 

The Nominal Defendant, Oracle, is allegedly controlled by Defendant 

Lawrence J. Ellison. Ellison is Oracle’s founder, former CEO, current Chairman 

and Chief Technology Officer, and current 37.8% stockholder.4

 The Plaintiff 

stockholders allege that Oracle fiduciaries, at Ellison’s behest, faithlessly caused 

Oracle to purchase NetSuite at an inflated price. NetSuite, like Oracle, was founded 

and allegedly controlled by Ellison.5

 Prior to Oracle’s acquisition of NetSuite, 

Ellison held 39.2% of NetSuite’s common stock; that number jumps to 44.8% when 

combined with the holdings of his family members, affiliates, and related entities.6

The transaction was evaluated by a Special Committee, the independence of 

which is disputed by the parties.

7

 In this Memorandum Opinion, I address the 

Motion to Dismiss by two officer-director Defendants—Paula Hurd, as trustee of the 

Hurd Family Trust (the successor of officer director Mark V. Hurd (“Hurd”)) and 

Jeffrey O. Henley—and one outside director, Renée J. James.8

4 Compl. ¶ 2. 

5 Compl. ¶¶ 2–3. 

6 Compl. ¶ 26.

7 Compl. ¶ 115.

8 See Opening Br. In Support of Renee J. James, Paula Hurd as Trustee of The Hurd Family Trust 

and Jeffrey O. Henley’s Mot. to Dismiss, Dkt. No 485 [hereinafter “MTD OB”].
3

II. ANALYSIS

The moving Defendants seek a dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6). In evaluating 

the motions, I must take as true all well-pled allegations and view the inferences

therefrom in the light most favorable to the Plaintiffs.9

 Only where, nonetheless, I 

find it not reasonably conceivable—that is, not plausible—that the Plaintiffs may 

prevail, may I grant a motion to dismiss.10

Although the three Defendants are implicated in the same transaction, a 

determination of whether the Plaintiffs have adequately pled a claim against each of 

them must be, necessarily, done on an individual basis. That is particularly so here

because Hurd and Henley were executives, while James was not; Hurd and Henley

are therefore vulnerable to duty of care allegations if they were acting in their 

capacities as officers, rather than directors.11 

To the extent the moving Defendants acted as directors, the Complaint, to be 

viable, must plead disloyalty.12 The Supreme Court’s opinion in In re Cornerstone

Therapeutics Inc., Stockholder Litigation is controlling in that situation.

13 That 

opinion establishes that a plaintiff will survive a motion to dismiss “by pleading facts 

9 Cent. Mortg. Co. v. Morgan Stanley Mortg. Capital Holdings LLC, 27 A.3d 531, 536 (Del. 2011).

10 Id.

11 Arnold v. Soc’y for Sav. Bancorp, Inc., 650 A.2d 1270, 1288 (Del. 1994) (noting that “where a 

defendant is a director and officer, only those actions taken solely in the defendant’s capacity as 

an officer are outside the purview of Section 102(b)(7)”).

12 Oracle’s charter provides exculpation for liability except for breaches of loyalty.

13 115 A.3d 1173 (Del. 2015).
4

supporting a rational inference that the director . . . acted to advance the self-interest 

of an interested party from whom they could not be presumed to act 

independently . . . .”14 As the Defendants and the Plaintiffs agree, Cornerstone 

requires the plaintiff to plead facts supporting a rational inference that the director 

defendant both: (a) lacked independence from an interested party, and (b) “acted to 

advance” the self-interest of the same interested party.15 For Hurd and Henley, then,

my analysis must first determine whether their challenged actions were taken in their 

capacities as officers or directors and, if those actions were taken as directors, then 

apply Cornerstone. I address them each, individually, first, before finally turning to 

James, to whom only the Cornerstone analysis is applicable. I note that, in 

addressing the facts alleged against each moving Defendant, I have attempted to 

include—for purposes of this pleading-stage motion—all allegations in the Fifth 

Amended Complaint that the Plaintiffs appear to think are relevant, although to my 

mind some are at most tangentially so.

A. Mark V. Hurd

1. Hurd’s Background

Defendant Paula Hurd, as trustee of the Hurd Family Trust, is the legal 

successor to Mark V. Hurd.16 Hurd served as one of Oracle’s co-CEO’s from 

14 Id. 1179–80.

15 MTD OB 23; Pls.’ Opp’n to Mot. to Dismiss of Renee J. James, Paula Hurd as Trustee of The 

Hurd Family Trust and Jeffrey O. Henley 27, Dkt. No. 499 [hereinafter “MTD AB”].

16 Compl. ¶ 28.
5

September 2014 until his passing in October 2019.17 Prior to serving as Oracle’s 

CEO, Hurd was Oracle’s President, a position he held from September 2010 to 

September 2014. Ellison has described Hurd as his “close and irreplaceable friend, 

and trusted colleague.”18 Based on these and other facts, I previously found that 

Hurd was not independent of Ellison for demand futility purposes.19 

2. Factual Allegations Regarding Hurd and the NetSuite Acquisition

Ellison first broached the prospect of Oracle acquiring NetSuite to Oracle coCEO Sofra Catz on February 20, 2015.20 Hurd was looped in not long after, on 

February 25, 2015, by which time a presentation book had been prepared for Ellison, 

Catz, and Hurd about a potential acquisition.21 

a. The Porcupine Creek Meeting

The proposal was not brought to the Board until almost a year later. During 

a January 14–15, 2016 Board meeting at Ellison’s Porcupine Creek property,

22 Catz 

sent Ellison and Hurd a short slide deck about two code-named M&A opportunities, 

with two slides dedicated to NetSuite.23 Hurd and Catz then led a strategy discussion 

17 Compl. ¶ 28.

18 Compl. ¶ 28.

19 Oracle I, at *16.

20 Compl. ¶ 65. Catz is a Defendant in this action.

21 Compl. ¶ 65.

22 While “Porcupine Creek” may sound like the remote ranch of some leftover prospector, it is in 

fact a private-mansion-and-golf-course complex at Rancho Mirage, California, south of Palm 

Springs.

23 Compl. ¶ 83. 
6

with the Board, while Oracle’s Chief of Staff, Douglas Kehring, provided the Board 

with a verbal overview of a potential acquisition of NetSuite.24 At that meeting, 

which all thirteen then-directors attended,25 the Board purportedly voted26 to 

“direct[] management to continue to assess the feasibility of pursuing” an acquisition 

of NetSuite.27 The Board also directed Catz and Hurd to contact NetSuite “to 

understand if NetSuite would be willing to receive an indication of interest” but 

prohibited them from “engag[ing] in any price discussions or otherwise engag[ing] 

with NetSuite’s management.”28 

b. Hurd’s Involvement pre-Special Committee and Recusal

After receiving this direction, Catz and NetSuite’s CEO discussed a potential 

acquisition over dinner, including (despite the Oracle board’s instructions to the 

contrary) potential prices Oracle would be willing to pay and NetSuite would be 

willing to accept.29 Hurd did not participate in these discussions.

30 However, a 

senior executive of NetSuite recounted that his impression of a January 27, 2016 call 

with Ellison was that “[t]here was a commitment at the highest level of Oracle –

24 Compl. ¶ 84.

25 Compl. ¶ 82.

26 A vote is not mentioned in the Complaint but is raised by the Plaintiffs in their Answering Brief. 

MTD AB 36.

27 Compl. ¶ 85(f).

28 Compl. ¶ 85(f). 29 Compl. ¶¶ 87–92.

30 See Compl. ¶¶ 87–92.
7

Mark Hurd, Safra Catz and Larry Ellison – to maintain the integrity of the NetSuite 

organization.”31

In March 2016, Hurd was presented32 with an analysis of the competition 

between NetSuite and Oracle.33 He and Catz were both involved in planning which 

directors would sit on the Special Committee.34 On March 11, 2016, per the 

Complaint, someone told Defendant Henley that he, Hurd, and Catz would need to 

recuse themselves at some point from a Board meeting slated for March 18 (the 

“March 2016 Board Meeting”).

35 Neither Henley nor Hurd attended that meeting.36 

c. Hurd’s Involvement After the Special Committee is Formed

On May 31, Hurd was told that “Oracle officers and employees will not 

participate in the process of evaluating and negotiating a potential transaction with 

[NetSuite] without authorization of the Special Committee or its members or 

advisors.”37 On July 25, 2016, after NetSuite and Oracle had agreed to a price of 

$109 per share, Hurd was invited to attend a call with NetSuite executives, a dinner 

with other senior executives of NetSuite, an internal bringdown meeting with Catz, 

and a final presentation to the Special Committee.38 He responded, “It’s all on my 

31 Compl. ¶ 101.

32 Use of the passive voice throughout follows the language of the Fifth Amended Complaint.

33 Compl. ¶ 113.

34 Compl. ¶ 115.

35 Compl. ¶ 115.

36 Compl. ¶ 116.

37 Compl. ¶ 127.

38 Compl. ¶ 163.
8

calendar.”39 Hurd was deeply involved in Oracle’s budgeting process and was aware 

of NetSuite’s operating models while the deal was pending.40 He and Catz presided 

over a diligence bringdown meeting.

41 On July 27, 2016, the Special Committee 

met to approve the tender offer—that meeting was attended by “Catz and 

management.”42 But the complaint does not specifically allege that Hurd attended 

the meeting or was in any way involved.43

d. Hurd’s Involvement After the Acquisition is Announced

On July 28, 2016, Oracle announced that it would acquire NetSuite for 

$109/share.44 In that announcement, Hurd stated that “Oracle and NetSuite cloud 

applications are complementary, and will coexist in the marketplace forever.”45 In 

Oracle’s Q2 2019 earnings call, Hurd stated that the “core tenets” of Oracle’s 

management when “we bought NetSuite” included increasing Sales & Marketing 

and increasing Research and Development.46 That information was contrary to a 

model presented by Catz to the Special Committee at a July 13, 2016 meeting.47 The 

39 Compl. ¶ 163.

40 Compl. ¶ 164.

41 Compl. ¶ 164.

42 Compl. ¶ 165.

43 See Compl. ¶ 165.

44 Compl. ¶ 174. 

45 Compl. ¶ 175 (emphasis added). See Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias (1818) (“Look on my 

Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”).

46 Compl. ¶ 213.

47 Compl. ¶ 213. 
9

Complaint does not indicate that Hurd attended that meeting.48 On November 4, 

2016, Catz and Hurd were given an integration update for NetSuite that further 

conflicted with Catz’s model.49

3. Analysis: It is not reasonably conceivable that Hurd acted with gross 

negligence or disloyalty or in furtherance of Ellison’s self-interest.

I had previously found that Hurd was not sufficiently independent for a Rule 

23.1 analysis because he was employed by a company with a very influential 

stockholder-defendant;

50 he is similarly conflicted for purposes of a Rule 12(b)(6) 

motion to dismiss. This litigation was first filed on May 3, 2017.51 The complainedof transaction was announced less than a year prior—on July 27, 2016.52 The 

considerations of whether Hurd was independent on May 3, 2017 were equally 

applicable during the course of the negotiation of the NetSuite transaction. 

The Plaintiffs’ allegations regarding Hurd’s actions can be summarized 

thusly: (1) “[h]e received the direction from the Board to reach out to NetSuite” at 

the Porcupine Creek meeting; (2) a NetSuite executive remembered that Hurd, Catz, 

and Ellison were “committed” to maintaining the integrity of NetSuite’s 

organization; (3) Hurd was invited to the final review of information about NetSuite 

with the Special Committee before the Special Committee approved the acquisition; 

48 Compl. ¶¶ 157–159.

49 Compl. ¶ 210.

50 Oracle I, at *16.

51 Verified Stockholder Deriv. Compl. For Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Dkt. No. 1. 

52 Compl. ¶ 165.
10

(4) after the Special Committee approved the transaction, Hurd made statements that 

contradicted information previously presented to the Special Committee by Catz; 

and (5) Hurd described Oracle and NetSuite’s products as complementary, even 

though Oracle and NetSuite were competitors.53

In order for the Plaintiffs to pursue a duty of care claim against Hurd, they 

must show that his actions were undertaken as an officer.54 On this, in my view, the 

Plaintiffs prevail. The Board instructed Hurd, with Catz, to approach NetSuite. 

Further, a NetSuite executive indicated that he believed Hurd, along with Ellison 

and Catz, was committed to retaining NetSuite’s organization. These two factual 

allegations indicate, to me, that Hurd was operating as an officer rather than a 

director. Accordingly, his actions must be reviewed not only for disloyalty but also 

for gross negligence. Gross negligence is itself a high bar; it requires conduct 

exhibiting a deliberate indifference to the interests of the company.55

As alleged, these facts do not support such an inference. The receipt of 

directions does not mean that Hurd followed them, disloyally or with deliberate 

indifference with respect to Oracle; indeed, while the Complaint is replete with 

descriptions of Catz’s actions in negotiating with NetSuite’s management, 

53 MTD AB 36–37.

54 Arnold v. Soc’y for Sav. Bancorp, Inc., 650 A.2d 1270, 1288 (Del. 1994).

55 Albert v. Alex Brown Mgmt. Servs., Inc., 2005 WL 2130607, at *4 (Del. Ch. Aug. 26, 2005) 

(“Gross negligence has a stringent meaning under Delaware corporate (and partnership) law, one 

which involves a devil-may-care attitude or indifference to duty amounting to recklessness.” 

(internal quotation marks omitted)).
11

allegations as to Hurd are conspicuously absent.56 The sole mention of his role in 

negotiations, if any, is a NetSuite executive’s recollection that there was 

commitment at the highest level from Oracle—Ellison, Catz, and Hurd—that 

NetSuite’s organization would be left intact. These allegations are insufficient to

reasonably imply grossly negligent or disloyal action by Hurd.

Hurd, the Plaintiffs note, was also “invited” to a final presentation to the 

Special Committee—an invitation he responded was “on [his] calendar.”57 This fact, 

however, does not make it reasonably conceivable that Hurd participated in the final 

review or took any action besides attending as a passive observer. Indeed, that Hurd 

was given an invitation, instead of being a meeting organizer, implies that his role 

was, at most, secondary.58 I conclude that this allegation does not permit reasonable 

conceivability of Hurd’s gross negligence or lack of loyalty.

Finally, the Plaintiffs note that Hurd made several statements after Oracle 

approved the transaction that either (a) conflicted with information provided by Catz 

to the Special Committee or (b) were contrary to the fact that Oracle and NetSuite 

were competitors—a fact that Hurd allegedly knew and withheld.

59 The Plaintiffs 

56 In Oracle I, I remarked upon “the paucity of specific allegations about Henley and Hurd’s role 

in the transaction process[.]” Oracle I, at *22. That comment remains pertinent even in light of 

the Fifth Amended Complaint.

57 Compl. ¶ 163.

58 This is, in my view, the most favorable reasonable inference I can draw for the Plaintiffs; the 

alternative, less friendly inference is that Hurd needed reminding to attend a meeting that he did 

not have any role in planning or preparing.

59 See Compl. ¶¶ 212–14; 175.
12

posit that these statements indicate that Hurd was in possession of material

information prior to the Special Committee’s approval of the acquisition and then 

purposely withheld that information, in breach of his fiduciary duties.60 

This is a serious charge. As an officer or a director of Oracle, Hurd owes 

fiduciary duties that require him not to withhold information that would have been 

material to the Board or Special Committee’s decision-making.

61 If the Plaintiffs 

could allege that Hurd was aware that the Special Committee lacked material 

information that he possessed (or that he was grossly negligent in not being so aware) 

and that he failed to communicate such information to the Committee, they would 

have stated a claim against Hurd. The factual allegations here, however, fall short. 

First, Catz, not Hurd, is alleged to have presented misleading information to 

the Special Committee at a July 13, 2016 meeting.

62 Indeed, the Complaint does not 

indicate that Hurd even attended that meeting;63 and, given that Hurd was instructed 

not to “participate in the process of evaluating and negotiating a potential transaction 

with”64 NetSuite, it is unclear to me how Hurd would have known what information 

was presented to the Special Committee at that meeting. Hurd did, however, 

60 MTD AB 37.

61 In re Columbia Pipeline Grp., Inc., 2021 WL 772562, at *51 (Del. Ch. Mar. 1, 2021), cert. 

denied sub nom. In re Columbia Pipeline Grp. Inc. (Del. Ch. 2021), and appeal refused sub nom. 

In re Columbia Pipeline Grp., Inc. Merger Litig., 249 A.3d 801 (Del. 2021). 62 Compl. ¶¶ 207–212.

63 See Compl. ¶¶ 207–212.

64 Compl. ¶ 127.
13

“preside[] over a” NetSuite diligence bringdown meeting.65 The Plaintiffs 

conclusorily allege that Hurd knew the numbers presented at that meeting were 

unrealistic and inflated; but the Complaint gives no indication as to what numbers 

were presented, and how Hurd knew they were inflated.

The Plaintiffs allege that Hurd was “deeply involved in Oracle’s budgeting 

process and was aware of the NetSuite operating models while the deal was 

pending”66—a conclusory statement as to Hurd’s knowledge that, even if true, would 

not establish that Hurd knew that such information was withheld from the Special 

Committee. On November 4—i.e., after the acquisition had been announced—Hurd 

received materials that conflicted with information that Catz had given to the Special 

Committee.67 But, again, that does not indicate that Hurd knew (or was grossly 

negligent in not knowing) what information Catz had given the Special Committee 

or that such information was false. Finally, the Plaintiffs impute Hurd’s knowledge 

through a statement he provided at Oracle’s Q2 2019 earnings call—a call that 

occurred over two years after the tender offer was approved—that was “contrary to 

Catz’s [July 2016] model.”68 All told, the Plaintiffs have failed to provide any nonconclusory factual allegations that Hurd knew material information that, 

65 Compl. ¶ 164.

66 Compl. ¶ 164.

67 Compl. ¶ 210.

68 Compl. ¶ 213.
14

importantly, he also knew the Special Committee did not have. Nor is it reasonably 

conceivable that Hurd, who (according to the Plaintiffs) was told to take no role in 

the negotiation or evaluation of a NetSuite deal, was grossly negligent in failing to 

inform the Board of any information he possessed regarding NetSuite.

The Plaintiffs point out that Hurd did know that Oracle and NetSuite were 

competitors69 and yet made statements that their businesses were complementary.

70 

To the extent the Plaintiffs suggest that the latter statement must be knowingly false 

or reckless, I am unable to follow that logic. Simply because products compete when 

they belong to separate entities does not mean they cannot complement if they 

belong to the same entity. Those statements, in any event, were not made to the 

Board or the Special Committee but were made to the public after the acquisition 

was announced.71 Because Oracle was engaging in a tender offer for NetSuite 

shares, Oracle stockholders did not vote on the transaction; there was, accordingly, 

no stockholder vote to influence. These statements do not breach a fiduciary duty

regarding this transaction. Nor do they indicate that Hurd withheld the fact of 

Oracle’s competition with NetSuite from the Special Committee—as I explain more 

69 Compl. ¶ 113.

70 Compl. ¶ 175, 205.

71 Compl. ¶ 175 (occurring with the announcement of the acquisition); Compl. ¶ 205 (occurring 

upon closing of the tender offer).
15

in discussing Defendant Henley, below, I do not find it reasonably conceivable that 

the Special Committee was unaware that Oracle and NetSuite were competitors.72 

In sum, the Plaintiffs have failed to allege facts sufficient to make it

reasonably conceivable that Hurd acted either with gross negligence or disloyally in 

furtherance of Ellison’s self-interest. Hurd’s Motion to Dismiss is granted.

B. Jeffrey O. Henley

1. Henley’s Background

Defendant Jeffrey O. Henley is Oracle’s Executive Vice Chairman of the 

Board and has held that position since September 2014.73 He was previously 

Oracle’s Chairman of the Board and held that position for ten years.74 Henley has 

been described as “one of Ellison’s most trusted lieutenants.”75 In Oracle I, I found 

that Henley, as an employee of Oracle, could not independently consider a demand.76

2. Factual Allegations Regarding Henley and the NetSuite Acquisition

a. The Porcupine Creek Meeting

Henley, like Hurd, attended the January 14–15, 2016 Porcupine Creek Board 

meeting, at which management presented the full Board with a proposal to reach out 

to NetSuite and begin acquisition discussions.77 During that meeting, the Board, 

72 See Section II.B.3.c. infra. 73 Compl. ¶ 29.

74 Compl. ¶ 29.

75 Compl. ¶ 29.

76 Oracle I, at *16.

77 Compl. ¶ 82.
16

including Henley, purportedly voted78 to “direct[] management to continue to assess 

the feasibility of pursuing” a purchase of NetSuite.79 

b. Knowledge of Competition with NetSuite and Recusal 

The Complaint also discusses at length Henley’s efforts, as an Oracle 

employee,

80 to “crush”81 NetSuite as Oracle’s competitor82 and implies that Henley 

had specialized knowledge about the true state of the competition between NetSuite 

and Oracle.

83 The Plaintiffs charge Henley with fraud on the board,84 alleging that 

he withheld his particular knowledge from the Board and Special Committee, “chose 

to absent himself” from the March 2016 Board Meeting,

85 and chose to “not make 

sure that the Special Committee was informed about the true state of competition 

between Oracle and NetSuite.”86 The Complaint also avers that Henley was told 

that his attendance at the March 2016 Board Meeting was not mandatory and that he 

would need to recuse “at some point during the meeting.”87 

78 See note 26 supra. 79 Compl. ¶ 85(f).

80 That Henley is an officer is not clear from the “Parties” section of the Complaint. Compl. ¶ 29. 

However, the Complaint refers to Henley as an officer, Compl. ¶ 35, and the Defendants do not 

dispute this characterization in their Opening Brief. See MTD OB 30.

81 Compl. ¶ 64.

82 E.g., Compl. ¶¶ 64, 109, 112, 113, 115.

83 Compl. ¶ 229; see Compl. ¶¶ 120–124, 175, 184, 205 (discussing the efforts of non-Henley 

officers). 

84 MTD AB 36. The Plaintiffs purport to support this charge through a number of cites to the 

Complaint (notably, paragraphs 7, 120, 121, 124, 175, 184, and 205). However, none of those 

cites implicate Henley—rather, they implicate other members of management.

85 Compl. ¶ 116.

86 Compl. ¶ 229.

87 Compl. ¶ 115.
17

3. Analysis: It is not reasonably conceivable that Henley acted in 

furtherance of Ellison’s self-interest. 

a. Henley acted as a director, not an officer.

Like Hurd, Henley is both a director and an officer. Unlike Hurd’s, however, 

Henley’s actions can be squarely characterized as those taken by a director; his 

alleged breaches are that he (i) participated in the Porcupine Creek meeting and 

voted in favor of considering a NetSuite acquisition, and (ii) possessed material 

information that he did not share with the Special Committee. Neither of those 

actions can be reasonably characterized as “taken solely in [Henley’s] capacity as an 

officer” and, accordingly, I find that Henley acted as a director.88 

To determine whether the Plaintiffs have stated a claim for a breach of 

Henley’s duty of loyalty, then, I turn to Cornerstone’s two-prong test: whether 

Henley both (a) lacked independence from an interested party, and (b) “acted to 

advance” the self-interest of the same interested party.89 Like Hurd, I had previously 

found that Henley was not sufficiently independent for a Rule 23.1 analysis;

90 for 

the same reasons applicable to Hurd, Henley is also conflicted for purposes of a Rule 

12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. Per Cornerstone, then, I turn to Henley’s actions in 

88 Morrison v. Berry, 2019 WL 7369431, at *25 n.307 (quoting Arnold v. Soc’y for Sav. Bancorp, 

Inc., 650 A.2d 1270, 1288 (Del. 1994)).

89 In re Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc. S’holder Litig., 115 A.3d 1173, 1180 (Del. 2015).

90 Oracle I, at *16.
18

connection with the NetSuite acquisition and consider whether they were taken to 

advance Ellison’s self-interest.

b. Henley’s Porcupine Creek vote was not an act to advance 

Ellison’s self-interest.

Henley’s sole challenged affirmative action91 in furtherance of the NetSuite 

acquisition was his vote at the Porcupine Creek Board meeting. That Board meeting, 

which took place on January 14–15, 2016, at the Porcupine Creek estate, was 

attended by all thirteen then-directors of Oracle.92 At that meeting, Catz and Hurd 

led a strategy discussion with the Board, during which Oracle’s Chief of Staff 

provided the Board with a verbal overview of a potential NetSuite acquisition.93 

Henley, along with the other thirteen directors, voted to “direct[] management to 

continue to assess the feasibility of pursuing” a potential acquisition of NetSuite.94

Henley’s vote is the only affirmative act that the Plaintiffs challenge. That 

vote, in my view, is insufficient to show that Henley acted in Ellison’s interest and 

against the interests of the common stockholders. The Porcupine Creek meeting was 

the first time the Board had heard of a potential NetSuite deal. The vote held was 

not to approve the deal nor was it to create a Special Committee. Rather, the meeting 

and vote were merely to decide whether Oracle would even entertain the idea of a 

91 The Plaintiffs’ allegation of withheld information is, in my view, not an affirmative act but rather 

a passive one, and will be addressed below.

92 Compl. ¶ 82.

93 Compl. ¶ 84. 

94 Compl. ¶ 85(f).
19

NetSuite acquisition. Consideration of whether to formulate a NetSuite deal does 

not harm Oracle—the consummation of such a deal at an exorbitant price does. The 

connection between a vote to consider acquiring NetSuite and the actual harm 

alleged—the consummation of a self-dealing transaction that extracted value for 

Ellison to the detriment of the other stockholders—is too attenuated, in my view, to 

provide a rational inference that Henley’s vote was an action in furtherance of 

Ellison’s self-interest to the detriment of the other stockholders.

c. It is not reasonably conceivable that Henley withheld material 

information from the Board or Special Committee that he knew 

the Board or Special Committee did not have.

The Plaintiffs also allege that “Henley was intimately familiar with NetSuite’s 

competitive weakness through his personal efforts to ‘crush’ NetSuite” and that he 

withheld that information from the Board and the Special Committee.95 That 

inaction, in my view, does not relate solely to Henley’s officer capacity. I note that 

the Complaint does not even mention, in the “Parties” section, what Henley’s 

executive position is.96 There is no allegation that the Special Committee sought his 

input as an officer. Nor was knowledge of the status of Oracle’s competition with 

NetSuite exclusive to officers.97 In my view, Henley’s actions are as readily ascribed 

95 Compl. ¶ 229; MTD AB 35. 

96 Compl. ¶ 29. 

97 See Compl. ¶ 66 (“On April 29, 2015, the Board’s Committee on Independence Issues, 

consisting of outside directors H. Raymond Bingham, Hector Garcia-Molina, and Jeffrey S. Berg, 

held a regular meeting. The first item on the agenda was the status of competition with NetSuite.”). 
20

to his director role as to his position as officer, and Oracle’s exculpatory clause 

applies.

Further, it does not seem reasonably conceivable to me that the directors of 

the Special Committee could have been unaware that NetSuite was a competitor, nor 

do the Plaintiffs so argue; rather, the Plaintiffs’ argument appears to be that Henley 

had special or particular knowledge beyond what the directors were aware of. 98 

Even so, I do not find it reasonably conceivable that Henley, if he did possess such 

special knowledge, acted disloyally by failing to ensure the Special Committee knew 

those details.99 That is because the Plaintiffs have not alleged that Henley knew that 

the Special Committee directors were unaware of those details.

100 It is not 

reasonably conceivable, to me, that Henley possessed material and specialized 

knowledge about NetSuite’s competition with Oracle that he knew was not available 

to the Special Committee. I note that the entirety of what the Plaintiffs have alleged 

concerning Henley—that he had special knowledge regarding NetSuite and that the 

I note that the Plaintiffs contend that none of the Committee on Independence Issues directors sat 

on the Special Committee. Compl. ¶118.

98 See MTD AB 35–36 (“Henley’s defense is that the true state of competition between Oracle and 

NetSuite was not a secret to which Henley had special access. . . . But Henley possessed 

information about the state of competition between Oracle and NetSuite that was not disclosed to 

the Board at Porcupine Creek or subsequently disclosed to the Special Committee.”). 

99 Indeed, if I were to conclude otherwise, then the same would apply to the members of the 

Committee of Independent Issues, who, according to the Complaint, also were more wellacquainted with the status of Oracle’s competition with NetSuite than the Special Committee 

directors. Compl. ¶ 118.

100 In contradictory fashion, the Complaint also asserts that the chairperson of the Special 

Committee—James—was well aware of the “massive leverage Oracle had due to its ability to 

outcompete NetSuite.” Compl. ¶ 124.
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Special Committee lacked it101—is purely conclusory. Accordingly, I do not find it 

reasonably conceivable that Henley’s “failure” to affirmatively act to inform the

Board or Special Committee was an action taken to further Ellison’s self-interest.102 

Henley’s Motion to Dismiss is granted.

C. Renée J. James

1. James’ Background

Defendant Renée J. James is a director of Oracle and chaired the Special 

Committee.103 She is a “close friend” of Catz, who is one of Oracle’s two CEO’s 

and the “enforcer, gatekeeper, and de facto operating chief for [Ellison].”104 James 

had left her previous job and intended to become a Silicon Valley CEO—the 

Plaintiffs point to her career ambitions as a conflict that would cause her to prioritize 

Ellison’s interests, given his outsized role in the industry.105 James launched a 

startup chip company in 2017 with financial backing from Oracle in the amount of 

$46 million; she had been working on the startup since before joining the Oracle 

Board.106 Oracle invested another $40 million in that startup chip company in April 

101 Compl. ¶ 66. The Complaint’s assertion that the Special Committee directors were not 

acquainted with the status of Oracle’s competition with NetSuite simply because they did not sit 

on the Committee on Independence Issues meetings in 2015, in my view, does not follow from the 

fact alleged.

102 Compl. ¶ 115.

103 Compl. ¶ 30.

104 Compl. ¶¶ 27, 30.

105 Compl. ¶ 30.

106 Compl. ¶ 30. 
22

of 2019.107 These facts, and others, led me to find in Oracle I that James could not 

independently bring her business judgment to bear in deciding whether to sue 

Ellison.108 

2. Factual Allegations Regarding James and the NetSuite Acquisition

Like Hurd and Henley, James attended the Porcupine Creek Board meeting in 

January 2016, when she ostensibly voted to direct Catz and Hurd to determine 

whether NetSuite would be open to a potential acquisition.109 In March, James was 

appointed to the three-member Special Committee110 and that Committee 

subsequently appointed her the chair.111 As chair of the Special Committee, James 

was actively involved in Oracle’s consideration of a potential NetSuite deal. In a 

May 13, 2016 Special Committee meeting, she reported on a full-day diligence 

meeting with NetSuite—at which she was the only member of the Special 

Committee present.112 The Special Committee allowed Catz, despite her ties to 

Ellison, to lead the acquisition discussion with NetSuite until May 26.113 The 

Complaint alleges that James was aware of Oracle’s competition with NetSuite and 

“understood the massive leverage Oracle had due to its ability to outcompete 

107 Compl. ¶ 30.

108 Oracle I, at *18.

109 Compl. ¶¶ 82, 85(f).

110 Compl. ¶ 118.

111 Compl. ¶ 123.

112 Compl. ¶ 124.

113 Compl. ¶ 126.
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NetSuite.”114 Nevertheless, James, at Special Committee meetings, “noted the 

potentially complementary nature of the two companies and their respective 

addressable markets.”115 The implication, per the Plaintiffs, is that James disloyally 

permitted Oracle to overpay for NetSuite, to Ellison’s benefit.

3. It is reasonably conceivable that James acted in furtherance of 

Ellison’s self-interest.

James is not an officer, and so I apply Cornerstone’s two-prong test: whether 

James both (a) lacked independence from an interested party, and (b) “acted to 

advance” the self-interest of the same interested party.116 As with Henley and Hurd, 

I found in Oracle I that James lacked independence under Rule 23.1. I conclude 

based on the same allegations that she is not independent of Ellison for purposes of 

this Motion to Dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6). The second prong of the Cornerstone

test—actions to advance Ellison’s self-interest—is also easily satisfied at this 

pleading stage, with its plaintiff-friendly inferences. James was the chairperson of 

the Special Committee and, as demonstrated by her attendance at a diligence meeting 

with NetSuite without the other two directors of the Special Committee, took an 

active role in the negotiations. It is reasonably conceivable that James, who both is 

not independent of Ellison and who actively participated in the formulation of the 

114 Compl. ¶ 124.

115 Compl. ¶ 124.

116 In re Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc. S’holder Litig., 115 A.3d 1173, 1180 (Del. 2015).
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NetSuite acquisition, acted to advance Ellison’s self-interest in securing the deal. 

James’ Motion to Dismiss must, therefore, be denied.

III. CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, the Motion to Dismiss is granted as to Hurd and 

Henley and denied as to James. The parties should submit an appropriate form of 

order.