Opinion ID: 2189865
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Earle Demand

Text: Mrs. Margaret Earle owned 10,441 shares of Enstar, which were on account at Prudential-Bache Securities Inc. (Prudential-Bache). She specifically chose to have her shares registered in a street name in order to take advantage of her broker's command account. Prudential-Bache deposited the shares with DTC which then registered them in the name of CEDE. On September 24, 1984 Prudential-Bache demanded an appraisal of Mrs. Earle's shares in a letter signed (in facsimile) by Charles M. Karasek, a Prudential-Bache employee. It is undisputed that neither Mrs. Earle nor Prudential-Bache were the stockholders of record, and that the demand was not made by, or on behalf of, the stockholder of record, CEDE. The Court of Chancery nonetheless held that the demands were effective, because Enstar had reasonable constructive notice that the Earle and Senouf shares were listed on the corporation records under the name CEDE & Co. In re Appraisal of Enstar Corp., Del. Ch., C.A. No. 7802, slip op. at 14 (July 17, 1986) [Available on WESTLAW, 1986 WL 8062].