Attorneys for shareholders derivatively suing Hemispherx Biopharma Inc. over bonuses paid to the company’s board members asked a Delaware Chancery judge on Monday to invalidate the company’s newly enacted fee-shifting bylaw or remove them as counsel from the suit.
The bylaw, which was adopted by Hemispherx’s board on July 10, imposed a retroactive “loser-pays” requirement that would hold the plaintiffs liable for all of the defendants fees and costs should they not prevail on all of their claims, according to the attorneys. Even if the plaintiffs secured a partial victory, they would end up paying everything, the attorneys said, making it “economically irrational” to continue the litigation.