Oracle OKs Oracle investors to sue Oracle: Put NetSuite suit before a judge – board panel

Three members of Oracle's board of directors say a class-action lawsuit, filed against Oracle in the US by Oracle shareholders over Oracle's 2016 acquisition of NetSuite, should go forward. In a filing to the Delaware Chancery Court [PDF], the three-person Special Litigation Committee – a group comprised of members from Oracle …

[Anonymous Coward]

Shoot-out at the legal corral

"... you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Pillar et tu?

Didn't he do the same with Pillar Data? And that's even better. Oracle buy out his stake in Pillar , and now it is no more.

[Doctor Syntax]

As far as I can make out the action is aimed to getting Oracle to sue Ellison & Katz on shareholders' behalf. Why the shareholders don't sue them directly is less clear. After all, if they get a payout from Oracle its their own money - shareholders' funds - that the payout would be taken from.

[don't you hate it when you lose your account]

The cost

This way you don't have to pay the lawyers. Oracle pays to defend and Sue itself. Absolutely brilliant :)

[stiine]

Re: The cost

You're right, thats absolutely fucking brilliant. Its like a circular firing squad armed with pintle-mounted automatic weapons.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The cost

well, given who we're talking about, I think we all benefit from it

[Adrian 4]

Re: The cost

Doesn't that just mean they pay the lawyers twice, and get to pay out as losers as well as receive the winnings ?

[Pascal Monett]

Wait a minute

How is it that the Board of a company gets to decide if a class-action lawsuit against itself should proceed ?

Isn't that something for a judge to decide ?

Or has the justice system in the USA just got fed up and handed itself over to corporations because they finally decided that that is how it works anyway ?

[IGotOut]

Re: Wait a minute

Effectively they were trying to reach an amicable, but couldn't so just said "you know what, take it to court"

[ITAMRocks]

Oh, that's OK then

Standard Oracle practice is to play hardball as long as they can and then fold to avoid court scrutiny of their business practices. Mars vs Oracle, A&E Adventures vs Oracle, and a couple of other shareholder class actions have all been eventually settled out of court. This is just a slightly more public version of what goes on behind NDAs because of who is involved - SLC appointed to make the issue go away, fails, and so it ends up in court. Interestingly the ongoing Sunshine City Firefighters suit hasn't been resolved yet - case review scheduled for all parties in mid-October. And, hey, JEDI waiting in the wings with yet another appeal ongoing.