Robert K. Beste

Attorney Profile

Rob is a detail-oriented, hands-on trial attorney with a record of success in Delaware’s trial courts, including Delaware’s Court of Chancery, the Complex Commercial Litigation Division of Delaware’s Superior Court, and the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. Rob has extensive experience in trial work and focuses on business valuation, electronic discovery, brief writing, and deposition practice.

On April 12, 2024, Rob successfully defeated a claim seeking $85 million in lost profits, instead obtaining $2 million on counter-claims, in a breach of contract dispute. Surf’s Up Legacy Partners v. Virgin Fest, LLC, Del. Super., 2024 WL 1596021, Wallace, J. (April 12, 2024). The parties bitterly disputed the matter, which required that Rob’s clients file nineteen discovery- and trial-related motions during the years-long dispute that started in November 2019 and went to trial in October 2024. Rob personally took or defended twenty-three depositions, handled the financial experts of both parties, personally found all of the accounting-related wrongdoing at issue in the matter, and tried the case leading a team of two other attorneys.

On March 4, 2024, Rob secured a judgment for $931,293 on a breach of contract claim following a bench trial in the District of Delaware. Bailey v. Tektronix, Inc., D. Del., 2024 WL 748521, Williams, J. (February 23, 2024).

On July 31, 2023, Rob obtained a judgment—on the pleadings—for over $1.5 million on a breach of contract claim in Tygon Peak Capital Management, LLC v. Mobile Investments Investco, LLC, Del. Ch., 2023 WL 4857281, Zurn, V.C. (July 31, 2023), then successfully defended that judgment on appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court in March 2024.

On July 27, 2018, Rob obtained a judgment in an appraisal matter for sixty-six cents per share above the merger price, and the decision remains as a rare example of the Court of Chancery disregarding the merger price in an arm’s length, third party deal. Blueblade Capital Opportunities LLC v. Norcraft Companies, Del. Ch., 2018 WL 3602940, Slights, V.C. (July 27, 2018). Rob crossed the company’s financial expert and presented the testimony of petitioner’s merger process and negotiation expert, which, in part, caused the Court to reject the merger price as not indicative of fair value. Rob took or defended all but two of the sixteen depositions in the matter and tried the matter with David Jenkins.

In January 2016, the Court of Chancery approved a $4.6 million settlement obtained on behalf of a class of common stockholders of Trados, Inc. In re Trados Inc. Shareholder Litigation, Del. Ch., C.A. No. 1512, Laster, V.C. (February 8, 2016). That settlement followed the frequently-cited post-trial decision in July 2013, In re Trados Inc. Shareholder Litig., Del. Ch., 73 A.3d 17, Laster, V.C. (2013). Rob took or defended most of the depositions in the matter and tried the matter on a team of three attorneys.

In July 2015, Rob obtained a temporary restraining order requiring Wistron to stay an action pending in Taiwan. InterDigital, Inc. v. Wistron Corp., Del.  Ch., 2015 WL 4055373, Noble, V.C. (July 2, 2015).  InterDigital initiated the action in Delaware’s Court of Chancery on June 5, but Wistron removed the matter to the District of Delaware on June 11.  Rob then obtained, on an emergency basis seven days after the removal, an order remanding the matter to the Court of Chancery. Interdigital, Inc. v. Wistron Corp., D. Del., 2015 WL 4537133, Stark, J. (June 18, 2015). The Court of Chancery entered a temporary restraining order on July 2, 2015.

Rob also tried the first contested matter to reach judgment under Delaware’s then-new statute allowing the Court of Chancery to review and validate defective corporate acts, 8 Del. C. § 205, after which the Court retroactively validated several problematic stock issuances and re-established his clients’ voting control of the company. In re Numoda Corp. Shareholders Litigation, 2015 WL 402265, Noble, V.C. (Del. Ch. Jan. 30, 2015).

Rob is well versed in all litigation, and particularly matters in the Court of Chancery, where he represents corporations, entities, fiduciaries, and stockholders in a wide range of corporate litigation, including fiduciary duty and class actions, governance disputes, advancement actions, appraisal actions, books and records actions, director election contests, contract disputes, and similar matters.

Rob has been practicing in Wilmington since 2000 and immersed in the legal field since working at law firms in his early teens. Rob is the proud father of two, Oliver and Beatrice, and lives in Wilmington with his wife of over twenty years, Rebecca, and both Rob and his wife were raised by long-time Delaware attorneys and met while studying for the Delaware bar.

Experience

• In January 2016, the Court of Chancery approved a $4.6 million settlement obtained on behalf of a class of common stockholders of Trados, Inc.
• In InterDigital v. Wistron, Rob obtained a temporary restraining order requiring Wistron to stay an action pending in Taiwan. InterDigital, Inc. v. Wistron Corp., Del.  Ch., 2015 WL 4055373, Noble, V.C. (July 2, 2015).  InterDigital initiated the action in Delaware’s Court of Chancery on June 5, but Wistron removed the matter to the District of Delaware on June 11.  Rob then obtained, on an emergency basis seven days after the removal, an order remanding the matter to the Court of Chancery.  The Court of Chancery entered a temporary restraining order on July 2, 2015.
• Rob tried the first contested matter to reach judgment under Delaware’s statute allowing the Court of Chancery to review and validate defective corporate acts, 8 Del. C. § 205, after which the Court retroactively validated several problematic stock issuances and re-established his clients’ voting control of the company.   In re Numoda Corporation Shareholders Litigation, 2015 WL 402265 (Del. Ch. Jan. 30, 2015).