Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Defendant Below, Appellant/cross-Appellee v. Indiana Electrical Workers Pension Trust Fund…

Summary

The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s order requiring Wal-Mart to conduct additional searches and produce documents in response to a stockholder inspection demand concerning alleged bribery and the company’s investigation of it. The Court held that the ordered officer-level documents, extended time period, backup-tape searches, and documents known to the general counsel’s office were within the court’s discretion and were necessary and essential to the stockholder’s purposes. It also held that the fiduciary exception to attorney-client privilege applies in Section 220 proceedings, while work-product protection is governed separately by the applicable discovery rule.