Bill would make it harder for courts to force-sell companies

In light of an ongoing case over a court-ordered decision to sell a successful company incorporated in Delaware, business advocates want to make it harder for courts to force the sale of a company.

The Delaware Supreme Court is currently mulling a challenge to the sale of TransPerfect, a translations services company based in New York and employing roughly 100 Delawareans.

The Associated Press reports the decision was made in 2015 after a judge concluded that the relationship between the company's two co-founders, Phil Shawe and Elizabeth Elting, had devolved into "complete dysfunction".

Chris Coffey, campaign manager for the group Citizens For A Pro-Business Delaware, tells 47ABC advocates have plans of working with lawmakers to introduce a bill that would ask for a three year waiting period before a judge can force the sale of a profitable company such as TransPerfect.

"In a company like this [TransPerfect] where every quarter., it makes more money then the quarter before that, a judge would have to go through three year waiting," says Coffey. "If at the end of that three years, the company is still boomingly successful and still more employees than ever and still come customers than ever, how could you possibly want to sell it?"

Coffey says that bill could be introduced as early as next week.