A stockholder in a subsidiary does not have to bring a shareholder derivative lawsuit in order to sue for breach of contract just because its only damages are the benefits its subsidiary would have received from the contract as a third-party beneficiary, the Delaware Supreme Court has ruled.

Chief Justice Leo E. Strine Jr.’s opinion in NAF Holdings v. Li & Fung answered a certified question posed to the Delaware justices by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.