Hyatt Investor Sues to Unseat Its Board on Technical Grounds (1)

An investor sued Hyatt Hotels Corp. and its senior leaders Thursday, seeking to invalidate the company’s board—and everything it has done in the past three years—over claims that the hotelier’s three most recent shareholder meetings were technically illegal.

The lawsuit accuses Hyatt of repeatedly setting a “record date"—the eligibility cutoff for participating in its annual meeting—exactly 61 days before the meeting was set to be held. The suit in Delaware’s Chancery Court names Hyatt, its board, and four other top executives as defendants.

Because the state’s corporate laws require the record date to be within 60 days of any shareholder ...