Centerview Ex-Partner’s Pay Claims Revived by Delaware Court (1)

Centerview Partners Holdings Inc. may owe compensation to an ex-employee who claimed the elite M&A boutique withheld “vested rights” when he left to start a rival firm, Delaware’s highest court ruled Wednesday.

A lower court erred in its decision to dismiss David Handler’s claims that Centerview’s founders defrauded him, the Delaware Supreme Court said in a 22-page opinion reviving the case.

Handler initially sued Centerview in 2022 for internal files that he said would show he was entitled to a partner’s equity stake under a verbal partnership agreement. The Delaware Chancery Court found in 2024 that Handler’s “partner” title was ...