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The Filing-Day Checklist

Author

Affiliation

Mike P. Sinn

International Campaign to End War and Disease

Keywords

filing checklist, shareholder lawsuit, love letter, operations

Print this. Mark each box as you go. Forty-three hours of your life spread across two to four weeks, in exchange for putting math in front of a Board of Directors that has never been forced to read it. Approximately $200 for one share. One share is sufficient under DGCL § 327. The Board has to read what arrives by certified mail. You are buying that obligation for the price of a tank of gas.

If you finish the boxes below, the people you love are statistically more likely to be alive in twenty years. So is the CEO you are about to sue. So is the judge who will hear the case. The math is on the page. The marker is in your hand.

Week -4 to -2: Preparation

Target selection

• Picked the defendant. Logged the choice and reason. (See pre-filled letters for the 8 prime options.)
• Verified the company is still publicly traded under the same ticker.
• Confirmed state of incorporation (Delaware for 7 of 8; Maryland for Lockheed Martin).

Lawyer (optional; you can file pro se)

• Sent the pitch letter to 3-5 firms on the firm list.
• Got a lawyer, or decided to file pro se.

Shares

• Opened a brokerage account (if needed).
• Bought at least 1 share of the target ticker (1 share is legally sufficient; many plaintiffs buy 5-10 for optics or to keep the Rule 14a-8 path open later).
• Confirmed shares settled (generally T+1 for US stocks).
• Saved the trade confirmation, share certificate, or DTC reference. Will be attached to the love letter.
• Set up direct registration (DRS) with the transfer agent if possible, so the shares are not held in street name. Optional but cleaner for derivative standing.

Funding

• Receipts saved for share purchase, any filing fees, postage.

Week -2 to -1: Final Prep

• Pulled current lobbying figure from OpenSecrets; verified against the prior year.
• If you have a lawyer: they’ve reviewed the love letter, filing forum, and press release.

Week -1: Media Prep

Press release

• Press release template filled in with company name, lobbying figure, CEO name, plaintiff name, lawyer name.
• Plaintiff bio (100 words) drafted.
• Lawyer bio (100 words) drafted.
• Math one-pager drafted as a summary for journalists.
• Visual assets ready: military-to-trials ratio chart, disease queue chart, plaintiff portrait.

Journalist outreach

• Journalist target list refreshed; reporter names verified as currently on the beat.
• 5-10 priority reporters identified for embargo offer.
• Embargo emails drafted and ready to send 24 hours before filing.

Plaintiff prep

• Media kit read end to end.
• Interview Q&A reviewed; practiced the top 5 questions out loud.
• Tweet thread and LinkedIn post drafted but not yet published.

Filing day (T=0)

Time-of-day order.

Morning (T-2h to T=0)

• Final review of the love letter, signed.
• Love letter printed; certified mail label printed; return-receipt requested.
• Love letter envelope addressed to the corporate secretary at the address on the pre-filled letter.
• Email copy of love letter prepared, addressed to the corporate secretary’s email (from the company’s investor relations page).

T=0: Drop the package

• Love letter taken to the post office. Certified return-receipt mailing scanned.
• Tracking number recorded. Date and time of mailing logged.
• Love letter sent simultaneously by email.

T=0 + 1 hour: Distribute the press release

• Press release sent to full journalist list.
• warondisease.org/lawsuit page goes live with the public filing (or the lawsuit page already has it; verify the case is referenced).
• Tweet thread published.
• LinkedIn post published.
• Plaintiff and lawyer available at the phone numbers in the press release.

T+1 hour to T+24 hours

• Acknowledgment from corporate secretary received (or note absence).
• First-tier reporters acknowledged or scheduled for follow-up.
• Plaintiff did the first interview or has it scheduled.

T+1 to T+7 days: Follow-up

• Follow-up email sent to journalists who did not respond.

• Op-ed pitched to the strongest interested outlet (use op-ed template).

• Journalist tracker updated daily. ## T+30: Mid-point check

• Defendant has not yet responded substantively (typical at this point).

• Lawyer has prepared the Rule 14a-8 shareholder proposal for the next proxy cycle.

• Lawyer has begun drafting the derivative complaint for filing at day 61 if needed.

T+60: Response deadline

• Defendant’s response received (or note non-response).
• Board response analysis completed.
• Decision made: accept, negotiate, escalate to Rule 14a-8, or file derivative action.
• T+60d follow-up press release distributed regardless of outcome.

If filing against multiple defendants

Use Earth Optimization Day as the Schelling point if you want the filings to land together. Humans coordinate better when the calendar does the thinking.

Stop-sign

If every lawyer declines and you have not decided to file pro se: pause and reach out to the next 5 firms.