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Full-Text Articles in Law
Protecting Whistleblower Protections In The Dodd-Frank Act, Samuel C. Leifer
Protecting Whistleblower Protections In The Dodd-Frank Act, Samuel C. Leifer
Michigan Law Review
In 2008, the United States fell into its worst economic recession in over seventy years. In response, Congress enacted the near-comprehensive Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Section 922 of Dodd–Frank, in particular, includes specific provisions designed to incentivize and protect corporate whistleblowers. These provisions demonstrated Congress’s belief that a comprehensive and robust whistleblower protection scheme was essential to preventing many of the abuses that caused the financial crisis. Unfortunately, this section’s inconsistent language has produced conflicting decisions within the federal judiciary. In accordance with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”)’s own reading of Section 922, several district …
Toward Greater Guidance: Reforming The Definitions Of The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Matthew W. Muma
Toward Greater Guidance: Reforming The Definitions Of The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Matthew W. Muma
Michigan Law Review
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 is the cornerstone of the United States’ efforts to combat the involvement of U.S. companies and individuals in corruption abroad. Enforced by both the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), the Act targets companies and individuals that pay bribes to “foreign officials,” a nebulous category of persons that includes everyone from foreign cabinet members to janitors at companies only partially owned by a foreign state. After only sporadic enforcement in the early years of the Act’s existence, the SEC and DOJ now bring many cases annually. This increased …
Gatekeeper Failures: Why Important, What To Do, Merritt B. Fox
Gatekeeper Failures: Why Important, What To Do, Merritt B. Fox
Michigan Law Review
The United States was hit by a wave of corporate scandals that crested between late 2001 and the end of 2002. Some were traditional scandals involving insiders looting company assets - the most prominent being Tyco, HealthSouth, and Adelphia. But most were what might be called "financial scandals": attempts by an issuer to maximize the market price of its securities by creating misimpressions as to what its future cash flows were likely to be. Enron and WorldCom were the most spectacular examples of these financial scandals. In scores of additional cases, the companies involved and their executives were sued by …
The Corporate Monitor: The New Corporate Czar?, Vikramaditya Khanna, Timothy L. Dickinson
The Corporate Monitor: The New Corporate Czar?, Vikramaditya Khanna, Timothy L. Dickinson
Michigan Law Review
Following the recent spate of corporate scandals, government enforcement authorities have increasingly relied upon corporate monitors to help ensure law compliance and reduce the number of future violations. These monitors also permit enforcement authorities, such as the Securities & Exchange Commission and others, to leverage their enforcement resources in overseeing corporate behavior. However there are few descriptive or normative analyses of the role and scope of corporate monitors. This paper provides such an analysis. After sketching out the historical development of corporate monitors, the paper examines the most common features of the current set of monitor appointments supplemented by interviews …
Fixing 404, Joseph A. Grundfest, Steven E. Bochner
Fixing 404, Joseph A. Grundfest, Steven E. Bochner
Michigan Law Review
Although debate persists as to whether the costs of Sarbanes-Oxley's Section 404 regulations exceed their benefits, there is broad consensus that the rules have been inefficiently implemented. Substantive and procedural factors contribute to the rules' inefficiency. From a substantive perspective, the terms "material weakness" and "significant deficiency" are central to the implementing regulations and are easily interpreted to legitimize audits of controls that have only a remote probability of causing an inconsequential effect on the issuer's financial statements. As a quantitative matter the literature suggests that a control with a remote probability of causing an inconsequential effect has an expected …
Mickey, Can You Spare A Dime? Disneywar, Executive Compensation, Corporate Governance, And Business Law Pedagogy, Kenneth M. Rosen
Mickey, Can You Spare A Dime? Disneywar, Executive Compensation, Corporate Governance, And Business Law Pedagogy, Kenneth M. Rosen
Michigan Law Review
American business executives are under fire. Recent, notorious difficulties at companies such as the Enron Corporation brought attention to these individuals. Notwithstanding the conclusion of the trials of some of those top executives, skepticism remains about the inner workings of U.S. corporations and the quality of corporate governance. Drawing special scrutiny from some quarters is the compensation granted to corporate officers and directors. For instance, the timing of certain stock option grants, a key component of some compensation packages, raised ire because of those options' supposed backdating and fortuitous proximity to increases in share prices. Further, some questioned more generally …
Corporations-Election Of Directors-Power To Enjoin Shareholders' Meeting Until Shareholders Are Furnished Information Concerning Condition Of Corporation, Robert W. Shadd
Corporations-Election Of Directors-Power To Enjoin Shareholders' Meeting Until Shareholders Are Furnished Information Concerning Condition Of Corporation, Robert W. Shadd
Michigan Law Review
Defendant company was operating at a loss of approximately $50,000 per month; the directors delayed three months in reporting the financial affairs of the company; and the shareholders' meeting was delayed six months in violation of the by-laws. On January 24, 1948, the directors called an election meeting for February 16, 1948. On receipt of this notice, plaintiff and others formed an independent shareholders' committee to effect a change in management. The directors refused to allow the plaintiff to make a photostatic copy of the list of 3,080 shareholders, but did permit him to inspect the list five days before …
Corporations - Proxy Statement - Necessity For Disclosure Of Alternative Plans And Of Motive In Solicitation, J. R. Mackenzie
Corporations - Proxy Statement - Necessity For Disclosure Of Alternative Plans And Of Motive In Solicitation, J. R. Mackenzie
Michigan Law Review
The management of a corporation solicited proxies to support a proposed recapitalization plan, submitting data from which the inference could be drawn that the plan was designed to perpetuate the management. A stockholder sued to enjoin the holding of a special meeting and the use of the proxies obtained, on the grounds that failure to present possible alternatives to the proposed plan and failure to state that its purpose was to perpetuate the management were violations of Rule X-14A-5 of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Held, injunction denied. Doyle v. Milton, (D.C. N.Y. 1947) 73 F. Supp. 281.
Corporate Proxies: Ii, Leonard H. Axe
Corporate Proxies: Ii, Leonard H. Axe
Michigan Law Review
The first installment of this article discussed the historical development of the right and power to vote by proxy, and examined the cases dealing with the regulation by by-law of the right to vote by proxy, who may act as proxy holders, and the form of the proxy. Emphasis was placed upon the practical aspects of the execution of proxies and the duties of inspectors of elections. The present installment will take up the persons entitled to appoint proxy holders, the right to examine proxies, the scope of authority conferred and exercise of power, circumstances under which a stockholder is …
Holding Company Act - "Fair And Equitable" Plan, Michigan Law Review
Holding Company Act - "Fair And Equitable" Plan, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Should the words "fair and equitable" in section II (e) of the Holding Company Act be construed differently than the same words in section 77 B of the Bankruptcy Act? The Securities and Exchange Commission faced this question in disposing of a proposed plan of merger involving Utility Operators Company and subsidiaries. A divided commission gave an affirmative answer to the above question, holding "fair and equitable" in the Holding Company Act to permit relative priority. This holding merits particular interest since the United States Supreme Court has held the same words as used in section 77B permitted only absolute …
Corporations - Modification Provisions Of Corporate Mortgages And Trust Indentures, Charles H. Haines Jr.
Corporations - Modification Provisions Of Corporate Mortgages And Trust Indentures, Charles H. Haines Jr.
Michigan Law Review
As early as the late 1800's it was not uncommon to find included in corporate mortgages and trust indentures provisions looking to the modification of the rights of the bondholders by action of a given majority of such holders. Ordinarily the power conferred could not be exercised by the holders of less than seventy-five per cent in value of the outstanding bonds; the modification authorized might be the alteration of security rights, the deferment of payments of interest or principal, the reduction of interest, or even the reduction of the debt. Inasmuch as the same equitable doctrines limit their use, …
Corporations - Right Of The Registrant To Withdraw A Registration Statement Under The Securities Act Of 1933, Arthur A. Greene Jr.
Corporations - Right Of The Registrant To Withdraw A Registration Statement Under The Securities Act Of 1933, Arthur A. Greene Jr.
Michigan Law Review
One day after the registration statement filed by the corporation became effective, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered a hearing to determine whether or not a stop order should be issued to suspend the effectiveness of the registration statement. Various issues of the same stock which registrant proposed to issue had been sold on the market, prior to the filing of the registration statement. During the hearings the corporation filed a motion to withdraw its registration statement. The motion was denied. The Securities and Exchange Commission applied to the district court for an order to compel obedience to its subpoena …
Public Utility Holding Company Act - Corporate Simplification And Geographic Integration Under Section Ii, Brackley Shaw
Public Utility Holding Company Act - Corporate Simplification And Geographic Integration Under Section Ii, Brackley Shaw
Michigan Law Review
Section II of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, the so-called "death sentence" clause, carries the specifications for achieving two of the government's main objectives in passing the act: corporate simplification and geographical integration of the large utility holding company systems.