Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons^™

Fruit Street Health, P.B.C., V. Sharecare, Inc., Order On Motion For Reconsideration, Kelly L. Ellerbe

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

On Blockchain As A Tool Against Corporate Corruption, Yannis Normand

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Over the last decades domestic and international legal frameworks have successfully coalesced to limit corrupt behavior worldwide. However, despite their success, current regulatory tools are not sufficiently well-equipped to address corruption in modern economic settings. These mechanisms can often be too costly to implement, too cumbersome to induce compliance, politically manipulatable, and may disincentivize foreign investment and internal corporate monitoring efforts. To address such drawbacks, policymakers should consider the introduction of blockchain-based tools in developing future anti-corruption efforts.

Blockchain can serve as a foundation for structures that can make it more attractive, easier and cost-efficient to monitor economic transactions, to …

The Hidden Cost Of Venture Capital, Emilie Aguirre

Faculty Scholarship

Founders, employees, consumers, and even funders increasingly expect businesses to pursue social goals alongside financial performance. Yet even the most committed firms have found it difficult to maintain social performance over time. Scholars in economics, management, and law have put forth several explanations for this “mission drift,” including inappropriate governance, poor management, lack of genuine commitment, and threat of takeovers. Puzzlingly, research to date primarily focuses on later-stage firms, even though the events and decisions that take place in a firm’s early stages can critically impact retention of its social performance.

Drawing from over five years of qualitative field research …

A Democratic Participation Model For Corporate Governance, Grant M. Hayden, Matthew T. Bodie

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Corporate law is in the grip of a fundamental conundrum: whether corporations should seek only to serve shareholders or instead attend to the interests of all stakeholders. The doctrine of shareholder primacy, which focuses the corporation’s attention on the goal of maximizing shareholder wealth, has been startingly successful, capturing the theory and practice of corporate governance for roughly fifty years. But recently the costs of this monomaniacal focus on the financial interests of one set of corporate participants have become clearer. At a time when the original reasons for restricting the corporate franchise to shareholders have been shown to rest …

Criminal Investors, Andrew K. Jennings

Faculty Articles

This Article reassesses the culpability of those who invest in law-breaking firms. Prosecutors currently treat investors as victims of corporate wrongdoing rather than as actors who might bear responsibility for it. This Article observes, though, that investment can facilitate, and even cause, illicit corporate activity. When investors intentionally contribute to those effects, substantive criminal law imposes liability on them just the same as it does on accomplices, conspirators, or principals in other contexts. Despite this formal parity, however, investor criminal liability is more a theoretical proposition than a practical reality.

This Article questions that status quo by asking whether and …

Alternatives To Delaware? Evaluating Corporate Law In Nevada, Texas, And Wyoming, Joseph Landau, Bailey Swartz, Anthony Rickey, Robert Ragazzo, Benjamin Edwards, George A. Mocsary

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Majority Rules, Andrew Verstein

Northwestern University Law Review

The “disinterested and independent majority” is one of the most important concepts in corporate law. Corporate actions are almost immune to legal challenge if a suitable majority of directors stands ready to approve it.

Scholars have extensively debated the proper meaning and effect of “disinterested and independent,” but no such literature analyzes “majority.” As a matter of arithmetic, how do we compute whether a given set of directors contains a suitable majority? While seemingly innocuous, the concept of a majority means different things to different courts. Indeed, there may be no majority rule for majority independence. The Article charts and …

Strata Prods. Worldwide, Llc V. Peabody Energy Corp. Order Peabody Energy's Ocga 9-11-11.1 Motion To Strike, Eric A. Richardson

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Strata Prods. Worldwide, Llc V. Peabody Energy Corp. Order On Peabody Se Mining's Ocga 9-11-11.1 Motion To Strike, Eric A. Richardson

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Bellsouth Telecomms, Llc V. Aegis, Ltd Order On Motion To Dismiss Improper Venue And Forum Non Conveniens, Kathy Lee Ellerbee

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Oer Textbook Review For Business Law - (1) Business Law And The Legal Environment - (2) Law For Entrepreneurs, Liz Brown Jd

Open Educational Resources Publications

Liz Brown, Professor of Law at Bentley University, evaluates two OER textbooks: "Business Law and the Legal Environment" and "Law for Entrepreneurs," both published by Saylor.org in 2012. While praising their clarity and accessible language, the review highlights significant limitations due to outdated content, lack of comprehensiveness, and cultural relevance. Key issues include the absence of current legal developments, such as topics like privacy and AI, and the omission of critical topics like start-up funding mechanisms in the entrepreneurship text. Despite these shortcomings, the textbooks are suggested as potential basic outlines for their subjects, though requiring substantial supplementation with current …

Fruit Street Health, P.B.C. V. Sharecare, Inc. Order On Motion To Dismiss, Kathy Lee Ellerbee

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Nutrien Ag Solutions, Inc. V. Agreeta Solutions Usa, Llc Order On Discovery And Evidentiary Disputes, John J. Goger

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Nutrien V. Agreeta, Order On Def's Renewed Motion To Seal Records & Allow Redacted Filings, John J. Goger

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Bernard Bronner, Ordered On Defendants' Motion For Approval Of Settlement Agreement, Kelly L. Ellerbe

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Export Corp And Nutrition V. Katz Et. Al., Order On Pending Motions, Wesley B. Tailor

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Alexander S. Glover Jr., Et Al., Order On Plaintiffs' Motion To Dismiss Counterclaim Of Defendant Railroad Valley Mining Company, Llc, Kelly L. Ellerbe

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Nutrien V. Agreeta, Order On Def's Emergency Motion To Partially Quash 3 Nonparty Subpoenas, John J. Goger

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

The Business Judgment Rule In Stakeholder Capitalism, Thiago Spercel

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The tension between shareholder primacy and stakeholder capitalism embodies a fundamental debate about the purpose of a corporation. These two perspectives offer contrasting views on whether a company should primarily serve the interests of its shareholders or consider the broader spectrum of stakeholders in its decision-making process, taking into account environmental, social and governance factors alongside financial performance. The Dodd-Berle debate from the 1930s and Milton Friedman’s teachings in the 1970s regarding the purpose of a corporation and the tension between shareholder primacy and stakeholderism have been reinvigorated. On the one hand, ESG considerations have become increasingly important in risk …

Wright Et. Al. V. Oppenheimer, Order On Motions To Dismiss, Kelly L. Ellerbe

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

John And Cynthia Kearney, Et. Al. V. Oppenheimer, Order On Motions To Dismiss, Kelly L. Ellerbe

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Lendingpoint V. Bdo And Powell, Order On Discovery Disputes, Kelly L. Ellerbe

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Galaxy Next Gen., Inc. V. Bradley Ehlert, Et. Al., Order On Motion For Sanctions And Motion For Order To Show Cause, Kelly L. Ellerbe

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Bowlero Atlantic Station, Llc V. Regal Cinemas, Inc., Et Al., Order On Partial Motions To Dismiss, John J. Goger

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Bowlero Atlantic Station, Llc V. Regal Cinemas, Inc., Order On Motion To Compel Discovery, John J. Goger

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Criminal Recordkeeping, Andrew K. Jennings

Faculty Articles

Business managers must create and keep records for decision-making. Yet doing so presents an obvious problem for those who manage illegal businesses: their records would make for powerful evidence in the hands of prosecutors. That problem raises a question—why would one knowingly create and keep such records when their mere existence risks detection and sanction? The answer, in short, is that the interaction of illicit activity’s complexity and continuity compels recordkeeping. A business, including a criminal one, cannot be managed without adequate information about its operations, obligations, and condition. Just how complex and long-lived its affairs are will drive the …

Criminal Subsidiaries, Andrew K. Jennings

Faculty Articles

Corporate groups comprise parent companies and one or more subsidiaries, which parents use to manage liabilities, transactions, operations, and regulation. Those subsidiaries can also be used to manage criminal accountability when multiple entities within a corporate group share responsibility for a common offense. A parent, for instance, might reach a settlement with prosecutors that requires its subsidiary to plead guilty to a crime, without conviction of the parent itself—a subsidiary-only conviction (SOC). The parent will thus avoid bearing collateral consequences—such as contracting or industry bars—that would follow its own conviction. For the prosecutor, such settlements can respond to criminal law’s …

A Bona Fide Dispute: Can Bankrupt Debtors Sell Assets Free And Clear Of Federal Civil Forfeiture Claims?, Joseph Peter Gomez

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

Auctions are wheeling-dealing extravaganzas in which frenzies of bidders fight over shiny objects. What would happen if the government busted down the doors of the auction house, took the shiny objects, and sold them online? An asset sale through section 363(b) of the Bankruptcy Code provides a court-supervised opportunity to maximize economic value for the bankruptcy estate. To sell estate assets, the debtor must either (1) pay off each creditor holding an interest in the assets or (2) strip the creditor’s interest and attach it to the proceeds of the sale. When the government asserts a civil forfeiture claim against …

Another Major Question: The Department Of Labor Should Retire The Tiebreaker Rule And Reemploy Pecuniary Language In Erisa, Brandon Chesner

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) soon turns 50. Instead of celebrating with cake, retirees and future retirees alike get to witness a new chapter in the debate over the consideration of Environmental, Social, or Governance (“ESG”) factors in investing with plan assets. As employees cross the bridge into retirement, they look to their 401(k)s and pension plans for peace of mind, for it is ERISA that has been working silently in the background establishing minimum standards, practices, and fiduciary duties to protect participants. In recent years, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has passed three regulations—two …

Speech Without Speakers: Eliminating Artificial Barriers To Pleading Corporate Scienter In Securities Fraud Claims, Jennifer Ligansky

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

To successfully plead securities fraud claims under Rule 10b–5, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (“PSLRA”) requires that plaintiff-investors raise a “strong inference” that the defendant acted with scienter when issuing a false statement. But pleading scienter presents a challenging issue when the defendant is not a person, but an entity. When the defendant is a corporation, U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals have adopted different approaches for determining whether the plaintiff has pleaded a strong inference of scienter. Some circuits hold that plaintiffs can raise a strong inference of corporate scienter only if the complaint identifies a speaker who knew …