Law Commons^™

Shareholder Primacy Versus Shareholder Accountability, William Wilson Bratton

Articles

When corporations inflict injuries in the course of business, shareholders wielding environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") principles can, and now sometimes do, intervene to correct the matter. In the emerging fact pattern, corporate social accountability expands out of its historic collectivized frame to become an internal subject matter-a corporate governance topic. As a result, shareholder accountability surfaces as a policy question for the first time. The Big Three index fund managers, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, responded to the accountability question with ESG activism. In so doing, they defected against corporate legal theory's central tenet, shareholder primacy. Shareholder primacy builds …

A Lesson From Startups: Contracting Out Of Shareholder Appraisal, Jill E. Fisch

All Faculty Scholarship

Appraisal is a controversial topic. Policymakers have debated the goals served by the appraisal remedy, and legislatures have repeatedly revised appraisal statutes in an effort to meet those goals while minimizing the cost and potential abuse associated with appraisal litigation. Courts have struggled to determine the most appropriate valuation methodology and the extent to which that methodology should depend on case-specific factors. These difficulties are exacerbated by variation in the procedures by which mergers are negotiated and the potential for conflict-of-interest transactions.

Private ordering offers a market-based alternative to continued legislative or judicial efforts to refine the appraisal remedy. Through …

Shareholder Appraisal Rights: Delaware’S Flawed Market-Out Exception, Lin (Lynn) Bai, William A. Murphy

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

State statutes give dissenting shareholders an appraisal right in some, but not all corporate mergers. A widely adopted market-out exception denies appraisal if the shares are publicly traded. The rationale for market-out is that the public market offers a reliable valuation of the stocks and a convenient exit to dissenting shareholders. A major criticism of market-out is that market prices may not reflect the full value of the shares due to information asymmetry in mergers involving conflicts of interests. Delaware’s market-out approach is drastically different from that adopted by the Model Business Corporation Act (MBCA), but both have a significant …

Charitable Choices: The Need For A Uniform Nonprofit Limited Liability Company Act (Unllca), Kenya J. H. Smith

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Uniform laws serve an important role in our society, balancing state autonomy and the need to provide consistent solutions to common problems among the states. The Uniform Law Commission (ULC) is the preeminent authority that promulgates uniform laws. To date, the ULC has promulgated over 150 uniform and model acts. ULC tackles a wide array of issues, including child custody and protection, probate, electronic records, and commercial law. The ULC aims to “provide[ ] states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.”

Judgment Without Notice: The Unconstitutionality Of Constructive Notice Following Citizens United, Carliss N. Chatman

Scholarly Articles

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission positions a corporation as an entity entitled to constitutional rights equal to the rights of natural persons. In many situations, this holding may be the impetus for reform and reconsideration of state restrictions on corporate rights that were problematic before the decision. The operation of corporate statutes on corporations chartered in one state but doing business in another state as a foreign corporation is an area in need of this Citizens United-inspired review. Although most corporations operate as foreign corporations outside of their state of incorporation, neither the constitutional validity of corporate withdrawal …

Statutory Limits On A Corporation's Right To Make Distributions To Shareholders: The Law Of Distribution In The 1984 Revised Model Business Corporation Act, Philip Mcgough

Akron Law Review

The purpose of this paper is to review the law of distribution in the 1984 Model Business Corporation Act. As we shall see, the 1950 MBCA's basic stance was that distributions should be made from earnings and that any distribution from contributed capital should require notification and approval of shareholders. The 1984 MBCA rejects the original stance and provides for minimal restrictions on distributions. What follows is in two parts: the first is a general survey of the law of distribution, the second compares the 1950 and 1984 versions of the MBCA in how they regulate distributions to shareholders.

Competing With Delaware: Recent Amendments To Ohio's Corporate Statutes, David Porter

Akron Law Review

House Bill 301 is evolutionary, not revolutionary, in its content, but its changes are nonetheless significant for Ohio corporations and their lawyers. To place these changes in context, this article summarizes corporate statutory developments since 1997 that highlight Ohio’s previous initiatives to keep up with Delaware, America’s dominant state of incorporation, and then discusses at greater length the recent amendments contained in House Bill 301, concluding with a look ahead at some additional changes that may occur as early as this year.

The Power Of Paradox: The Need For Alternative Remedies In Virginia Minority Shareholder Oppression Cases, Stephanie Martinez

Law Student Publications

This comment addresses where Virginia's current scheme falls short and why equitable remedies are needed in Virginia minority shareholder oppression cases. Part I looks at how the MBCA attempted to solve the problem of minority shareholder oppression. Part II explores how other jurisdictions have interpreted or added to the MBCA so as to provide additional remedies in minority shareholder oppression cases. Finally, Part III advocates for adoption of a new dissolution statute in Virginia that includes equitable remedies for such cases.

Corporate Governance: Some Unasked Questions A Personal Commentary, Henry Lesser

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Model Business Corporation Act At Sixty: Shareholders And Their Influence, Lisa Fairfax

All Faculty Scholarship

In the sixty years since the Committee on Corporate Laws (Committee) promulgated the Model Business Corporation Act (MBCA), there have been significant changes in corporate law and corporate governance. One such change has been an increase in shareholder activism aimed at enhancing shareholders’ voting power and influence over corporate affairs. Such increased shareholder activism (along with its potential for increase in shareholder power) has sparked considerable debate. Advocates of increasing shareholder power insist that augmenting shareholders’ voting rights and influence over corporate affairs is vital not only for ensuring board and managerial accountability, but also for curbing fraud and other …

Shareholders' Agreements In Close Corporations And Their Enforcement, Ricardo Molano Leon

LLM Theses and Essays

Shareholders’ Agreements are contractual devices to manage tensions among shareholders of a corporation. These agreements have a wide scope related to shareholders’ interest. Nevertheless, before subscribing a shareholder agreement is important to determine the requirements to make it enforceable. This issue has been addressed in the last twenty years by state corporate statutes following the Model Business Corporation Act and the Delaware General Corporation Law and in different court decisions. Today, shareholders’ agreements will be enforced according to the terms defined by the parties unless the agreement injures non-participating shareholders, third parties or is against public policy.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Business And Corporate Law, Katherine Ennis Wychulis, David S. Haddock Ii

University of Richmond Law Review

This article reviews recent developments in the law affecting Virginia businesses and corporations. Part II discusses recent judicial decisions in Virginia courts involving businesses and corporations. Part III discusses several acts of the 1995 session of the Virginia General Assembly that amend Virginia's corporate, partnership, limited liability company and securities act statutes.

Corporate Life After Death: Cercla Preemption Of State Corporate Dissolution Law, Audrey J. Anderson

Michigan Law Review

This Note discusses CERCLA's preemption of state corporate dissolution law. Although CERCLA contains a preemption clause intended to specify CERCLA's relationship with other laws, this clause addresses only state laws that impose stricter standards than those contained in CERCLA, and does not address state laws that, like dissolution laws, remove liability from a party otherwise liable under CERCLA. Courts, therefore, have also looked to section 107 of CERCLA, which imposes liability against specified parties "[n]notwithstanding any other provision or rule of law," to determine CERCLA's general relationship with state law. Through such an analysis, courts have agreed that CERCLA does …

An Historical Perspective On The Duty Of Care, The Duty Of Loyalty, And The Business Judgment Rule, Marcia M. Mcmurray

Vanderbilt Law Review

For more than two hundred years courts have attempted to define the status and character of corporate directors and officers in an effort to establish and delineate their responsibilities and liabilities. In Charitable Corp. v. Sutton,' an eighteenth century English case, the Lord Chancellor described corporate directors as both agents and trustees. This mixed characterization was adopted and subsequently persisted in later American cases until courts finally determined that directors and officers are fiduciaries"who have a "distinct legal relationship" with the corporation. As fiduciaries, directors and officers must conform to the duty of care'and the duty of loyalty, duties that …

The New Virginia Stock Corporation Act: A Primer, Daniel T. Murphy

University of Richmond Law Review

During its 1985 session, the Virginia General Assembly enacted a new stock corporation statute for Virginia ("Revised Statute"). The new statute became effective January 1, 1986. The Revised Statute represents a complete revision of the Virginia corporation statute and is the result of a thorough review of prior law. This article will discuss some of the significant changes in Virginia corporate law effected by the Revised Statute and will offer some guidelines for the interpretation and application of its provisions.

Equity Insolvency And The New Model Business Corporation Act, Daniel T. Murphy

Law Faculty Publications

By eliminating earned and capital surplus, the new Model Business Corporation Act may be perceived as providing directors with some additional flexibility regarding distributions to shareholders. As a practical matter however, the statute does not dramatically enlarge the ambit of their discretion. Directors have always had the flexibility to make distributions from both earned or capital surplus. The distributions are still tempered, as they were under the old statute, by the notion of equity solvency. On the other hand, the Comment to new section 45 provides the board of directors with substantial guidance of the proper methodology to use in …

Equity Insolvency And The New Model Business Corporation Act, Daniel T. Murphy

University of Richmond Law Review

One consequence of the recent and far-reaching revisions to the financial provisions of the Model Business Corporation Act (hereafter the "Model Act") is to re-focus attention on the significance of the elusive concept of equity insolvency as it affects corporate distributions.

Redemption Of Stock Under The Model Business Corporations Act And The Virginia Stock Corporation Act, Daniel T. Murphy

Law Faculty Publications

The Model Business Corporation Act (hereinafter the "Model Act") has been in existence for more than twenty-five years, and has served as the paradigm for the revised corporation statutes of approximately twenty-five states, including Virginia. Despite its age, certain of its provisions have been infrequently applied and interpreted in judicial opinions. One such set of provisions is that dealing with a corporation's right to redeem shares of its stock. The purpose of this article is to analyze the Model Act's provisions regarding the redemption of shares; and to review, in contrast thereto, the relevant provisions of the Virginia stock corporation …

Redemption Of Stock Under The Model Business Corporation Act And The Virginia Stock Corporation Act, Daniel T. Murphy

University of Richmond Law Review

The Model Business Corporation Act (hereinafter the "Model Act") has been in existence for more than twenty-five years, and has served as the paradigm for the revised corporation statutes of approximately twenty-five states, including Virginia. Despite its age, certain of its provisions have been infrequently applied and interpreted in judicial opinions. One such set of provisions is that dealing with a corporation's right to redeem shares of its stock. The purpose of this article is to analyze the Model Act's provisions regarding the redemption of shares; and to review, in contrast thereto, the relevant provisions of the Virginia stock corporation …

Post-Dissolution Liabilities Of Shareholders And Directors For Claims Against Dissolved Corporations, D. Gilbert Friedlander, P. Anthony Lannie

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article initially will explore the nature and extent of shareholders' and directors' liabilities for contingent claims against the dissolved corporation by examining section 105 of the Model Business Corporation Act and the case law of those states that have adopted the Model Act.' Two purposes underlying the Model Act are uniformity and progressive resolution of issues inadequately resolved by the common law or earlier statutes. An exhaustive analysis of the case law under section 105 of the Model Act, however,reveals that both purposes have been frustrated, if not defeated. First, uniformity among jurisdictions, as well as within each Model …

Corporate Conflicts Of Interest Under The Virginia Stock Corporation Act, Stephen R. Larson

University of Richmond Law Review

Dealings between a corporation and its officers or directors present a perennial corporate law problem. Officers and directors are often the people most interested in the success of the corporation and they accordingly may well be willing to contract with their corporation on terms far more favorable to it than are otherwise available. On the other hand, these same people are often in a position to cause the corporation to enter into contracts which are highly advantageous to the officer or director involved, but which are grossly unfair and detrimental to the corporation itself.

Restraints On Incumbent Directors In Intracorporate Battles For Control, Aaron Yoran

University of Richmond Law Review

Editor's Note: The first portion of Dr. Yoran's article, dealing with directors' maneuvering power in closed corporations, appeared in the Winter issue of the Review.

Procedural Sanctions For Non-Registration Of Foreign Corporations: An Analysis Of Their Application To Negotiable Instruments, John P. Mitchell

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Income Tax Allocations And Dividends Under The Model Business Corporation Act, Michael D. O'Keefe

Washington Law Review

Modern dividend statutes, as exemplified by the Model Business Corporation Act, have incorporated many accounting terms. For aid in the complex process of construing such statutes, the courts and commentators have turned to generally accepted accounting principles. Although accounting principles may be helpful in statutory interpretation, they are not determinative. The accounting attitude toward a transaction must still be correlated with the dividend policies inherent in the statute.

Income Tax Allocations And Dividends Under The Model Business Corporation Act, Michael D. O'Keefe

Washington Law Review

Modern dividend statutes, as exemplified by the Model Business Corporation Act, have incorporated many accounting terms. For aid in the complex process of construing such statutes, the courts and commentators have turned to generally accepted accounting principles. Although accounting principles may be helpful in statutory interpretation, they are not determinative. The accounting attitude toward a transaction must still be correlated with the dividend policies inherent in the statute.

Removal Of The Corporate Director During His Term Of Office, Arthur H. Travers Jr.

Publications

The traditional rules governing the removal of corporate directors have evolved so as to insulate the board of directors from the shareholders who elect them. Professor Travers in his article examines initially the interests being advanced by protecting the board members from removal by their electorate. He then critically analyzes the law as it relates to these interests in order to suggest a more rational approach.

Trends In Modern Corporation Legislation, Kenneth K. Luce

Michigan Law Review

Any discussion of trends and developments in modem corporation legislation must assume some understanding of the historical antecedents of that legislation and the judicial approach to its interpretation. As a practical matter the outline of modern legislation has emerged within the memory of living men, but "in order to know what it is, we must know what it has been, and what it tends to become." The state is less concerned today than long ago about the corporation becoming a state within the state and usurping political power, although such concern could and does evidence itself from time to time. …