Business Organizations Law Commons^™

Stop Being Evil: A Proposal For Unbiased Google Search, Joshua G. Hazan

Michigan Law Review

Since its inception in the late 1990s, Google has done as much as anyone to create an "open internet." Thanks to Google's unparalleled search algorithms, anyone's ideas can be heard, and all kinds of information are easier than ever to find. As Google has extended its ambition beyond its core function, however it has conducted itself in a manner that now threatens the openness and diversity of the same internet ecosystem that it once championed. By promoting its own content and vertical search services above all others, Google places a significant obstacle in the path of its competitors. This handicap …

A Reconsideration Of The Shareholder's Remedy For Oppression In Singapore, Pearlie Koh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The statutory remedy for oppression plays an important role in minority shareholder protection in Singapore. Both the scope of its application and the court's jurisdiction to make remedial orders must necessarily be wide in order for the remedy to be effective. Nevertheless, the remedy is not without limits. Indeed, it is crucial that the boundaries of the remedy be made clear so that legitimate rule of the majority is not too often, and erroneously, equated with tyranny by the majority. This paper considers a number of issues as to the scope of the oppression remedy in Singapore through a careful …

First Bank Of Boston V. Bellottii, Corporations Right To Political Speech, Paul J. Zwier

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Should The Us Dictate World Tax Policy? Reflections On Ppl, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to grant certiorari in PPL offers it a unique opportunity to change the law regarding foreign tax credits that has significantly impeded the ability of other countries to engage in meaningful tax reform. In 1938 the Court said in dicta that to qualify for the FTC a tax had to be an income or excess profits tax (or a tax imposed in lieu thereof) under U.S. tax principles. This statement has led to an elaborate set of regulations defining what is an income tax, which has significantly hampered the ability of foreign countries to adopt …

Executive Compensation And Income Inequality, Daniel J. Morrissey

William & Mary Business Law Review

This Article explores the connection between exorbitant executive compensation and the growing income inequality in our country. It discusses the traditional legal attempts to rein in corporate remuneration as well as the more recent “Say-on-Pay” right given to shareholders in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010. The Article concludes that negative stockholder votes can be evidence that directors have breached their fiduciary duties by granting overly generous pay hikes to their top officials.

Company Law In The European Union And The United States: A Comparative Analysis Of The Impact Of The Eu Freedoms Of Establishment And Capital And The U.S. Interstate Commerce Clause, Christoph Allmendinger

William & Mary Business Law Review

Since the decision of the European Court of Justice in the Centros case, it has become popular in company law to draw comparisons between the United States economic constitution and the Single European Market. Since then, fears of a European “Delaware Effect,” which would create a “race to the bottom,” have hounded the debate on European company law. In this discussion, however, the unique constitutional framework of both the EU and the U.S. is seldom regarded. This constitutional framework, nevertheless, determines the behavior of both the legislators at state level and the market participants. This Article compares the impact of …

New California Nonprofit Corporation Law: A Unique Approach , William T. Fryer Iii, David R. Haglund

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Consolidated Edison Company Of New York V. Public Service Commission: Freedom Of Speech Extended To Monopolies - Is There No Escape For The Consumer?, Lynn K. Warren

Pepperdine Law Review

The author's focus is upon an opinion of the United States Supreme Court which silently extended first amendment freedoms to a corporate monopoly. The majority attempts a balancing of the monopoly utility's freedom of speech against the state's protection of the privacy interests of the ratepayers and finds the privacy interest not to be so compelling as to justify any restriction on freedom of speech. The author suggests that the privacy interest is so substantial as to be compelling and further agrees with the dissent, that because of the special position of the Consolidated Edison Company as a monopoly and …

A Reappraisal Of General And Limited Jurisdiction In California , Thomas Kallay

Pepperdine Law Review

The ability of a California court to assert jurisdiction over business enterprises currently depends upon how the court characterizes the nature and extent of the business's activities within the state. If the in-state business activities of a particular concern are extensive, California courts will exercise all-encompassing general jurisdiction over the cause of action, but if the activities are insufficient to warrant the exercise of general jurisdiction, which has been invariably the case, the court will then turn to a consideration of limited jurisdiction, which jurisdiction depends upon the quality and nature of the business's activities in the forum in relation …

Employee Stock Ownership Plans And Corporate Takeovers: Restraints On The Use Of Esops By Corporate Officers And Directors To Avert Hostile Takeovers, Margaret E. Mclean

Pepperdine Law Review

In 1974, Congress enacted the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act (ERISA), which was designed to promote employee benefit plans and provide safeguards for the assets of the plans. An employee stock ownership plan is a device used by corporations which holds corporate stock as the primary asset of the employee benefit plan. Recently, corporate executives have seized the opportunity to use ESOPs as a defensive tactic for averting takeovers considered to be adverse to the corporation. However, provisions of ERISA, particularly relating to fiduciary duty, exclusive benefit, and prudence, seriously impede the use of an ESOP by incumbent management …

The Professional Corporation—Has The Death Knell Been Sounded?, Forest J. Bowman

Pepperdine Law Review

The favorable tax reasons for incorporating a professional practice have been substantially reduced by the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act. The retirement benefits of the professional corporation have effectively been eliminated by TEFRA. In addition, the new allocation of income powers provided by TEFRA may have eliminated the tax incentive for forming a professional corporation. The professional's decision whether to incorporate his practice will now rest with his desires as to how he wishes to carry out that practice. This article discusses the changes that TEFRA has wrought, and its impact on the professionals' decision to incorporate.

Happiness At The House Of Mouse: How Disney Negotiates To Create The "Happiest Place On Earth", Lauren A. Newell

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Poets rhapsodize about it, the Beatles sing about it, philosophers debate it, psychologists study it, and chocolate induces it. Disney, on the other hand, claims title to it: happiness. This Article examines, in the context of Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro's "Core Concerns" framework and general negotiation theory, the degree to which The Walt Disney Company creates happiness for those at the Walt Disney World Resort, particularly Walt Disney World's guests and cast members. It begins with a brief discussion of happiness and of negotiation theory. This Article next examines how Disney creates at Walt Disney World a negotiating environment …

International Law Of Outer Space And Its Effect On Commercial Space Activity, James J. Trimble

Pepperdine Law Review

The United Nations, through a series of five treaties, has created a body of international space law which controls the activities in space of states, international organizations, and private interests. Corporations planning an investment in commercial space ventures must consider the restrictions and obligations which space law will impose on their activities. This article discusses the substantive principles of the law of outer space and focuses on those provisions which will affect commercial space activities.

The Proposed Restatement Of Corporate Governance: Is Reform Really Necessary?, Ira S. Levine

Pepperdine Law Review

The role of the director in a modern corporation has recently come under new scrutiny. The American Law Institute has proposed a "Restatement of Corporate Governance" which offers explicit guidelines for the conduct of corporate directors. The Institute proposes to increase the board of directors' responsibility for corporate affairs by raising the board's standard of care. The Proposed Restatement has, however, been criticized by the business community for failing to take into account the realities of corporate governance and for imposing a suffocatingly narrow set of guidelines. Corporate management is not in need of reform. But even if it were, …

The Duty To Think Strategically, Nadelle Grossman

Louisiana Law Review

Under Delaware corporate law, directors and officers have a duty to oversee their firm's management of risk to limit losses. Corporate law does not, however, require directors or officers to oversee their firm's management of strategy to create gains. Yet, managing both risk and strategy is essential to a firm in creating value. In fact, as I argue in the Article, the current focus by courts and commentators only on risk management to prevent losses could actually undermine a firm's management of its strategy for gains. I therefore propose a model for how Delaware corporate law can drive firms to …

Securities Class Actions And Bankrupt Companies, James J. Park

Michigan Law Review

Securities class actions are often criticized as wasteful strike suits that target temporary fluctuations in the stock prices of otherwise healthy companies. The securities class actions brought by investors of Enron and WorldCom, companies that fell into bankruptcy in the wake of fraud, resulted in the recovery of billions of dollars in permanent shareholder losses and provide a powerful counterexample to this critique. An issuer's bankruptcy may affect how judges and parties perceive securities class actions and their merits, yet little is known about the subset of cases where the company is bankrupt. This is the first extensive empirical study …

Mexico's Maquiladoras Examined: Are In-Bond Production Plants The Wave Of The Future?, Norman R. Gritsch

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Zappers & Employment Tax Fraud, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Beyond the grey area of worker misclassifications and general employment tax irregularities there are darker employment relationships where workers are intentionally paid in cash “off-the-books” or “under-the-table.” Grey employment relationships present civil enforcement issues that may become criminal; darker-relationships are criminal from the beginning. Zappers are found on the dark side.

Zappers are fraud-technologies that automatically (and remotely) skim cash from electronic cash registers (ECRs) or back room point of sales (POS) systems. Globally, tax auditors are finding that Zappers frequently provide the cash that is used to compensate “under-the-table” workers. In fact, a Zapper appears to be at the …

Corporate Governance: The Swedish Solution, George W. Dent Jr

Florida Law Review

The optimal allocation of authority among executives, directors, and shareholders of public companies has been debated as long as there have been public companies, and the issue now seems further from resolution than ever. In recent years Sweden has changed its corporate governance system by delegating the nomination of corporate directors (and thus, in effect, ultimate control) to committees typically comprising representatives of each company’s largest shareholders. This system gives shareholders a degree of power “that only the most daring corporate governance initiatives in the rest of the world could even imagine.” The change is a big success—it has pleased …

Corporation Code Sections 309 And 1203: California Redefines Directors' Duties Towards Shareholders, Ernest F. Batenga, Mark Willis

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.