California Corporate & Securities Law

Nine years ago, I posed the question of whether the California General Corporation Law permits corporations to serve as directors. My answer at the time was "no" because Section 164 of the Corporations Code defines "director" to mean a natural...

Neither California's nor Delaware's General Corporation Law expressly prohibits directors from being represented by proxy at board meetings. However, it appears to have been well settled in Delaware since at least 1915 that directors may not vote by...

Under the California General Corporation Law, a board of directors can take action in two different ways - at a meeting or by unanimous written consent.  See Cal. Corp. Code § 307.  Over a decade ago, I posed the question of whether a director could...

California's anti-SLAPP statute provides that a special motion to strike may be filed against "[a] cause of action against a person arising from any act of that person in furtherance of the person’s right of petition or free speech under the United...

Professor Stephen Bainbridge recently tackled the question of whether the business judgment rule applies to a corporate board's selection of an expert. Section 141(e) of the Delaware General Corporation Law fully protects a director "in relying in...

In most cases, Generally speaking, only the record owners of shares on the record date are entitled to vote under the California General Corporation Law. As with most generalizations, however, there are exceptions. For example, Section 702(a) of the...

In a recent blog post on the Business Law Prof Blog, Tulane Law professor Ann M. Lipton opined:

John Jenkins at DealerLawyers.com writes today about a decision by Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster concluding that disparate voting rights based on the identity of the holders is permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law.   Colon v. Bumble,...

In California practice, a merger reorganization will typically involve two agreements - one short, the other not.  The Corporations Code refers to the shorter agreement as the "agreement of merger".   At a minimum it must include all of the following: