California Corporate & Securities Law

A lot of ink has been spilt on the United States Supreme Court's decision in Salman v. United States, 137 S. Ct. 420 (2016). In that case, the Supreme Court upheld the criminal conviction of Mr. Bassam Salman who received lucrative trading tips from...

In February, I published a post entitled Is California "The Biggest Loser". My reference was to Professor Lynn LoPucki's finding that "California, home to 1,210 [public] companies but state of incorporation for only 112, is the biggest loser"....

The Dodd-Frank Act gave us many things, including Section 21F of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Section 21F, prohibits employers from retaliating against a "whistleblower". 15 U.S.C. § 78u-6(h)(1)(A). We need not guess about the definition of...

California and federal law establish ample protections for whistleblowers. These protections can be found in numerous laws, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, and Section 1102.5 of the California Labor Code. Whistleblowing...

Professor Stephen Bainbridge yesterday provided a well considered assessment of my "beef" with the Delaware Supreme Court's holding in Gantler v. Stephens, 965 A.2d 695, 709 (Del. 2009) that "the fiduciary duties of officers are the same as those of...

Lenders and brokers licensed under the California Finance Lenders Law must file an annual report by the Ides of March (i.e., March 15) of each year.  Cal. Fin. Code § 22159.  This is a hard deadline and the Department of Business Oversight does not...

In several recent posts, I have noted that officers, unlike directors, are agents of the corporation.  Recognizing the agency status of officers can affect the legal analysis in a number of significant ways, including:

Can a board of directors remove one of its own? In the case of a California corporation, the answer is no. The power to remove directors is vested in the shareholders and the superior court pursuant to Corporations Code Section 303 and 304. While...

I have never been reconciled to the Delaware Supreme Court's pronouncement in Gantler v. Stephens, 965 A.2d 695, 709 (Del. 2009) that "the fiduciary duties of officers are the same as those of directors". Officers are, as I've previously noted,...