The California General Corporation Law includes two provisions providing relief when a director is incompetent and/or felonious.  Section 302 of the Corporations Code permits the board of directors to declare vacant the office of a director who has been declared of unsound mind by an order of court or convicted of a felony.   Section 304 permits the shareholders holding at least 10% of the number of shares of any class to bring suit in the superior court of the  "proper county" to remove from office any director.  The grounds for removal are broader than those in Section 302 but are limited to the following:

• Fraudulent or dishonest acts; or
• Gross abuse of discretion or discretion with reference to the corporation.

If a director is removed pursuant to Section 304, the court may bar his or her reelection for a prescribed period.  Section 304 applies to pseudo-foreign corporations (i.e., those subject to Section 2115 of the Code) but Section 302 does not.

Why Is September The Seventh Month?

The last four months of the year all derive their names from Latin words for numbers.  "September" is derived from septem, meaning seven, "October" is derived from octo, meaning eight, and so on.  Etymologically, these months are off by two.  The reason for this discrepancy can be blamed on none other than Julius Caesar.   The Roman republic used a calendar that consisted of 10 months and 304 days.  The months were named Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Juniius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December.  This calendar system, which was based on the lunar cycle, would become inconsistent with the seasons and the Romans would from time to time add a month, Mercedonius.  In 46 BCE, Julius Caesar instituted a new calendar system based on the solar cycle that consisted of 12 months and included the concept of a "leap year".  In the 16th century, Pope Gregory XIII addressed some of the problems with the Julian calendar and we now use what is known as the Gregorian Calendar, which continues many of the names of the ancient Roman republican calendar.