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Benihana Of Tokyo Inc V Benihana Inc.
''Benihana of Tokyo, Inc. v. Benihana, Inc.''906 A.2d 114(Del. 2006) was a case in the Delaware Supreme Court between Benihana of Tokyo, Inc., and its subsidiary Benihana, Inc. that concerned the duty of loyalty between a company and its Board of directors, directors. The court held that a Board's approval of an issuance and purchase of preferred stock was a valid exercise of its business judgment under Delaware law. Facts Benihana of Tokyo owned approximately 51% of Benihana, Inc. The latter was having financial difficulties and its directors approved an issuance of $20 million of preferred stock. A company called BFC bought the stock in a deal that was negotiated by a Benihana director. The same Benihana director was also a principal owner of BFC. After the directors approved the stock sale, Benihana of Tokyo disagreed with the sale and purchase and filed a derivative lawsuit against the directors. Procedural facts Benihana of Tokyo sued Benihana, arguing the directors had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Directors' Duties
Directors' duties are a series of statutory, common law and equitable obligations owed primarily by members of the board of directors to the corporation that employs them. It is a central part of corporate law and corporate governance. Directors' duties are analogous to duties owed by trustees to beneficiaries, and by agents to principals. Among different jurisdictions, a number of similarities between the framework for directors' duties exist. *directors owe duties to the corporation, and not to individual shareholders, employees or creditors outside exceptional circumstances *directors' core duty is to remain loyal to the company, and avoid conflicts of interest *directors are expected to display a high standard of care, skill or diligence *directors are expected to act in good faith to promote the success of the corporation Australia General Law Directors have Fiduciary Duties under general law in Australia. They are: *Duty to act in good faith and not to act contrary t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derivative Suit
A shareholder derivative suit is a lawsuit brought by a shareholder on behalf of a corporation against a third party. Often, the third party is an insider of the corporation, such as an executive officer or director. Shareholder derivative suits are unique because under traditional corporate law, management is responsible for bringing and defending the corporation against suit. Shareholder derivative suits permit a shareholder to initiate a suit when management has failed to do so. To enable a diversity of management approaches to risks and reinforce the most common forms of corporate rules with a high degree of permissible management power, many jurisdictions have implemented minimum thresholds and grounds (procedural and substantive) to such suits. Purpose and difficulties Under traditional corporate business law, shareholders are the owners of a corporation. However, they are not empowered to control the day-to-day operations of the corporation. Instead, shareholders appoint dire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delaware Supreme Court
The Delaware Supreme Court is the sole appellate court in the United States state of Delaware. Because Delaware is a popular haven for corporations, the Court has developed a worldwide reputation as a respected source of corporate law decisions, particularly in the area of mergers and acquisitions.Thomas Lee Hazen and Jerry W. Markham, ''Corporations and Other Business Enterprises'' (2003) Jurisdiction The Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over direct appeals from the Superior Court, Family Court, and Court of Chancery. Because it is the only appellate court in the state, its jurisdiction over appeals from final orders is mandatory. However, it has discretionary jurisdiction over appeals from interlocutory orders. The Court has original jurisdiction over writs of mandamus, prohibition, and certiorari. In addition, the Court regulates and has exclusive jurisdiction over matters concerning the admission and discipline of lawyers, the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Board Of Directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations (including the jurisdiction's corporate law) and the organization's own constitution and by-laws. These authorities may specify the number of members of the board, how they are to be chosen, and how often they are to meet. In an organization with voting members, the board is accountable to, and may be subordinate to, the organization's full membership, which usually elect the members of the board. In a stock corporation, non-executive directors are elected by the shareholders, and the board has ultimate responsibility for the management of the corporation. In nations with codetermination (such as Germ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Preferred Stock
Preferred stock (also called preferred shares, preference shares, or simply preferreds) is a component of share capital that may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock, including properties of both an equity and a debt instrument, and is generally considered a hybrid instrument. Preferred stocks are senior (i.e., higher ranking) to common stock but subordinate to bonds in terms of claim (or rights to their share of the assets of the company, given that such assets are payable to the returnee stock bond) and may have priority over common stock (ordinary shares) in the payment of dividends and upon liquidation. Terms of the preferred stock are described in the issuing company's articles of association or articles of incorporation. Like bonds, preferred stocks are rated by major credit rating agencies. Their ratings are generally lower than those of bonds, because preferred dividends do not carry the same guarantees as interest payments from bonds, and becaus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Business Judgment
The business judgment rule is a case law-derived doctrine in corporations law that courts defer to the business judgment of corporate executives. It is rooted in the principle that the "directors of a corporation... are clothed with hepresumption, which the law accords to them, of being otivatedin their conduct by a bona fide regard for the interests of the corporation whose affairs the stockholders have committed to their charge".''Gimbel v. Signal Cos.'', 316 A.2d 599, 608 (Del. Ch. 1974) The rule exists in some form in most common law countries, including the United States, Canada, England and Wales, and Australia. To challenge the actions of a corporation's board of directors, a plaintiff assumes "the burden of providing evidence that directors, in reaching their challenged decision, breached any one of the triads of their fiduciary duty — good faith, loyalty, or due care". Failing to do so, a plaintiff "is not entitled to any remedy unless the transaction constitu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Delaware Bay, in turn named after Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor. Delaware occupies the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and some islands and territory within the Delaware River. It is the second-smallest and sixth-least populous state, but also the sixth-most densely populated. Delaware's largest city is Wilmington, while the state capital is Dover, the second-largest city in the state. The state is divided into three counties, having the lowest number of counties of any state; from north to south, they are New Castle County, Kent County, and Sussex County. While the southern two counties have historically been predominantly agricultural, New Castle is more ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiduciary Duty
A fiduciary is a person who holds a legal or ethical relationship of trust with one or more other parties (person or group of persons). Typically, a fiduciary prudently takes care of money or other assets for another person. One party, for example, a corporate trust company or the trust department of a bank, acts in a fiduciary capacity to another party, who, for example, has entrusted funds to the fiduciary for safekeeping or investment. Likewise, financial advisers, financial planners, and asset managers, including managers of pension plans, endowments, and other tax-exempt assets, are considered fiduciaries under applicable statutes and laws. In a fiduciary relationship, one person, in a position of vulnerability, justifiably vests confidence, good faith, reliance, and trust in another whose aid, advice, or protection is sought in some matter... In such a relation, good conscience requires the fiduciary to act at all times for the sole benefit and interest of the one who trust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conflict Of Interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations in which the personal interest of an individual or organization might adversely affect a duty owed to make decisions for the benefit of a third party. An "interest" is a commitment, obligation, duty or goal associated with a particular social role or practice. By definition, a "conflict of interest" occurs if, within a particular decision-making context, an individual is subject to two coexisting interests that are in direct conflict with each other. Such a matter is of importance because under such circumstances the decision-making process can be disrupted or compromised in a manner that affects the integrity or the reliability of the outcomes. Typically, a conflict of interest arises when an individual finds themselves occupying two soc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Safe Harbor (law)
A safe harbor is a provision of a statute or a regulation that specifies that certain conduct will be deemed not to violate a given rule. It is usually found in connection with a more-vague, overall standard. By contrast, "''un''safe harbors" describe conduct that ''will'' be deemed to violate the rule. For example, in the context of a statute that requires drivers to "not drive recklessly," a clause specifying that "driving under 25 miles per hour will be conclusively deemed not to constitute reckless driving" is a "safe harbor." Likewise, a clause saying that "driving over 90 miles per hour will be conclusively deemed to constitute reckless driving" would be an "unsafe harbor." In this example, driving between 25 miles per hour and 90 miles per hour would fall outside of either a safe harbor or an unsafe harbor, and would thus be left to be judged according to the vague "reckless" standard. Theoretical justifications Safe harbors have been promoted by legal writers as redu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Appellate Court
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of the world, court systems are divided into at least three levels: the trial court, which initially hears cases and reviews evidence and testimony to determine the facts of the case; at least one intermediate appellate court; and a supreme court (or court of last resort) which primarily reviews the decisions of the intermediate courts, often on a discretionary basis. A particular court system's supreme court is its highest appellate court. Appellate courts nationwide can operate under varying rules. Under its standard of review, an appellate court decides the extent of the deference it would give to the lower court's decision, based on whether the appeal were one of fact or of law. In reviewing an issue of fact, an appellate court ordina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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