Nonprofit Basics: How To Wind up a California Charity
California is a very linguistically diverse state with an estimated 200 plus different languages being spoken. Within my own family, English is not the primary language spoken at home by any of my grandchildren. Yet, the...more
Seven years ago, I addressed the question of whether the board of directors of a California corporation could remove a fellow director...more
Section 705(a) of the California Corporations Code provides that no proxy is valid after the expiration of 11 months from the date thereof unless otherwise provided in the proxy. This is a reflection of the fact that proxies...more
Of late, Harvard has garnered an abundance of attention regarding the continued incumbency of its President. Despite widely criticized testimony before Congress and the publication of allegations of plagiarism, the Harvard...more
Section 5342(e) of the California Corporations Code requires a nonprofit public benefit corporation to provide, upon the request of a member, to either allow inspection and copying of all members' names, addresses or voting...more
The California Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation Law contemplates three different methods for members to take action: at a meeting, by ballot, and by unanimous written consent. Cal. Corp. Code §§ 7512(a), 7513 & 7516. ...more
Section 309 of the California Corporations Code specifies the standard of performance applicable to directors in performing their duties as directors of corporations organized under the California General Corporation Law. ...more
Section 204(a)(10) of the California Corporations Code permits the articles of incorporation to include provisions eliminating or limiting the personal liability of a director for monetary damages in an action brought by or...more
This year the Court in Fowler v. Golden Pacific BanCorp, Inc. (2022) 80 Cal.App.5th 205, expressly affirmed a director’s broad right of inspection, subject to extreme exceptions. The source of the dispute stemmed from an...more
Several years ago, I wrote about the various meanings of "person" in the California Corporations Code. All of the definitions mentioned in that post included corporations within the list of persons. If a corporation is a...more
In July, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber filed a petition for a writ of supersedeas in the California Court of Appeal with respect to the trial court's judgment in Crest v. Padilla. In that case, the trial court...more
Section 310 of the California Corporations Code concerns two different types of contracts or transactions. The first concerns a contract or other transaction between the corporation and one or more of its directors, or...more
The California Corporations Code includes provisions governing a wide variety of nonprofit organizations. However, the "Big 3" categories of nonprofit corporations are the public benefit, mutual benefit and religious...more
California Corporations Code Section 22003 effectively deems directors to be all-knowing...more
California has multiple types of nonprofit corporations. The "Big Three" are the public benefit corporation, mutual benefit corporation and religious corporation. The statutes applicable to these three entities are similar...more
The California General Corporation Law provides that any director may resign effective upon giving notice to certain specified persons, unless the notice specifies a later time for the effectiveness of his or her...more
In prescribing the duties of directors, California Corporations Code Section 309 provides that a director is entitled to rely on information, opinions, reports or statements prepared or presented by "counsel, independent...more
The owners of a corporation may enter into shareholder agreements. In Richie, the Texas Supreme Court stated: “Shareholders of closely-held corporations may address and resolve such difficulties by entering into shareholder...more
Publicly traded companies need to know whether a director qualifies as "independent" for a variety of reasons. Item 407 of Regulation S-K, for example, requires issuers to identify each director that is independent. In...more
Late last month, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency due to the effects of unprecedented high-wind events which have resulted in fires and evacuations across California. The Governor's declaration has...more
Today I am revisiting a question that I posed more than six years ago: What happens when the incorporator dies? More specifically, what happens when the incorporator dies and the corporation's initial directors are not named...more
Upon hearing that a "voting shift" has occurred, one might infer that there has been some change in the historical voting patterns. The California General Corporation Law, however, defines the term very differently...more
Section 2116 of the California Corporations Code generally provides that the directors of a foreign corporation transacting intrastate business in California will be liable for a violation of official duty according to any...more
William & Mary Law Review recently published Professor Stephen Bainbridge’s article, Corporate Directors in the United Kingdom. The abstract begins withe following observation...more
Neither California nor Nevada require that a corporation have either a “lead independent director” or “presiding director” and yet many corporations state that they have such a position. Why?...more