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Business & Corporate Entities> Corporations> Shareholders & Other Constituents> Shareholder Duties & Liabilities

(Controlling Shareholder Duties)

Ultra Vires Acts

In most states, the duty of obedience is recognized as one of the three fiduciary duties a director owes to the corporation. One component of the duty of obedience is that a director is prohibited from committing an ultra vires act. Ultra vires, translated from the Latin, means "beyond powers." An ultra vires act is beyond the scope of the powers bestowed on the corporation (and the director) by the corporate charter or bylaws. Thus, a director commits an ultra vires act when he acts without or beyond the authority vested in him by the corporation.

Degree of Culpability

Typically, directors who conduct the corporation's business must exercise the care that an ordinary prudent person would exercise in the management of his or her own affairs under similar circumstances. This "ordinary" standard of care has been adopted by a majority of states and enacted in their corporation statutes. However, courts consistently interpret the culpability standard for the duty of care as one of gross negligence.

DIRECTOR'S DUTY OF LOYALTY

AN OVERVIEW

Interlocking Directorates

Section 8 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C.S. § 19, prohibits corporations from having the same directors or officers in some instances. Thus, under Section 8, a person may not serve as an officer or director of two non-bank corporations if one of the companies has more than $10 million (adjusted for annual GDP changes) in capital, surplus, and undivided profits and the companies compete so that an agreement between them would eliminate that competition and result in a violation of an antitrust law. An example of a violation of an antitrust law which Section 8 of the Clayton Act is designed to prevent is an agreement between two or more competitors on the prices they charge, which would be a per se illegal agreement under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.S. § 1.

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