| Business & Corporate Entities> Corporations> Directors & Officers> Management Duties & Liabilities |
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| (Sources of Document Retention Requirements) More... |
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| Sarbanes-Oxley Act |
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| Most states recognize that corporate directors and upper-level officers owe the corporation the duties of care, loyalty, and obedience. The duty to act in good faith has emerged in some jurisdictions as an equally important fiduciary duty imposed upon directors and officers. Historically, directors and officers were frequently exonerated of personal liability for business decisions because of courts' long-standing deference to the business decision under the business judgment rule or because the transaction was deemed fair to the corporation and its shareholders overall. In the wake of recent corporate scandals, however, officers and directors are under ever-increasing scrutiny by shareholders, the courts, state governments, and the federal government. Many corporate commentators bemoan the fact that conduct once protected under the business judgment rule may not be viewed with such deference in the future. More... |
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| Duty of Care |
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| A corporate director has the duty to act in good faith in pursuit of the company's best interests and to use the care that an ordinary prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances. The Model Business Corporation Act implies that corporate officers have an even higher duty of care because they are intimately familiar with and knowledgeable about the corporation's activities and have better access to corporate information than directors have. Most jurisdictions recognize that high-ranking corporate officers have a fiduciary relationship with the corporation.
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| Ultra Vires Acts |
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| 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. More... |
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| Federal Trade Commission Competition and Consumer Protection Authority |
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| The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is given broad authority in the areas of competition and consumer protection law by Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C.S. § 45. Section 5 declares unlawful any "[u]nfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce," and Section 5 gives the Commission authority to prevent use of unfair methods of competition and deceptive acts or practices. More... |
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