City of Harper Woods' Employees' Ret. Sys. v. Olver, No. 08-7101

In a shareholder derivative action alleging breaches of fiduciary duties and waste of corporate assets by current and former directors of a corporation, dismissal of the action is affirmed where: 1) pursuant to the District of Columbia's internal affairs doctrine, English law applied; and 2) plaintiff failed to show that its complaint fell outside the rule of Foss v. Harbottle, (1843) 2 Hare 461, 67 E.R. 189, which established that the company, not a shareholder, was the proper plaintiff in a suit seeking redress for wrongs allegedly committed against the company.

Read City of Harper Woods' Employees' Ret. Sys. v. Olver, No. 08-7101

Appellate Information

Argued September 24, 2009

Decided December 29, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Edwards

Counsel

For Appellant:

Eric Alan Isaacson, Patrick J. Coughlin, Mark Solomon, and Roger M. Adelman, Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP, San Diego, CA

For Appellee:

Lawrence Byrne, Mary K. Warren and Sterling P.A. Darling, Jr., Linklaters LLP, New York, NY