Question

Distanet Corporation, an Ohio corporation, is a competitor of Telenex Corporation in the smart phone market. After examining past and future price and sales data, and after consulting an accountant and an economist, the board of directors of Distanet voted to reduce the price of the company's line of phones, believing that by reducing the price of their product the corporation would be able to compete more successfully with Telenex. The plan was put into operation but did not prove effective. In fact, Distanet lost a significant amount of money as a result of implementing the plan and its share of the smart phone market became miniscule. Aileen, a shareholder of Distanet, made a demand that the corporation sue the directors, seeking to hold them liable for the failure of the plan to improve Distanet's position in the smart phone market and for the losses experienced by the corporation as a result. The board rejected the demand and Aileen organized other shareholders to file a derivative suit. Will she succeed in her suit

Answer 1

Answer: b. No, under the Business Judgment Rule, the members of the Board of Directors will not be held liable in this case.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Board cannot be held liable for the failure of the plan because they acted in good faith when making the decision as they sincerely believed that it would help the company by making it more competitive.

They are therefore protected by the Business Judgement Rule which espouses that when the directors in a company make a decision, they do so in good faith and so should not be held liable if the decision does not achieve its desired objective. Of course this not not apply to illegal decisions.