As most Americans are not corporate lawyers, the ordinary person may not immediately smell the bull in DeSantis’ bluster. After all,graduated from Harvard Law and knows enough to use the words “fiduciary” and “derivative.” Thankfully, corporate law has largely solved the problem of litigious and value-destroying shareholders like Gov. DeSantis.
To solve this problem, corporate law limits the ability of shareholders to litigate a corporation’s business decisions. The right to sue for harm to the corporation ordinarily belongs to the corporation, not to shareholders. A corporation’s board of directors decides how to manage a corporation’s affairs—including whether or not to file any lawsuits.For perspective, if Florida somehow won or settled the case for $50 million, which it will not, Florida’s pension fund would recover about 15 grand.
Gov. DeSantis’ proposed litigation against AB InBev, Bud Light’s parent company, appears entirely frivolous. It could expose Florida’s pension fund to sanctions and monetary penalties for bringing baseless litigation.