Loughrey, Joan --- "Directors’ Duties and Shareholder Litigation in the Wake of the Financial Crisis" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012) [2012] ELECD 1296

Editor(s): Loughrey, Joan

Title: Directors’ Duties and Shareholder Litigation in the Wake of the Financial Crisis

Series: Corporations, Globalisation and the Law series

Topics: Corporate Social Responsibility

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Date of Publication: 28 December 2012

Number of pages: 272

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857939654

EISBN: 9780857939661

Abstract/Description:

The financial crisis revealed failings at board level at many financial institutions. But despite calls for bank boards to be held to account, there has been a remarkable paucity of litigation against bank directors for breach of their duties to their institutions. This book assesses whether the law relating to directors’ duties and shareholder litigation has contributed to this, taking into account the changes to both that were introduced by the Companies Act 2006.

With contributions from leading academics and practitioners, the book examines the director’s duty of care and skill, the s.172 duty, reporting obligations under s.417 of the Companies Act 2006, and shareholder litigation including the derivative action, and just and equitable winding up. It concludes that neither the common law nor the statutory duties and derivative action under the Companies Act 2006 function effectively to hold directors to account and analyses why this is so.

This detailed book will appeal to academics in company law and corporate governance as well as commercial law practitioners, particularly those who specialize in company litigation.