In Bezirdjian v. O’Reilly, Case No. A124859, 183 Cal. App. 4th 316, 2010 WL 1212437 (Cal. App. Mar. 30, 2010), the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District affirmed the dismissal of a shareholder derivative action against current and former board members of Chevron Corporation. The Court held that the plaintiff failed to allege facts with sufficient particularity to rebut the presumption that the company’s refusal to pursue the case in response to the shareholder demand was protected by the business judgment rule. This decision joins the growing body of California cases that follow or apply Delaware law in protecting the integrity of corporate decision-making.
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