Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff, Francis Levien, brought suit as a minority shareholder of Sinclair Venezuelan Oil Company (“Sinven”) which was a subsidiary of Defendant, Sinclair Oil Corporation. Plaintiff alleged that Defendant caused Sinven to pay out excessive dividends, and that Defendant breached their contract with Sinven.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. A standard of intrinsic fairness will be applied in any self-dealing transaction by a parent corporation whose majority ownership places a fiduciary duty upon the parent corporation, but the transaction only be self-dealing if the transaction is to the detriment of minority shareholders.
Issue. The issue is whether Defendant was improperly engaging in self-dealing when they issued excessive dividends and breached their contract with Sinven.
Held. Defendant did not engage in self-dealing by issuing large dividends but it did engage in self-dealing when they breached the agreement. Defendant complied with Delaware statute 8 Del.C. Section: 170, concerning the payment of dividends, and Defendant’s motives are not a factor when all shareholders benefit from the transaction (not self-dealing). However, the contract breach was to the detriment of Sinven and its minority shareholders with the positive effect being exclusive to Defendant, so the breach is self-dealing.
Self-dealing occurs when the parent corporation, by virtue of its domination of the subsidiary, causes the subsidiary to act in such a way that the parent receives something from the subsidiary, to the exclusion of, and detriment to, the minority stockholders.
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