Corporate Governance

Covering the Chiquita Derivative Litigation

By J. Robert Brown

The Race to the Bottom is a collaboration between faculty and students.  One of the roles played by students is to follow ongoing cases that address important issues in the realm of corporate governance. Students form a team and monitor any activity in the case.  When a filing surfaces or a hearing held, students digest the information and write a post.  A faculty member then reviews the post and holds a tutorial on the importance of the issues raised by the filing.  Students both develop writing skills and learn first hand about the process of handling a case. The posting process is slow but results in an important learning experience for students and useful information for those following the case.

One of the cases followed by students is the criminal trial of David Stockman.  Another is the derivative action against Chiquita.  The suits against Chiquita arose out of payments made by the company to guerrillas in Columbia.  The facts have already given rise to criminal allegations.   Robert Anderson, a member of the writing faculty at the Sturm College of Law, is supervising the posts.  Sean Harrell is the student responsible for the case.

The first two students posts, both of which will go up today.  One was written by Rebecca Rian who serves as a Student Contributor to the Blog.  The first is below and written by Sean Harrell, a Case Editor for the Blog.

Full post as published by The Race to the Bottom on November 07, 2008 (boomark / email).