Dodge v. Ford Motor Co. | |
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Decided 1919 | |
Full case name | John F. Dodge and Horace E. Dodge v. Ford Motor Company et al |
Citation(s) | 204 Mich 459; 170 NW 668 (1919) |
Court membership | |
Judges sitting | Chief Justice John E. Bird, Justices Flavius L. Brooke, Grant Fellows, Frank C. Kuhn, Joseph B. Moore, Russell C. Ostrander, Joseph H. Steere, John W. Stone |
Case opinions | |
Decision by | Ostrander |
Keywords | |
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Dodge v. Ford Motor Co., 204 Mich 459; 170 NW 668 (1919),[1] is a case in which the Michigan Supreme Court held that Henry Ford had to operate the Ford Motor Company in the interests of its shareholders, rather than in a manner for the benefit of his employees or customers. It is often taught as affirming the principle of "shareholder primacy" in corporate America, although that teaching has received some criticism.[2][3] At the same time, the case affirmed the business judgment rule, leaving Ford an extremely wide latitude about how to run the company.[citation needed]
The general legal position today (except in Delaware, the jurisdiction where over half of all U.S. public companies are domiciled and where shareholder primacy is still upheld[4][5]) is that the business judgment that directors may exercise is expansive.[citation needed] Management decisions will not be challenged where one can point to any rational link to benefiting the corporation as a whole.
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