Confirm favorite deletion?
Business Associations Keyed to Hamilton
Cuker v. Mikalauskas
Facts
PECO Energy Company (PECO) (Defendant), a publicly regulated utility company, underwent an audit in accordance with state regulations. The audit resulted in a report that recommended changes in PECO’s (Defendant) credit and collection policies. A suit was initiated by a group of minority shareholders charging mismanagement of funds by PECO’s officers (Defendant) and directors (Defendant). In order to recover damages done to PECO (Defendant) because of the mismanagement, the shareholders demanded that PECO (Defendant) permit them to bring suit on its behalf. The board of directors established a committee to investigate the claims. Prior to the establishment of the special committee, a second group of shareholders (Plaintiff) led by Cuker (Plaintiff) brought suit against the officers (Defendant) and directors (Defendant) on the same basis. The committee investigated both complaints. After many months of investigation, and with the assistance of outside counsel and an outside auditor, the committee concluded thee was not any evidence of a breach of duty of loyalty on the part of the officers (Defendant) or directors (defendant). Instead, they determined that the officers (Defendant) and directors (Defendant) used proper business judgment and acted in PECO’s (Defendant) best interests. In addition, the committee decided that a derivative suit would be contrary to PECO’s (Defendant) interests. The disinterested members of the board voted unanimously to terminate the derivative suits of the shareholders (Defendant). The court of common please denied PECO’s (Defendant) motion for summary judgment, and PECO (Defendant) petitioned for extraordinary relief.
Only StudyBuddy Pro offers the complete Case Brief Anatomy*
Access the most important case brief elements for optimal case understanding.
*Case Brief Anatomy includes: Brief Prologue, Complete Case Brief, Brief Epilogue
- The Brief Prologue provides necessary case brief introductory information and includes:
Topic:
Identifies the topic of law and where this case fits within your course outline.Parties:
Identifies the cast of characters involved in the case.Procedural Posture & History:
Shares the case history with how lower courts have ruled on the matter.Case Key Terms, Acts, Doctrines, etc.:
A case specific Legal Term Dictionary.Case Doctrines, Acts, Statutes, Amendments and Treatises:
Identifies and Defines Legal Authority used in this case.
- The Case Brief is the complete case summarized and authored in the traditional Law School I.R.A.C. format. The Pro case brief includes:
Brief Facts:
A Synopsis of the Facts of the case.Rule of Law:
Identifies the Legal Principle the Court used in deciding the case.Facts:
What are the factual circumstances that gave rise to the civil or criminal case? What is the relationship of the Parties that are involved in the case.Issue(s):
Lists the Questions of Law that are raised by the Facts of the case.Holding:
Shares the Court's answer to the legal questions raised in the issue.Concurring / Dissenting Opinions:
Includes valuable concurring or dissenting opinions and their key points.Reasoning and Analysis:
Identifies the chain of argument(s) which led the judges to rule as they did.
- The Brief Prologue closes the case brief with important forward-looking discussion and includes:
Policy:
Identifies the Policy if any that has been established by the case.Court Direction:
Shares where the Court went from here for this case.