Litigation over executive compensation is nothing new. The long-running clash over Richard Grasso’s $187 million NYSE pay package is only one of many titanic legal battles compensation issues produced in the past. But executive compensation litigation recently seems to have entered a new phase, fueled by moral outrage.
Drawing on popular anger evidenced most recently in the outrage surrounding the AIG bonuses, these most recent compensation-related cases could represent an even more pronounced litigation threat than prior lawsuits over pay. The same forces driving the litigation have also produced a variety of other corporate and social responses, some of which may or may not fully serve the purposes of overall social utility.
Among other recently filed lawsuits involving executive compensation is the derivative complaint filed on April 1, 2009 in California (Los Angeles County) Superior Court against the current AIG CEO Edward Liddy and several other AIG directors and officers. The complaint (copy here) among other things alleges that "there was no rational business purpose or justification for these lucrative additional payments, particularly given AIG’s deteriorating financial condition and dismal financial performance," and described Liddy’s explanation of the bonus payments as "outrageous on its face" and "absurd." The complaint seeks to recover damages for corporate waste, breach of fiduciary duty, abuse of control and unjust enrichment.
The bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch employees at year end just prior to the consummation of the company’s merger with Bank of America also features prominently in the shareholders’ litigation filed against Bank of America earlier this year, following the revelation of Merrill’s massive and previously unreported losses.
The $68 million exit package awarded Citigroup CEO Charles Prince following his November 2007 departure from the company is the subject of one of the claims in a Delaware shareholders’ derivative suit against Citigroup’s board. The claim, which alleges waste, is particularly noteworthy, because in a February 24, 2009 decision (here) in which the Delaware Chancery Court otherwise dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims against the Citigroup board for failure to monitor the company, the court found that the claim related to Prince’s compensation had been adequately pled. Unlike plaintiffs other claims, the claim for waste survived the motion to dismiss. An April 2009 memo entitled "Executive Compensation Under Fire" (here) from the Greenberg Traurig law firm described the denial of the motion to dismiss in the Citigroup case on the waste issue as "an unusual move from the traditionally pro-business courts."
As noted on the CorporateCounsel.net blog (here), the Delaware Court’s ruling in the Citigroup case regarding the compensation claims could be the most significant part of the decision and could suggest a possible judicial receptivity to waste claims related to executive compensation. The Greenberg Traurig memo cited above comments that as a result of this decision, "don’t be surprised if more companies face similar challenges to executive compensation in the future," adding that these challenges might include not only a derivative suit like the one involving Citigroup, but also shareholder demands on the board; books and records requests; and even proxy contests.
An April 6, 2009 Law.com article entitled "Executive Bonuses Triggering Lawsuits Nationwide" (here) observes that litigation triggered by executive compensation controversies not only include claims of excess compensation but also lawsuits ranging "from corporate officers who allege their companies reneged on bonuses to officers who believe they were fired for protesting them." The article, which cites several examples of each of these kinds of claims, also notes that "attorneys are bracing for more litigation and legislation involving executive bonuses and compensation matters."
In addition, another recurring theme currently surrounding executive compensation is the possibility of a clawback remedy, to recover compensation already paid, which is a topic I previously discussed here.
One positive consequence of the current furor over executive compensation is that at least some companies have become more solicitous of shareholders’ views on pay. Indeed, as discussed in an April 6, 2009 Wall Street Journal article entitled "Companies Seek Shareholder Input on Pay Practices" (here) reports that biotech firm Amgen invites its shareholders to complete a 10-question online survey to determine the shareholders’ views on whether the company’s compensation plan is based on performance and whether performance goals are clearly disclosed and understandable. The article identified other companies that are taking similar steps to consult or enlist shareholders.
That said, the actions taken based on current popular outrage over executive compensation issues also have an ugly side. The stones thrown through the home windows of former RBS chairman Fred Goodwin and the French workers’ recent seizures of local managers, among other recent examples, suggest the possibility that the current populist backlash could slip into far more dangerous manifestations, which is one of the dangers when politicians play to the galleries on these kinds of issues.
Popular anger over bonuses paid to money-losing managers is understandable. Indeed Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein has said (here) that he recognizes why the public is angry and called for a reform of the way financial institution executives are compensated, particularly at companies receiving government bailout funds.
All the same, we should take care as a society that our proclivity for blamecasting and scapegoating does not unleash darker forces. Social disorder has arisen in past economic crises, and there is nothing that says that it can’t happen again.
An April 7, 2009 Wall Street Journal op-ed column considers (here) how generalized populist outrage can quickly transform into nationalist or ethnic rage.
My apologies to The Economist for using the cover art from this week’s issue of the magazine to lead this post. I figure that on the cover of last week’s issue of the magazine, they shamelessly imitated the iconic Saul Steinberg Map of New York cover art from the March 29, 1976 issue of The New Yorker Magazine. In its original form, Steinberg’s map reflected a view of the world as seen from New York’s Ninth Avenue. On the cover of last week’s issue, The Economist adapted Steinberg’s map as a contemporary map of Beijing, adding an apology for the adaptation. I extend to The Econmist the same apology here for my adaptation of the magazine’s cover art here.
Subprime Securities Litigation: Early Trends: Even though the subprime and credit crisis-related litigation wave recently entered its third year (as I noted here), and though there have been a few settlements as well as a few rulings on motions to dismiss (refer here), by and large, the cases remain only in their earliest stages.
Nevertheless some trends have begun to emerge, as detailed in the March 23, 2009 memorandum from the Gibson Dunn law firm entitled "Suprime-Related Securities Litigation: Early Trends" (here). The memo does a particularly good job categorizing the various kinds of allegations that plaintiffs have alleged as well as the defenses that defendants have asserted. As for what may lie ahead, the memo states that "there is unlikely to be any slowdown in the near future of new filings of securities cases related to the credit crisis."
The National Map of Bank Distress: The FDIC did not close any banks this past Friday night, so the number of year-to-date bank failures remains at 21, and the total number of bank failure since January 1, 2008 remains at 46.
Those readers who are tracking these banking-related developments closely may want to refer to this nifty interactive graphic (here) from TheStreet.com, on which they have plotted the bank closures since January 1, 2008 on a map of the United States. Cool.
Some Things in the Insurance Industry Never Change: In his enjoyable book about the rebuilding of London following the Great Fire of 1666 entitled London Rising, author Leo Hollis discusses the innovation Nicholas Barbon introduced when he launched "the first fire insurance company in the world." Hollis writes that
His scheme was brilliantly simple: it offered a defence against the risks of living in the city while also making him a healthy profit. For a premium of 2.5 per cent of the yearly rent for brick buildings and 5 per cent for wooden-frame structures he offered insurance against fire for terms of seven, eleven, twenty-one and thirty-one years. By the 1680s, he would have over four thousand subscribers.
However, insurance industry behavior pattern apparently were established even in the industry’s earliest days; Hollis notes that "the problem with innovation is that it is often copied and Barbon’s ideas were swiftly replicated." The City Corporation offered its own competing scheme and offered terms for life. Barbon "had to work hard to sell his services before the opposition stole his market," while the Corporation soon found "that it was offering too much to get customers."
So it may be said, with respect to the insurance industry’s apparently inexhaustible capacity for self-destructive competition, ‘twas ever thus.
And Finally: On behalf of everyone who has watched as much college basketball on TV over the last few weeks as I have, I would like to make a motion – that is, that every single person associated in any way with the production or distribution of the Taco Bell "nacho drag" commercial should be taken out and summarily shot, without benefit of clergy. All those in favor say "Aye."