Lee C. Ritchie v. Ann Caldwell Rupe, as Trustee for the Dallas Gordon Rupe, III 1995 Family Trust

in which Chief Justice HECHT, Justice GREEN, Justice JOHNSON, Justice LEHRMANN, and Justice DEVINE joined.

In this case, a minority shareholder in a closely held corporation alleged that the corporation’s other shareholders, who were also on the board of directors, engaged in “oppressive” actions and breached fiduciary duties by, among other things, refusing to buy her shares for fair value or meet with prospective outside buyers. The directors essentially admit to this conduct but insist that they were simply doing what was best for the corporation. For the most part, the jury sided with the…