Shlensky Vs Wrigley Summary

Shlensky vs. Wrigley
The case is about a stockholder named Shlensky who is suing the board of directors of Wrigley Field on the grounds of failure to install lights at the stadium. This is a claim of mismanagement and negligence by the directors. At the time of the case, The Chicago Cubs were the only major league team without lights on their stadium. Mr. Wrigley, the principal owner of the team, refused to add lights onto the stadium because he felt that, "baseball is a daytime sport and it would greatly deteriorate the surrounding neighborhood if lights were installed." The plaintiff (Shlensky) was upset that the organization waslosing money. Shlensky argued that the loss amounted to poor attendance and no night games. He further said that
The shareholders vote to elect a board of directors. It is the directors' responsibility to act in the best interest of the shareholders. To ensure that this is being upheld the board is made up of inside directors, senior executives and top shareholders, and outside directors, people not employed or involved in the organization. The board monitors the corporation creates policies and makes major decisions for the corporation. The directors create bylaws which detail the policies and the procedures of the corporation. They also appoint officers. This is usually a president, vice president, secretary etc. The officers run the day to day business procedures. The officers are actually agents of the corporation whereas the directors are
has developed what it calls the business judgment rule. This rule prohibits the courts from second guessing the judgment of the corporate decision makers. The decision makers are professionals at what they do and most judges would not have the proper knowledge to decide if it was right or not, and the fact that the issue would be looked at after a bad decision was made making it easier to pick apart. The courts get involved when a crime or fraud has been committed by a fiduciary.
Shlensky lost in the trial court and appealed the case. The reason he lost the case was that, according to Justice Sullivan, from Wheeler v. The Pullman Iron and Steel Co , 143 ILL 197, 207, 32 NE 420 case " It is… fundamental in the law of corporations that the majority of its stockholders shall control the policy of the corporation. Everyone purchasing stock agrees that he will be bound by the lawful acts of a majority of the shareholders, or of their corporate agents. And courts… will not undertake to control the policy or business methods of a corporation, although it may be seen that a wiser policy might be adopted and the business more successful if other methods were pursued." Shlensky was arguing that the board of directors