What is a dividend?

Are you concerned about non-payment of dividends as a San Diego shareholder?  What is a dividend and how are they usually paid out?  Generally speaking, dividends are payments of all or a portion of a corporation’s profits made to its shareholders.  That portion of profits not paid out as dividends is customarily re-invested in the corporation, and is commonly referred to as “retained earnings.”  Dividends can come in the form of a cash payment and/or a payment in the form of stock.

What can be done to resolve non-payment of dividends?

Occasionally, a shareholder will be faced with a refusal to rightfully pay a dividend.  To remedy this, a plaintiff shareholder may sue for the damages caused the non-payment of dividends in civil court.  The experienced San Diego Business attorneys at the Watkins Firm can walk you through this process.   Our attorneys will create a demand letter or serve the defendant corporation with a civil complaint for the damages caused by defendant’s refusal to make distribution to you as a shareholder.  You have rights here in California and across the country.  Minority shareholders hold additional rights under law including the right to bring a derivative lawsuit.

What happens when dividends are not paid to a shareholder?

Prosecuting a complaint for non-payment of dividends is the most potent way of securing a legally enforceable judgment awarding damages for non-payment of dividends.  The successful litigant will first need to establish that the defendant’s board of directors declared a dividend for a share price, that which is to be paid to the shareholders of record, on the record date that had been fixed by the board of directors.  Plaintiff must then show that (s)he served the defendant with a written demand for payment of all dividends due and owing on all shares held by the plaintiff; and that defendant has failed and refused, and continues to fail and refuse, to pay plaintiff such dividends.  This refusal to pay dividends on plaintiff’s shares has damaged plaintiff in a sum certain, such that plaintiff now demands judgment for said sum, and possibly an award of costs of suit incurred in prosecuting the action.

In the event you believe cause for a shareholder dispute may exist, contact the experienced San Diego shareholders dispute attorneys for an obligation-free consultation at 858-535-1511 and learn how we can protect your interests and resolve a non-payment of dividends dispute in the shortest possible time frame and in a cost-effective manner.