Shareholder activists are threatening to drag companies into court this proxy season over their right to place director nominations into the proxy statement.
Just hours after a Securities and Exchange Commission meeting last week that confirmed companies do not have to allow such proposals, pension funds and other outspoken advocates of proxy access vowed to file numerous resolutions proposing exactly that. If companies don’t let the resolutions proceed, the activists will sue in the New York-based 2nd Circuit federal court—which instigated the current turmoil over proxy access with a ruling last year that companies cannot ban such resolutions.
Already in the crosshairs ...