When can a shareholder of a corporation bring a claim for damages against the corporation?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from EY Holdings Ltd. v. Great Pacific Mortgage & Investments Ltd., 2017 BCSC 129 (CanLII):

The rule in Foss v. Harbottle provides simply that a shareholder of a corporation does not have a personal cause of action for a wrong done to the corporation. A shareholder cannot be sued for the liabilities of the corporation and, equally, a shareholder cannot sue for the losses suffered by the corporation. If an action is to be brought in respect of such losses, it must be brought either by the corporation itself or by way of a derivative action

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