Florida
Ron DeSantis’ Legal Threats Against Bud Light’s Parent Company are Dumb and Bad for Florida
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ odd threats to investigate and possibly sue Bud Light’s parent company on behalf of Florida’s pension fund are both confused and entirely meritless.
In a recent Fox News appearance, he claimed that his investigation could lead “to a derivative lawsuit filed on behalf of the shareholders of the Florida pension fund” to impose penalties on Bud Light for giving a transgender influencer a custom beer can.
As most Americans are not corporate lawyers, the ordinary person may not immediately smell the bull in DeSantis’ bluster. After all, Gov. DeSantis graduated from Harvard Law and knows enough to use the words “fiduciary” and “derivative.” Thankfully, corporate law has largely solved the problem of litigious and value-destroying shareholders like Gov. DeSantis.
Any large, publicly-traded corporation will have many shareholders with different views. Some of them, like Gov. DeSantis, will be armchair quarterbacks eager to attack corporate leaders for making a different decision than they would have. If shareholders could litigate every business decision that turned out to be unprofitable, large corporations could not function. Corporate leaders would become timid and afraid to take business risks lest some shareholder sue them.
To solve this problem, corporate law limits the ability of shareholders to litigate a corporation’s business decisions. The right to sue for harm to the corporation ordinarily belongs to the corporation, not to shareholders. A corporation’s board of directors decides how to manage a corporation’s affairs—including whether or not to file any lawsuits.
“For perspective, if Florida somehow won or settled the case for $50 million, which it will not, Florida’s pension fund would recover about 15 grand.”
A shareholder derivative lawsuit is an exception to this general rule. These lawsuits allow shareholders to assert claims that the existing board of directors should not manage on their own. Usually, shareholder derivative lawsuits involve claims against directors for somehow breaching their duties to the corporation. For example, a shareholder derivative lawsuit would be appropriate if a board of directors stole money from the corporation. As they are not likely to sue themselves, courts may permit shareholders to bring these claims against directors on the corporation’s behalf to recover the stolen funds.
American corporate law generally protects directors from being second guessed for their business decisions through the business judgment rule. Although states apply it in different ways, it generally means that courts will abstain from reviewing a corporation’s business decisions and presume that a corporation’s officers or directors acted in good faith unless some evidence exists that the board had some disabling conflict when making the decision at issue.
Gov. DeSantis’ proposed litigation against AB InBev, Bud Light’s parent company, appears entirely frivolous. It could expose Florida’s pension fund to sanctions and monetary penalties for bringing baseless litigation.
At the outset, a plaintiff filing a shareholder derivative lawsuit must name some defendants. Here, that would presumably be AB InBev’s board of directors. There is no evidence that AB InBev’s board approves every marketing decision for every brand within the corporation’s enormous portfolio. To make the claim work, Florida would have to argue that AB InBev’s board should have created some policy to ensure that brand managers discriminated against transgender persons when making marketing decisions.
If AB InBev had put this type of policy in place, it might have generated its own liability for discriminating on the basis of gender identity.
But the lawsuit is also dumb.
Functionally, Florida cannot litigate a shareholder derivative lawsuit “on behalf of the shareholders of the Florida pension fund” alone. In the highly unlikely event that Florida actually secured any recovery, it would be split between all of the shareholders because it would resolve a claim that belongs to the corporation. According to recent news reports, Florida’s pension fund owns approximately 682,000 out of a total of roughly 2,019,241,973 AB InBev shares.
This means that Florida’s pension would get about .03 percent of any recovery. For perspective, if Florida somehow won or settled the case for $50 million, which it will not, Florida’s pension fund would recover about 15 grand.
But there are many more reasons why this lawsuit lacks any merit. AB InBev is a Belgian corporation. This means that Belgian law governs shareholder disputes. Although I am not an expert on Belgian corporate law, I understand that an entirely different process exists to initiate shareholder derivative claims under Belgian law. Belgian law even imposes costs and damages on shareholders for filing frivolous derivative actions.
Functionally, this means that Florida’s highly unlikely upside for this sort of litigation is about 0.03 percent of any recovery. Its downside is likely millions in court costs, fees, and penalties for filing frivolous litigation.
If DeSantis files this derivative lawsuit, Bud Light’s parent company will open a can on him.
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Florida
FAMU football wins fourth straight Florida Classic vs Bethune-Cookman in nail-biter | Takeaways
FAMU football defeated Bethune-Cookman 41-38 in the Florida Classic at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium. The Rattlers have won four straight Florida Classic over in-state rivals Wildcats.
Florida A&M football still reigns supreme over Bethune-Cookman.
The Rattlers defeated the Wildcats 41-38 before a crowd of 56,453 football fans at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium. It was FAMU’s fourth straight year beating its in-state rivals, Bethune-Cookman.
FAMU outgained Bethune-Cookman 487-416. The Rattlers erased a 21-17 halftime deficit to claim the victory.
FAMU running back Thad Franklin Jr. starred for the Rattlers, carrying the football 26 times for 195 yards and three touchdowns. Franklin’s performance earned the Florida Classic’s Most Valuable Player Award.
FAMU football Thad Franklin Jr. runs all over Florida Classic rivals Bethune-Cookman
FAMU heavily relied on its rushing attack.
The Rattlers rushed 47 times for 305 yards.
Behind Franklin’s MVP outing, Kelvin Dean Jr. also was productive on the ground. Dean added 14 carries for 103 yards and a touchdown.
FAMU quarterback Daniel Richardson picked his spots, completing 15 of 21 passes for 182 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. His top target was wide receiver Quan Lee, who had five catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.
FAMU football tested by Bethune-Cookman in Florida Classic
The Rattlers got a run their money with the Wildcats’ rushing attack.
Bethune-Cookman rushed 44 times for 183 yards. Dennis Palmer led the Wildcats with 37 carries for 178 yards.
Despite that, FAMU had bent but don’t break situations.
For example, FAMU held up Bethune-Cookman in a critical drive after the Rattlers threw an interception with 8:10 left. Nay’Ron Jenkins tackled Bethune-Cookman running back Palmer for a loss to turn the ball over on downs on 4th and 1.
The Rattlers had six tackles for loss and an interception which was caught by Jenkins.
FAMU football’s special teams gives up yardage, touchdown vs Florida Classic rivals Bethune-Cookman
The Rattlers’ special teams unit put the team in compromising situations.
Bethune-Cookman gained 123 yards on kickoffs on five returns.
Those returns pushed FAMU’s defense back in some situations.
On punts, the Rattlers gave allowed Wildcats punt returner Maleek Huggins to return a 51-yarder in the first quarter.
Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time award-winning journalist for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat.
Follow his award-winning coverage on RattlerNews.com and contact him via email at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.
Florida
In-Game Updates: Ole Miss Football Continues Playoff Quest vs. Florida in Gainesville
The No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels have reinserted themselves into the College Football Playoff conversation, but in order to remain there, they have to win their final two regular season games, beginning on Saturday against the Florida Gators.
The Rebels (8-2, 4-2 SEC) have won three straight games since their overtime loss to LSU in Baton Rouge on Oct. 12, and after a bye week that followed a huge win over the Georgia Bulldogs, Ole Miss appears to be as healthy as it’s been all season entering this game against the Gators.
Running back Logan Diggs (who looked like he might see his first action as a Rebel this week after suffering an ACL injury last season with LSU) will not suit up in this game, but wide receiver Tre Harris is returning, and the Ole Miss defensive line appears to have a clean bill of health, according to the latest injury report from the Southeastern Conference.
According to the current betting odds at FanDuel Sportsbook, Ole Miss is a 12.5-point favorite in Saturday’s game against Florida. Can the Rebels pull off the road win and remain in the CFP hunt? Follow along below for in-game updates from the contest in Gainesville set to kick off at 11 a.m. CT.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
PREGAME
As noted above, Ole Miss is rather healthy entering this contest, outside of the running back position. Wide receiver Izaiah Hartrup and running backs Henry Parrish Jr., Logan Diggs and Rashad Amos are listed as “out” in this contest, but no other Rebel made the latest injury report. That’s a good sign for Lane Kiffin’s team as it enters a hostile road environment.
It was also announced on Thursday night that Ole Miss will be using one of its road uniform combinations for the third time this season: powder blue helmets, white jerseys and white pants. This particular combination with the new white jerseys has only been worn twice all-time (both of which resulted in wins during the 2024 campaign).
You can view the uniform below modeled by cornerback Trey Amos.
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