Rule 1.279 Shareholder’s actions

If you own shares in a company or association, and that company refuses to go after something it's owed or protect its own rights, you may be able to file a lawsuit yourself on the company's behalf. But there are extra steps you have to follow before you can do this.

You need to back up your claim with a sworn statement, called an affidavit. In that statement, you must explain what you did to try to get the company's leaders (like directors or trustees) or other shareholders to take action first. Courts want to see that you gave the people in charge a real chance to handle the problem before you stepped in.

If you didn't try to get the leaders to act, you still might be able to move forward with your case. But you'll need to give the court a good reason why you skipped that step. Maybe reaching out would have been pointless, or maybe there wasn't enough time. Whatever the reason, you have to spell it out clearly in your petition so the judge understands why you went straight to court instead of asking the company to act first.