California Corporation Shareholders Intentional Tort Liability

All persons who are shown to have participated in an intentional tort are liable for the full amount of the damages suffered. (Golden v. Anderson, supra, 256 Cal. App. 2d at pp. 719-720; Joanaco Projects, Inc. v. Nixon & Tierney Constr. Co. (1967) 248 Cal. App. 2d 821, 832-833 [57 Cal. Rptr. 48]; McClory v. Dodge (1931) 117 Cal. App.. 148, 153 [4 P.2d 223], disapproved on another point in Mary Pickford Co. v. Bayly Bros., Inc. (1939) 12 Cal. 2d 501, 522 [86 P.2d 102].) This rule applies to intentional torts committed by shareholders and those acting in their official capacities as officers or directors of a corporation, even though the corporation is also liable. (Vacco Industries, Inc. v. Van Den Berg (1992) 5 Cal. App. 4th 34, 53, fn. 20 [6 Cal. Rptr. 2d 602] [corporate shareholders and officers personally liable for misappropriation of trade secrets]; Klein v. Oakland Raiders, Ltd. (1989) 211 Cal. App. 3d 67, 76-79 [259 Cal. Rptr. 149] [sole general partner could be personally liable for conspiring to violate the Sherman Act on behalf of limited partnership]; Golden v. Anderson, supra, 256 Cal. App. 2d at pp. 719-720 [corporate officers conspired to interfere with contractual relationship]; Joanaco Projects, Inc. v. Nixon & Tierney Constr. Co., supra, 248 Cal. App. 2d at pp. 832-833 [corporate stockholders participated in fraud]; Price v. Hibbs (1964) 225 Cal. App. 2d 209, 222 [37 Cal. Rptr. 270] [corporate officials conspired to induce breach of contract and to defraud]; Granoff v. Yackle (1961) 196 Cal. App. 2d 253, 256-257 [16 Cal. Rptr. 394] [corporate officers personally liable for misappropriation of another's money or property]; McClory v. Dodge, supra, 117 Cal. App.. at pp. 152-154 [corporate directors personally liable for misappropriation of plaintiff's stock when they knew or should have known conduct was wrongful]; Vujacich v. Southern Commercial Co. (1913) 21 Cal. App.. 439, 442-443 [132 P. 80] [director who knew or had reason to know of corporation's misappropriation of another's money was personally liable]; Civ. Code, 2343; 3A Fletcher Cyclopedia of the Law of Private Corporations, supra, 1135.)