Churella v. Pioneer State Mut. Ins. Co

In Churella v. Pioneer State Mut. Ins. Co., 258 Mich. App. 260, 272, 671 N.W.2d 125 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003), the court denied the motion to compel dividends stating the following: "therefore, because plaintiffs did not explain how the directors' failure to consider a distribution constituted fraud or bad faith dealings, and because plaintiffs have not cited any cases indicating that a failure to declare a dividend, without more, constitutes an abuse of business discretion, we conclude that plaintiffs have not sufficiently pleaded facts that would overcome the business judgment rule . In sum, we hold that policyholders have no right to compel distribution where there is no statute, company bylaw, or contract provision according them that right, and where they did not sufficiently plead facts to overcome the business judgment rule." Id.