Where oppression is established, statutes give courts a broad remedial menu, and the choice of remedy is often the real dispute.
Buyout at fair value. The most common outcome. The company or the majority purchases the minority’s interest at a value determined by the court, generally without minority or marketability discounts in oppression cases.
Ordered distributions, where earnings have been retained or diverted through compensation rather than distributed.
Damages for the value diverted, including excessive compensation, personal expenses paid by the company, and diverted opportunities.
Injunctive relief against specific conduct — reversing a dilutive issuance, restoring access to records, reinstating employment where employment was part of the reasonable expectations.
Appointment of a custodian or receiver, or of a provisional director.
Dissolution as the outermost remedy, rarely ordered and frequently the leverage that produces a buyout.
Accounting to determine what was taken.
Fees. Several statutes permit an award against the majority where the conduct was arbitrary, vexatious or in bad faith, which materially changes the economics of these cases.
Valuation date. Frequently the date of the petition, and sometimes an earlier date where the majority’s conduct depressed value.