Dodge v. Ford Motor Co.

After years of paying massive special dividends alongside its modest regular dividend, Ford's (defendant's) majority shareholder Henry Ford announced in 1916 that all future profits would instead fund lower prices and company growth, explicitly framing the decision around broader humanitarian goals of employment and community benefit rather than business necessity, even as the company remained more profitable than ever; minority shareholders the Dodge brothers (plaintiffs) sued to reinstate the special dividends and halt a proposed smelting plant, and the lower court granted both forms of relief.