Ross v. Bernhard

Lehman Brothers stockholders (plaintiffs) brought a derivative suit accusing the company's directors (defendants) of breaching fiduciary duty by improperly converting corporate assets, seeking an accounting of the directors' profits and the corporation's losses. The stockholders demanded a jury trial, which the district court allowed but the court of appeals struck down, reasoning that a derivative suit is entirely equitable in nature and therefore carries no jury-trial right.