Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Son Suing Parents over Retail Biz Profits

Aha, this is a somewhat clearer statement of your question, received and answered by me already.

I don't think I need to change anything in my previous two answers, but I do, once again, have additional thoughts on the case.

If the son is a 33-1/3% stockholder, which he seems to be claiming and which a court may well decide he is, he still cannot sue for 1/3 of the profit - all he is entitled to is his share of any dividends or similar pro-rata distributions made to the other stockholders. Many profitable small companies don't pay all, or even most, of their profits as dividends. Further, there are innumerable other ways, most of them legal, to keep down the money due to an unwelcome minority stockholder.

Further, stockholders are rarely entitled to a refund of their investment or "seed money" as you call it. They have made an equity investment, not a loan, and do not ordinarily have any right to demand to be bought out.