“To the extent commerce is ungoverned – commerce governs.”

Jack Chopping Down Abusive Giant’s Beanstalk

California law (and laws in 48 other states) allows you, an individual citizen and non-lawyer, to dissolve or “DeCharter” any California Corporation which has broken the law or abused its power.

There are just three steps.

1) Write a petition to the California Attorney General documenting the criminal convictions (dd: civil violations may work but is less persuasive. See examples here).

2) Wait 30 days. The Attorney General has 30 days to respond and file a case against the criminal corporation. If they file suit under Corporations Code Section 1801 (dd: See law text below) then you can begin research on another criminal corporation.

3) If the California Attorney General (Kamala Harris in 2013) does not file suit against the criminal corporation within 30 days, then you have the right to file the suit yourself in any California Superior Court.

If you have adequately documented criminal convictions of the corporation you may have a winning suit. The more criminal convictions you can document, the more likely a judge is to agree with you.

For example several TOSCO employees were killed by explosions while working in recklessly negligent conditions. The Film Erin Brockovich exposed PG&E’s use of hexavalent Chromium which causes cancer, leaked into Hinkley, California groundwater (about 1,000 times more concentrated than now allowed by law) after which several residents died. PG$E settled with residents for a record 400 million dollars. As far as I know there are no criminal convictions for any of those deaths. Other corporations may have a laundry list of criminal violations.

* I strongly urge you to have an attorney highly experienced in civil procedure as you can expect a criminal corporation to play very dirty and throw every legal technicality and delay at you.

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California Corporations Code Section 1801 —

“1801. (a) The Attorney General may bring an action against any domestic corporation or purported domestic corporation in the name of the people of this state, upon the Attorney General’s own information or upon complaint of a private party, to procure a judgment dissolving the corporation and annulling, vacating or forfeiting its corporate existence upon any of the following grounds:”

“(1) The corporation has seriously offended against any provision of the statutes regulating corporations.”

“(2) The corporation has fraudulently abused or usurped corporate privileges or powers.” (dd: This is the most likely public protection provision that is violated)

“(3) The corporation has violated any provision of law by any act or default which under the law is a ground for forfeiture of corporate existence.”

“(4) The corporation has failed to pay to the Franchise Tax Board for a period of five years any tax imposed upon it by the Bank and Corporation Tax Law.”

“(b) If the ground of the action is a matter or act which the corporation has done or omitted to do that can be corrected by amendment of its articles or by other corporate action, such suit shall not be maintained unless (1) the Attorney General, at least 30 days prior to the institution of suit, has given the corporation written notice of the matter or act done or omitted to be done and (2) the corporation has failed to institute proceedings to correct it within the 30-day period or thereafter fails to prosecute such proceedings.”

“(c) In any such action the court may order dissolution or such other or partial relief as it deems just and expedient. The court also may appoint a receiver for winding up the affairs of the corporation or may order that the corporation be wound up by its board subject to the supervision of the court.”

“(d) Service of process on the corporation may be made pursuant to Chapter 17 or by written notice to the president or secretary of the corporation at the address indicated in the corporation’s last tax return filed pursuant to the Bank and Corporation Tax Law. The Attorney General shall also publish one time in a newspaper of general circulation in the proper county a notice to the shareholders of the corporation.”

Fraudulently Obtained Corporate “Rights” by CELDF