This unpublished opinion is the latest chapter in a long-running saga involving Sage Automotive Group, a family-owned car dealership.

Leonard Schrage accused his brothers Michael and Joseph of mismanaging the family business and misappropriating assets for their own personal use.  After a bench trial on Leonard’s claim for breach of fiduciary duty, he obtained a judgment for $21 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages against his brothers, who appealed.

The Court of Appeal (Second District, Division Seven) reversed, finding that Leonard did not have standing to pursue the breach of fiduciary duty claim because he was complaining primarily about harm to Sage Automotive Group, not harm to himself.  The claim for harm to the corporation could only be pursued as a derivative action, not by Leonard as an individual action.  Because Leonard did not assert a derivative claim, the Court of Appeal vacated his recovery on the fiduciary duty claim and all the associated damages, both compensatory and punitive.