LawWiki
HomeCodesSearchGlossaryAPIAbout
LawWiki

Plain English summaries of California law with zero-hallucination AI. Every summary is verified against official source text.

Product

  • Search
  • Codes
  • About

Legal

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Disclaimer

© 2026 LawWiki. All rights reserved.

HomeCorporations CodeCh. 2Art. 3§ 7231 Director Duties And Reliance

§ 7231 Director Duties And Reliance

Corporations Code·California
AI Summary·Official Text·Key Terms·Related Statutes·References
AI SummaryVerified

§ 7231 Director Duties And Reliance

Key Takeaways

  • •Directors must do their job honestly and carefully, always thinking about what's best for the company.
  • •They can trust reports or advice from people they believe are experts or reliable, like employees or lawyers.
  • •If they follow these rules, they won’t be blamed for mistakes unless they were careless or dishonest.

Example

A director of a toy company gets a report from the finance team saying everything is fine. They trust the report because the team is usually reliable.

If the report is wrong and the company loses money, the director won’t be in trouble if they had no reason to doubt the team and acted in good faith.

AI-generated — May contain errors. Not legal advice. Always verify source.

Official Source
View on CA.gov

§ 7231 Director Duties And Reliance

(a) A director shall perform the duties of a director, including duties as a member of any committee of the board upon which the director may serve, in good faith, in a manner such director believes to be in the best interests of the corporation and with such care, including reasonable inquiry, as an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances. (b) In performing the duties of a director, a director shall be entitled to rely on information, opinions, reports or statements, including financial statements and other financial data, in each case prepared or presented by: (1) One or more officers or employees of the corporation whom the director believes to be reliable and competent in the matters presented; (2) Counsel, independent accountants or other persons as to matters which the director believes to be within such person’s professional or expert competence; or (3) A committee upon which the director does not serve that is composed exclusively of any or any combination of directors, persons described in paragraph (1), or persons described in paragraph (2), as to matters within the committee’s designated authority, which committee the director believes to merit confidence, so long as, in any case, the director acts in good faith, after reasonable inquiry when the need therefor is indicated by the circumstances and without knowledge that would cause such reliance to be unwarranted. (c) A person who performs the duties of a director in accordance with subdivisions (a) and (b) shall have no liability based upon any alleged failure to discharge the person’s obligations as a director, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, any actions or omissions which exceed or defeat a public or charitable purpose to which assets held by a corporation are dedicated. (Amended by Stats. 2009, Ch. 631, Sec. 24. (AB 1233) Effective January 1, 2010.)

Last verified: January 23, 2026

Key Terms

corporationliabilitydirectoremployeeportobligationinformationreliance

Related Statutes

  • § 12371 Director Duties And Reliance
  • § 9241 Director Duties And Reliance
  • § 12377 Corporate Agent Indemnification Rules
  • § 5237 Director Liability For Distributions
  • § 7236 Director Liability For Distributions

References

  • Official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
  • California Legislature. Corporations Code. Section 7231.
View Official Source