Wing, a couple of points: where do you find a basis for stating that the lawyer would have to be paid a considerable fee up front? It's not that much work to file boilerplate papers and your explanation about the court later determing fees seems irrelevant. Also, someone posted earlier under German law that a GM such as Klaus could be held liable for the company's debts unless he files for bankruptcy protection, so I don't see that it's "beyond sanity" at all for a disgruntled GM to file such papers to get back at a company. He can always say that he was worried about his own exposure and was acting in good faith. GTEM would not be able to touch him. Seems a perfect way to get even without taking any risk and at minimal expense. Also, it's not as if, at this particular point, the new GTEM management will want to waste one dime on lawyers' fees chasing after this type of behavior. As a shareholder, I want the money spent in productive ways.