§248. Rights of a shareholder dissenting from certain corporate actions

A. Except as provided in subsection B of this section, if a corporation having only shareholding members has, by vote of its shareholders, authorized a sale, lease or exchange of all of its assets, or has, in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 12:243, become a party to a merger or consolidation then, unless such authorization or action shall have been given or approved by at least two-thirds of the total voting power, a shareholder who voted against such corporate action shall have the right to dissent. If a corporation has become a party to a merger pursuant to R.S. 12:243(G), the shareholders of any subsidiary corporations party to the merger shall have the right to dissent without regard to the proportion of the voting power which approved the merger.

B. The right to dissent provided by this section shall not exist in the case of:

(1) Shareholders of a parent merged with one or more subsidiaries pursuant to R.S. 12:243(G);

(2) A sale pursuant to an order of a court having jurisdiction in the premises;

(3) A sale for cash on terms requiring distribution of all or substantially all of the net proceeds to the shareholders in accordance with their respective interests within one year after the date of the sale.

C. Except as provided in the last sentence of this subsection, any shareholder electing to exercise such right of dissent shall file with the corporation, prior to, or at, the meeting of shareholders at which such proposed corporate action is submitted to a vote, a written objection to such proposed corporate action, and shall vote his shares against such action. If such proposed corporate action be taken by the required vote, but by less than two-thirds of the total voting power, and the merger, consolidation or sale, lease or exchange of assets authorized thereby be effected, the corporation shall promptly thereafter give written notice thereof, by registered mail, to each shareholder who filed such written objection to, and voted his shares against, such action, at such shareholder's last address on the corporation's records. Each such shareholder may, within twenty days after the mailing of such notice to him, but not thereafter, file with the corporation a demand in writing for the fair cash value of his shares as of the day before such vote was taken; provided that he state in such demand the value demanded, and a post office address to which the reply of the corporation may be sent, and at the same time deposit in escrow in a chartered bank or trust company located in the parish of the registered office of the corporation, the certificates representing his shares, duly endorsed and transferred to the corporation upon the sole condition that said certificates shall be delivered to the corporation upon payment of the value of the shares determined in accordance with the provisions of this section. With his demand, the shareholder shall deliver to the corporation, the written acknowledgment of such bank or trust company that it so holds his certificates of stock. Unless the objection, demand and acknowledgment aforesaid be made and delivered by the shareholder within the period above limited, he shall conclusively be presumed to have acquiesced in the corporate action proposed or taken. In the case of a merger pursuant to R.S. 12:243(G), the dissenting shareholder need not file an objection with the corporation nor vote against the merger, but need only file with the corporation, within twenty days after a copy of the merger certificate was mailed to him, a demand in writing for the cash value of his shares as of the day before the certificate was filed with the Secretary of State, state in such demand the value demanded and a post office address to which the corporation's reply may be sent, deposit the certificates representing his shares in escrow as hereinabove provided, and deliver to the corporation with his demand the acknowledgment of the escrow bank or trust company as hereinabove prescribed.

D. If the corporation does not agree to the value so stated and demanded, or does not agree that a payment is due, it shall, within twenty days after receipt of such demand and acknowledgment, notify in writing the shareholder, at the designated post office address, of its disagreement, and shall state in such notice the value it will agree to pay if any payment should be held to be due; otherwise it shall be liable for, and shall pay to the dissatisfied shareholder, the value demanded by him for his shares.

E. In case of disagreement as to such fair cash value, or as to whether any payment is due, after compliance by the parties with the provisions of subsections C and D of this section, the dissatisfied shareholder, within sixty days after receipt of notice in writing of the corporation's disagreement, but not thereafter, may file suit against the corporation, or the merged or consolidated corporation, as the case may be, in the district court of the parish in which the corporation or the merged or consolidated corporation, as the case may be, has its registered office, praying the court to fix and decree the fair cash value of the dissatisfied shareholder's shares as of the day before such corporate action complained of was taken, and the court shall, on such evidence as may be adduced in relation thereto, determine summarily whether any payment is due, and, if so, such cash value, and render judgment accordingly. Any shareholder entitled to file such suit may, within such sixty-day period but not thereafter, intervene as a plaintiff in such suit filed by another shareholder, and recover therein judgment against the corporation for the fair cash value of his shares. No order or decree shall be made by the court staying the proposed corporate action, and any such corporate action may be carried to completion notwithstanding any such suit. Failure of the shareholder to bring suit, or to intervene in such a suit, within sixty days after receipt of notice of disagreement by the corporation shall conclusively bind the shareholder (1) by the corporation's statement that no payment is due, or (2) if the corporation does not contend that no payment is due, to accept the value of his shares as fixed by the corporation in its notice of disagreement.

F. When the fair value of the shares has been agreed upon between the shareholder and the corporation, or when the corporation has become liable for the value demanded by the shareholder because of failure to give notice of disagreement and of the value it will pay, or when the shareholder has become bound to accept the value the corporation agrees is due because of his failure to bring suit within sixty days after receipt of notice of the corporation's disagreement, the action of the shareholder to recover such value must be brought within five years from the date the value was agreed upon, or the liability of the corporation became fixed.

G. If the corporation or the merged or consolidated corporation, as the case may be, shall, in its notice of disagreement, have offered to pay to the dissatisfied shareholder on demand an amount in cash deemed by it to be the fair cash value of his shares, and if, on the institution of a suit by the dissatisfied shareholder claiming an amount in excess of the amount so offered, the corporation, or the merged or consolidated corporation, as the case may be, shall deposit in the registry of the court, there to remain until the final determination of the cause, the amount so offered, then, if the amount finally awarded such shareholder, exclusive of interest and costs, be more than the amount offered and deposited as aforesaid, the costs of the proceeding shall be taxed against the corporation, or the merged or consolidated corporation, as the case may be; otherwise the costs of the proceeding shall be taxed against such shareholders.

H. Upon filing a demand for the value of his shares, the shareholder shall cease to have any of the rights of a shareholder except the rights accorded by this section. Such a demand may be withdrawn by the shareholder at any time before the corporation gives notice of disagreement, as provided in subsection D of this section. After such notice of disagreement is given, withdrawal of a notice of election shall require the written consent of the corporation. If a notice of election is withdrawn, or the proposed corporate action is abandoned or rescinded, or a court shall determine that the shareholder is not entitled to receive payment for his shares, or the shareholder shall otherwise lose his dissenter's rights, he shall not have the right to receive payment for his shares, his share certificates shall be returned to him (and, on his request, new certificates shall be issued to him in exchange for the old ones endorsed to the corporation), and he shall be reinstated to all his rights as a shareholder as of the filing of his demand for value, including any intervening preemptive rights, and the right to payment of any intervening dividend or other distribution, or, if any such rights have expired or any such dividend or distribution other than in cash has been completed, in lieu thereof, at the election of the corporation, the fair value thereof in cash as determined by the board as of the time of such expiration or completion, but without prejudice otherwise to any corporate proceedings that may have been taken in the interim.

Acts 1968, No. 105, §1.