(a)(1)The accounting books, records, and minutes of proceedings of the shareholders and the board and committees of the board of any domestic corporation, and of any foreign corporation keeping any records in this state or having its principal office in California, or a true and accurate copy thereof if the original has been lost, destroyed, or is not normally physically located within this state shall be open to inspection at the corporation’s principal office in California, or if none, at the physical location for the corporation’s registered agent for service of process in this state, upon the written demand on the corporation of any shareholder or holder of a voting trust certificate at any reasonable time during usual
business hours, for a purpose reasonably related to the holder’s interests as a shareholder or as the holder of a voting trust certificate.
(2)As an alternative to the procedure in subdivision (a), the shareholder or holder of a voting trust certificate may elect to request that the corporation produce the books, records, and minutes by mail or electronically, if the shareholder or holder of a voting trust certificate pays for the reasonable costs for copying or converting the requested documents to electronic format.
(3)The right of inspection created by this subdivision shall
extend to the records of each subsidiary of a corporation subject to this subdivision.
(b)The inspection by a shareholder or holder of a voting trust certificate may be made in person or by agent or attorney, and the right of inspection includes the right to copy and make extracts. The right of the shareholders to inspect the corporate records may not be limited by the articles or bylaws.
Notes of Decisions
Schnabel v. Superior Court, 854 P.2d 1117 (Cal. 1993).
· cites it 2× “(Corp. Code, § 1601.) Since the stock is community property, Marilyn has an equal interest in that stock.”
Jara v. Suprema Meats, Inc., 18 Cal. Rptr. 3d 187 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004).
“Corporations Code section 1601 1. Procedural Background Suprema appeals from the portion of the judgment ordering it to provide Jara, Sr.”
Thomas v. Gordon, 2000 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 9511 (Cal. Ct. App. 2000).
“(Corp. Code, § 1601.) “Although shareholders have some rights to corporate information which are not enjoyed by the general public, ‘shareholder status does not in and of itself entitle an individual to unfettered access to corporate confidences and secrets.”
Shannon v. Superior Court, 217 Cal. App. 3d 986 (Cal. Ct. App. 1990).
“11 Corporate shareholders are entitled to access to the company books (Corp. Code, § 1601, subd. (a)).”
Nat'l Football League Props., Inc. v. Superior Court, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5084 (Cal. Ct. App. 1998).
“4 Corporations Code section 1601 provides that shareholders may inspect certain corporate records, including the accounting books and records and minutes of the proceedings of shareholders, board and committees of the board, for a purpose reasonably related to the holder’s…”
Grove v. Juul Labs, Inc. (Cal. Ct. App. 2022).
· cites it 6× “Grove’s Demand To Inspect Company Records On December 27, 2019, Grove sent Juul a demand to inspect the company’s books and records pursuant to California Corporations Code section 1601 (section 1601).”
JAH Interests V, LLC v. Nutrition 53, Inc. (E.D. Cal. 2021).
· cites it 6× “Plaintiffs assert four 7 claims: (1) breach of the 2018 Stock Purchase Agreement against 8 N53, (2) restitution due to rescission against N53, (3) breach of 9 fiduciary duty against Romanowski, and (4) violation of 10 California Corporations Code § 1601 et seq.”
JUUL Labs, Inc. v. Grove (Del. Ch. 2020).
· cites it 2× “See Cal. Corp. Code § 1601 . That statute grants inspection rights to any stockholder in a corporation with its principal executive office in California, regardless of corporation’s state of incorporation.”
Roudi v. Paydar CA4/1 (Cal. Ct. App. 2022).
· cites it 2× “Corporations Code Inspection Rights Paydar further contends the award violates his “protected statutory rights to inspect the corporation’s books and records as a shareholder under Corporations Code section 1601 and as a director under Corporations Code section 1602.”
Calamco v. J.R. Simplot Co. (E.D. Cal. 2022).
· cites it 2× “at 9 (quoting Cal. Corp. Code § 1601 ). The superior court 19 found it “difficult to see” how records of that type might be privileged.”
Preovolos v. Preovolos CA4/1 (Cal. Ct. App. 2024).
· cites it 2× “He states he cited Corporations Code section 1601 “as ancillary support only, to show his right to inspect Alpha[‘s] .”
Kasprzak v. Huang CA2/7 (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).
· cites it 2× “Kasprzak filed the two underlying actions giving rise to these appeals: a civil complaint against Pasaca and co-appellant Charles Huang, Pasaca’s founder and majority shareholder (the civil action); and a petition for writ of mandate seeking to review Pasaca’s books and records…”
— Cal. Corporations Code § 1601(a)(1) — 2 cases
Calamco v. J.R. Simplot Co. (E.D. Cal. 2022).
“at 9 (quoting Cal. Corp. Code § 1601 ). The superior court 19 found it “difficult to see” how records of that type might be privileged.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.