(1) Each member of the board of directors, when discharging the duties of a director, including in discharging his or her duties as a member of a board committee, must act:

(a) In good faith; and

(b) In a manner he or she reasonably believes to be in the best interests of the corporation.

(2) The members of the board of directors or a board committee, when becoming informed in connection with a decisionmaking function or devoting attention to an oversight function, shall discharge their duties with the care that an ordinary prudent person in a like position would reasonably believe appropriate under similar circumstances.

(3) In discharging board or board committee duties, a director who does not have knowledge that makes reliance unwarranted is entitled to rely on the performance by any of the persons specified in paragraph (5)(a) or paragraph (5)(b) to whom the board may have delegated, formally or informally by course of conduct, the authority or duty to perform one or more of the board’s functions that are delegable under applicable law.

(4) In discharging board or board committee duties, a director who does not have knowledge that makes reliance unwarranted is entitled to rely on information, opinions, reports, or statements, including financial statements and other financial data, prepared or presented by any of the persons specified in subsection (5).

(5) A director is entitled to rely, in accordance with subsection (3) or subsection (4), on:

(a) One or more officers or employees of the corporation whom the director reasonably believes to be reliable and competent in the functions performed or the information, opinions, reports, or statements provided;

(b) Legal counsel, public accountants, or other persons retained by the corporation or by a committee of the board of the corporation as to matters involving skills or expertise the director reasonably believes are matters:

1. Within the particular person’s professional or expert competence; or

2. As to which the particular person merits confidence; or

(c) A committee of the board of directors of which the director is not a member if the director reasonably believes the committee merits confidence.

(6) In discharging board or board committee duties, a director may consider such factors as the director deems relevant, including the long-term prospects and interests of the corporation and its shareholders, and the social, economic, legal, or other effects of any action on the employees, suppliers, customers of the corporation or its subsidiaries, the communities and society in which the corporation or its subsidiaries operate, and the economy of the state and the nation.

History.—s. 84, ch. 89-154; s. 26, ch. 97-102; s. 99, ch. 2019-90.