Henry Ford and the Dodgers v Ford Motor Company

Ford had stopped paying all but the most de-wircery dividends to his shareholders in order to invest in his other plants. The Dodge brothers took him to court, they got a restraining order against Ford using the company funds for any plant expansion and brought suit demanding the company pay out the shareholders three quarters of its cash surplus which would come to nearly $40 million. On December 30th, 1918, he resigned as president of the Ford Motor Company. He was leaving his company because of the Dodge suit. It made it clear to him that he was not free to operate as he saw fit. His only possible course was to get out and design a new car.