BUSINESS LAW QUESTION

Companies and director duties X, Y and Z form the XYZ firm. They establish their firm through a written agreement and set of internal constitutions rule. The business is engaged in oil and gas exploration, and its main activity is identifying new oil and gas deposits and selling them to oil companies. The directors however, have made money in other ways, such as investment in securities and loans to other promising start-ups. Z recently invested a significant amount of the firm's liquid cash in publicly traded securities, without consulting the other directors, which ultimately lost a lot of money, and the loss of which turned out to be of no tax benefit to the firm. Z genuinely thought that the investment would bring in some solid cash. Please comment on what duties Z may have breached under both common law and statutory director duties and any defences that may be applicable. On the facts of the previous question, assume instead that Z invested the money in a chain of ice cream stores, indulging a childhood dream of entering that business. Please again comment on what duties Z may have breached under both common law and statutory director duties and any defences that may be applicable