Can Apple Investors Sue For a Dividend? (Update 1)

Updated from 8:03 a.m. EST to provide information on Microsoft and Google's dividend policy.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Apple(AAPL) has nearly $100 billion in cash just sitting on its balance sheet, earning nothing more than a market rate of return. As the cash hoard grows ever larger, shareholders have grown increasingly more vocal about getting hold of it.

This poses the question: "Do Apple shareholders have a legal right to the cash, and could they sue Apple to get it?"

Some have mentioned the Dodge versus Ford Motors(F) case as setting a legal precedent.

In 1916, the Dodge Brothers sued Henry Ford for keeping the company's cash, nearly $60 million (remember when $60 million was a lot of money?) and not distributing it to shareholders. Ultimately, the Michigan Surpreme Court ruled in favor of the Dodge brothers and forced Ford to declare a dividend.

The major difference, however, between Apple in 2012 and Ford in 1916 is that Ford was a closely held company, says Lynn Stout, visiting professor of corporate law at Cornell Law School.

"Essentially, corporate law reserves the right to say that if the board doesn't want to pay a dividend, the only recourse shareholders have is to replace the board or get them to change their mind," Stout noted over the phone. "Dodge v. Ford Motor still applied to closely held companies, but Apple is a public company."

She also explained that the Dodge v. Ford is frequently mis-cited, and is not applicable in this case.

"When you look at Dodge versus Ford, it's not about the company obligation to pay a dividend, it's about the ability of a majority shareholder abusing the minority shareholders," said Nicholas Rogers, associate attorney at Gaskins Bennett Birrell Schupp LLP.