Vivendi said the package violated French law, which required a vote of a company's full board for the approval of an executive severance package.
Mr. Boehner's rise to speaker was a foregone conclusion, but he was formally elected on a vote of a 241 votes for him to 173 for Ms. Pelosi as all lawmakers were called on by name to announce their choice.
Maurice Thompson, director of the center, called it a vote "of a small oligarchy" of legislators, "some of whom were switched out at the last minute for politically expedient reasons".
And while the board may be able to amend the bylaws on its own, amending the proprietary lease typically requires a vote of a "supermajority," often two-thirds of the shares.
A vote of a majority of justices is required for a stay of execution, which would be five in normal cases, and four in this case, with only six justices sitting.
(If neither document contains such authority, he said, a flip tax can be imposed only if the proprietary lease is amended. Typically, that requires a vote of a "supermajority" of shareholders — two-thirds or three-quarters of the outstanding shares).
A legal default, according to analysts, is more complicated, requiring a triggering event, like missing an interest or principle payment, followed by a vote of a majority or more of the bondholders to force the default.
Although all three first-time candidates were Democrats, only Mr. Espinal ran on the Democratic ticket, based on a vote of a county committee in July brimming with Lopez loyalists and run by Mr. Dilan, son of State Senator Martin Malavé Dilan.
Many question the wisdom of putting the rights of a minority up to a vote of a majority.
The international deal with Miramax is a vote of a confidence after the company suffered a blow when Starz announced last week it would not be renewing a content contract with Netflix next year.
"Every time that a fraudulent vote is cast, it effectively cancels out a vote of a legitimate voter," the official GOP platform reads.
