CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Wachovia shareholders are going to court Monday to challenge the bank’s merger with Wells Fargo.

Wells announced last month it would buy Charlotte’s number two bank, pushing out a takeover by Citigroup. Now some shareholders say Wells isn’t offering them enough money for the sale.

“They should be given time to work it out,” shareholder John Moore told NewsChannel 36 on Sunday. Moore owns 200,000 shares of the bank stock, which amounts to just a fraction of a percent of shares outstanding. He is not a party in the lawsuit, but he is a frequent critic of the bank.

Moore believes executive pay at corporations like Wachovia often goes far beyond company performance, and ends up hurting workers who are laid off to meet profit projections.

In the case of the merger, Moore believes shareholders aren’t being given a big enough voice. Wells Fargo will get 40 percent of shareholder votes for the merger, making its defeat unlikely.

Moore wants the judge to allow Wachovia to stay independent, because he believes with government help, it can continue on its own.

“It seems that Wachovia should not be unduly punished,” said Moore, “and particularly their customers and employees, because they missed a bailout plan for about a week.”

North Carolina State Treasurer Richard Moore expressed the same thought on CNBC earlier this month.

"They know that it's highway robbery,” Richard Moore told the cable financial channel about the price Wells Fargo offered to pay for Wachovia. “They're getting a great deal."

But Wachovia CEO Robert Steel told business leaders this past week that there was no other way.

"I think it became clear that the level of capital we were going to generate was not going to be enough to make the market comfortable," said Steel.

John Moore, the shareholder, disagrees. He believe Wachovia will be fine, on its own, if it sticks to basics.

"For us, it’s about people losing jobs, looking after the customer --. and if we get those right, then the shareholder would be fine."

The case will be heard in NC Business Court Monday at 2 p.m.