April 2009

Corporate bylaw provisions governing the number of directors and procedures for their appointment can sometimes play a critical role in the outcome of disputes among shareholders of closely held corporations, as illustrated in a recent case highlighted in this week’s New York Business Divorce involving a small residential co-op.
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Continue Reading Pay Attention to the Latent Power of Corporate Bylaws

Valuation discounts are among the most hotly contested issues in minority shareholder buy-out proceedings triggered by dissolution petitions. As between the discount for lack of marketability and the minority discount (a/k/a discount for lack of control), New York case law allows one of them and prohibits the other. Do you know which is which? Find out in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
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Continue Reading What’s the Difference Between Marketability and Minority Discounts?

This week’s New York Business Divorce features a recent decision by the Appellate Division, Second Department, reversing the denial of a preliminary injunction centering on the enforceability of a written Nominee Agreement which acknowledged Party A as the “true owner” of a 50% stock interest in the corporation and appointed as his nominee Party B who otherwise was reflected as 100% owner in all of the corporation’s records and tax filings.
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Continue Reading Nominee Agreement Trumps Corporation Records in Fight Over Stock Ownership

The baseball season is upon us but there’s no joy in Mudville or, at least, at the Cooperstown All Stars Village baseball camp where the co-owners of a limited liability company are playing hardball litigation. The Third Department umpire recently called a preliminary injunction in favor of the non-controlling team after the controlling member pitched a high-and-inside capital call. Read about it in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
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Continue Reading Court Enjoins “Squeeze-Out” Capital Call by Controlling Members of LLC