Including buy-sell provisions in a shareholders’ or operating agreement is a good idea, but if the agreement fails to clearly define basic valuation parameters it may lead to the very litigation that the agreement was intended to avoid. Case in point: Justice Ira Warshawsky’s recent decision in Sassower v. 975 Stewart Avenue Associates, LLC, featured in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Case Illustrates Importance of Clear Valuation Parameters in Buy-Sell Agreement Among Owners of Closely Held Business
August 2009
Delaware Chancery Court Rulings Interpret Member Rights to Inspect LLC’s Books and Records
By Peter A. Mahler on
Actions by non-managing business owners to gain access to company books and records are often precursors to dissolution or other more momentous litigation. The Delaware Court of Chancery recently issued several decisions in books and records actions involving LLCs which may provide guidance in cases involving New York LLCs as well. Catch up with the developments in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
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Continue Reading Delaware Chancery Court Rulings Interpret Member Rights to Inspect LLC’s Books and Records
Controlling Shareholder’s Unreasonable Refusal to Admit Petitioners’ Stock Ownership Constitutes Ground for Corporate Dissolution, Incurs Award of Attorney’s Fees
By Peter A. Mahler on
A fight over ownership of a Long Island marina leads to an order granting corporate dissolution and awarding counsel fees based on the controlling shareholders’ unreasonable denial of the petitioning shareholders’ 50% ownership. Read about Justice Stephen Bucaria’s decision in Rosenfeld v. Luccaro in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
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Continue Reading Controlling Shareholder’s Unreasonable Refusal to Admit Petitioners’ Stock Ownership Constitutes Ground for Corporate Dissolution, Incurs Award of Attorney’s Fees
Judicial Estoppel Doctrine Defeats Ex-Convict’s Standing to Bring Shareholder Derivative Action Based on Failure to Disclose Alleged Stock Interest to Probation Authorities at Time of Sentencing
By Peter A. Mahler on
Posted in Derivative Actions, Standing
Ex-convict Chip Watkins likely thought he’d paid his debt to society when he completed his jail sentence. As it turned out, however, Watkins short-changed society by failing to disclose to the authorities his claimed $600,000 investment in a closely held real estate company. In this week’s New York Business Divorce, find out how Watkin’s omission dashed his hopes of recovery in a shareholder derivative action recently dismissed by Justice Emily Pines.
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Continue Reading Judicial Estoppel Doctrine Defeats Ex-Convict’s Standing to Bring Shareholder Derivative Action Based on Failure to Disclose Alleged Stock Interest to Probation Authorities at Time of Sentencing
Court Grants Dissolution, Rejects Claim that Failed Buy-Sell Agreement Was “Ploy” by Petitioner to Take Over Corporation’s Retail Store Lease for His New Business
By Peter A. Mahler on
Two feuding 50-50 shareholders enter a buy-sell option agreement in which either one can offer his shares to the other at a fixed price and, if the offer is declined, the corporation is voluntarily dissolved. One of them later offers his shares. The other declines. Sounds like simple plan to avoid a messy court battle, right? Not quite, as you’ll find out in this week’s New York Business Divorce discussing a recent decision by Justice Ira Warshawsky.
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Continue Reading Court Grants Dissolution, Rejects Claim that Failed Buy-Sell Agreement Was “Ploy” by Petitioner to Take Over Corporation’s Retail Store Lease for His New Business