July 2013

Classifying a shareholder claim as direct or derivative has important consequences at the pleading stage and beyond. This week’s New York Business Divorce looks at a recent decision by Justice Melvin Schweitzer in which he concluded that the defendant majority shareholder’s alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, constituting a “de facto liquidation” of the company, could support dual direct and derivative claims.
Continue Reading Minority Shareholder’s De Facto Liquidation Claim: Direct, Derivative, or Both?

New York’s ancient and outmoded Partnership Law continues to generate litigation almost 100 years after its adoption. A case in point, featured in this week’s New York Business Divorce, is Breidbart v. Wiesenthal, decided earlier this month by the Appellate Division, Second Department, addressing the question whether post-dissolution gain on the sale of realty is included in “profits” under Partnership Law Section 73, applicable when valuing the interest of a deceased or retired partner. …
Continue Reading (I Can’t Get No) Appreciation: Valuing a Deceased Partner’s Interest When the Business Continues

In Shao v. Li, decided last week by Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Charles Ramos, the court analyzed a claim by one LLC member that his co-members entered into a sham collateral assignment of a membership interest designed to circumvent a right of first refusal. You won’t want to miss it in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
Continue Reading When is Permitted Collateral Assignment of LLC Membership Interest a Prohibited Sale?

A decision last month by Albany Justice Richard Platkin in Matter of Ryan (Integra Networks, Inc.) opted in favor of the petitioners’ request to voluntarily discontinue their corporate dissolution proceeding over the respondents’ request for leave to make an untimely buy-out election. Find out why in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
Continue Reading Court Chooses Voluntary Dismissal Over Buy-Out in Two-Year Dissolution Case

What happens when feuding business partners bring competing lawsuits against each other, including a dissolution proceeding, in different courts in different states? That’s the question addressed in a recent decision by Suffolk County Commercial Division Justice Elizabeth Emerson in Picarella v. HMA Properties, LLC, highlighted in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
Continue Reading Fighting for Home Court Advantage in Multi-State Business Divorce Litigation