2014

New York Business Divorce proudly presents its seventh annual list of the past year’s ten most noteworthy business divorce cases, along with short summaries and links to prior posts on the featured cases. Happy New Year!
Continue Reading Top Ten Business Divorce Cases of 2014

Call it the case of the underwater watering hole. This week’s New York Business Divorce looks at a recent post-trial decision by Justice Carolyn Demarest ordering $1 buy-outs of the petitioners’ shares in a debt-laden business that operates a neighborhood bar. …
Continue Reading Dissolution Battle Over Heavily Indebted Business Yields $1 Buy-Outs

Does an LLC subscription agreement, barring transfer of “any interest therein,” bar the later transfer of the acquired membership interest? The answer, recently provided by a Manhattan appellate panel in Gartner v. Cardio Ventures, LLC, is discussed in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
Continue Reading LLC Subscription Agreement No Bar to Transfer of Membership Interest

A Manhattan appellate panel’s ruling last month provides a cautionary lesson about the need to anticipate and address tax issues, including potential taxes on phantom income, when negotiating buyout settlements involving shares in passthrough entities. You’ll find it in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
Continue Reading Negotiating a Buyout? Don’t Overlook Taxes on Phantom Income

A decision last month by Justice Carolyn Demarest, in Novikov v. Oceana Holdings Corp., granted a minority shareholder’s books-and-records petition predicated on the need to investigate possible management misconduct. On the heels of a recent First Department case to similar effect, might this be the start of a trend? Find out more in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
Continue Reading Minority Shareholder’s Investigation of Management Misconduct is Proper Purpose for Books & Records Demand

The statute governing LLC mergers requires a member vote at a meeting to be held on at least 20 days notice. In Slayton v. Highline Stages, LLC, the majority members used written consents in lieu of a meeting to approve a freeze-out merger, which the frozen-out minority member challenged. Did she succeed? Find out in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
Continue Reading No Meeting, No Vote Required for LLC’s Freeze-Out Merger Approved by Majority’s Written Consents

Over the last year or so Nassau County Commercial Division Justice Stephen Bucaria has issued a series of decisions in disputes among co-owners of close corporations and LLCs applying the ancient rule of partnership law prohibiting courts from adjudicating such disputes except when dissolution or a final accounting is sought. Learn more about this intriguing development in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
Continue Reading Squabbling Partners with Piecemeal Adjudications Need Not Apply

There’s sure to be fireworks — or at least litigation — when one of two 50% members of an LLC attempts to terminate the other for wrongful conduct as vaguely defined in the LLC agreement, as illustrated in an appellate ruling last month in Harker v. Guyther, featured in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Court Construes Member Expulsion Provision in LLC Agreement

On the heels of the Zelouf and AriZona Iced Tea cases, this week’s New York Business Divorce highlights yet another interesting fair value contest, decided by Justice Carolyn Demarest, involving a battle of forensic accounting and valuation experts over the alleged skimming of millions in cash receipts at a restaurant. …
Continue Reading Restaurant’s Cash-Skimming Majority Owners Forced to Buy Out Minority Shareholder or Face Dissolution

After years of litigation and a lengthy trial, earlier this month Justice Timothy Driscoll released his decision fixing the fair value of the petitioning 50% shareholder’s interest in the AriZona Iced Tea companies. You won’t want to miss it in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Court Rejects Potential Acquirers’ Expressions of Interest, Relies Solely on DCF Method to Determine Fair Value of 50% Interest in AriZona Iced Tea