In this week’s New York Business Divorce, we focus on the oft-overlooked accounting cause of action, recently reinvigorated by an appellate decision referring to the claim as an “absolute right.” What does that mean for business divorce litigants? Read on.
Continue Reading Accounting Unchained: Is the Closely Held Business Owner’s Right to an Accounting Absolute?
Does an Inactive Member of a Member-Managed LLC Owe Fiduciary Duties?
This week’s New York Business Divorce examines a noteworthy decision by Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Barry Ostrager in which he held that a member of a member-managed LLC owes fiduciary duties regardless whether the member actively participates in the LLC’s management.
Continue Reading Does an Inactive Member of a Member-Managed LLC Owe Fiduciary Duties?
Inspection Rights, Oral Operating Agreements, and Other Pop-Diva Delights
Over the last several years, the books-and-records proceeding and its corresponding shareholder rights of inspection seem to have entered a bit of renaissance period in the courts. We here at New York Business Divorce have reported on at least nine decisions primarily addressing the topic since September 2014, going on record to proclaim the phenomenon as a “boost” for the summary proceeding, by which minority owners in closely-held businesses can get a window into the management and operation of the companies from which they’ve been shut out. We’ve even gone so far as to suggest that books-and-records proceedings may be “on a roll” of late, both in terms of an expansion what constitutes a “proper purpose” for bringing the proceeding, as well as in terms of the scope of information attainable.
That trend, at least with respect to the frequency with which issues related to inspection rights are being litigated, appears to be continuing into 2018. What follows are summaries of three of this year’s more notable decisions addressing inspection rights – all from Manhattan Supreme Court, as it happens.
But first, a quick refresher on the subject matter at hand…
Continue Reading Inspection Rights, Oral Operating Agreements, and Other Pop-Diva Delights
Does This Decision Put the Brakes on Non-Unanimous Amendments to Operating Agreements?
It’s back! For the third week in a row, New York Business Divorce examines a decision by Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Saliann Scarpulla in a multi-faceted feud among members of the Yu family, this time requiring the court to balance the fiduciary duty owed by LLC managers against the right to amend the operating agreement without the consent of the affected minority member.
Continue Reading Does This Decision Put the Brakes on Non-Unanimous Amendments to Operating Agreements?
Stock Pledge Agreement Defeats Minority Shareholder’s Standing to Sue for Statutory But Not Common-Law Dissolution
In a follow-up to last week’s New York Business Divorce, this week’s post addresses a second decision by Justice Saliann Scarpulla in the Yu family constellation of ilitigations, this time considering the fatal effects on standing to sue for statutory dissolution by assigning one’s stock voting rights.
Continue Reading Stock Pledge Agreement Defeats Minority Shareholder’s Standing to Sue for Statutory But Not Common-Law Dissolution