February 2021

This week’s New York Business Divorce offers its annual Winter Case Notes with synopses of four noteworthy decisions by courts in New York and Iowa.
Continue Reading Winter Case Notes: Dissolution of Not-For-Profit Corporation and Other Decisions of Interest

Buy-out litigations don’t get much more interesting than the ongoing battle in the Yakuel v Gluck case making its second appearance on this blog. In this phase, the court decides whether an arbitrator could recalculate an appraisal award as damages for breach of the appraisal process where the parties’ agreement called for a “final and binding” valuation by the appraiser.
Continue Reading Who Decides Disputed Valuation Under LLC Agreement’s Buy-Out Provision: Arbitrator or Appraiser?

The interaction between an LLC’s operating agreement and a subsequent, informal deal between the members raises difficult questions surrounding the enforceability of either agreement. In a recently-filed Manhattan Commercial Division case, the Court granted the plaintiff a preliminary injunction, signaling to the parties that the plaintiff was likely to succeed on his claim to enforce the informal deal notwithstanding arguably contrary provisions in the operating agreement. The case reminds us that the formality requirements of an LLC operating agreement may give way to an informal agreement when both LLC members manifest their intent to be bound by the informal agreement.
Continue Reading A Shotgun Buy-Sell Agreement and an Email Deal Walk into a Beachside Bar . . .

Defying my recent lamentation on the dearth of cases involving buy-out disputes where the buyer doesn’t disclose to the seller an outside offer for the entity’s assets at a much higher value, this week’s New York Business Divorce examines yet another such case with some interesting twists on the usual fact pattern. …
Continue Reading Re-Revisiting The Duty to Disclose Third-Party Offers Amidst Buy-Out Negotiations