June 2022

In this week’s New York Business Divorce, the sequel to an article about an earlier decision in the same case, read about a trio of decisions issued in rapid succession against a widow who claimed to have become shareholder of a corporation through a testamentary bequest that violated a shareholders’ agreement prohibiting stock transfers except to the shareholders’ “issue” or upon “unanimous consent” of all shareholders.
Continue Reading Three Strikes You’re Out: Sebrow Revisited

This week’s New York Business Divorce offers readers a preview of two thought provoking articles by Professors Donald Weidner and Daniel Kleinberger published as point/counter-point in the current issue of The Business Lawyer on the subject of LLCs, the direct-derivative distinction, and Special Litigation Committees. …
Continue Reading LLCs, Direct vs. Derivative Claims, and Special Litigation Committees: A Lively Debate

LLC members often enter into an operating agreement containing certain formality requirements, then exercise substantially less formality in their dealings. In those cases, the argument that a member waived his or her right to insist upon the formality requirements of the operating agreement is a familiar one. In a recent case, New York County Justice Borrok considers a party’s claim that text messages establish his 9.9% membership interest in an immensely valuable cryptocurrency business, despite admitted non-compliance with the member-admission requirements of the operating agreement. …
Continue Reading Text Messages Trump Formalities in Ownership Dispute Over Cryptocurrency Business