Photo of Peter A. Mahler

Peter A. Mahler is a litigator focusing on business divorce cases involving dissolution and other disputes among co-­owners of closely held business entities, such as limited liability companies, corporations, and partnerships. Peter represents both control and non-control owners, often involving family-owned businesses. Frequently counseling business owners prior to litigation, he advises them of their rights and also assists in designing and negotiating an amicable separation between parties. Peter’s counsel helps avoid litigation by means of a buy-out, sale, or division of business assets.

 

 

Justice Richard Platkin’s decision last month in O’Connor v. Coccadotts, Inc., denying a dissolution petitioner’s preliminary injunction motion after the respondent elected to purchase the petitioner’s shares, focuses attention on the interim remedies available to ensure that the eventual fair-value award will be paid. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Post-Buyout Election Interim Remedies: Bond, Injunction, or Both?

A recent federal court decision in a high-stakes case resolved a dispute over the interpretation and application of what’s commonly called a “jerk insurance” provision in a shareholder buyout agreement. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading “Jerk Insurance” Takes on New Meaning in Buyout Dispute

In the face of Second Department case law rejecting subject-matter jurisdiction over statutory dissolution claims involving foreign business entities, the plaintiffs in Bonavita v Savenergy, Inc. argued to Justice Timothy Driscoll that he nonetheless could hear a claim for common-law dissolution of a Delaware corporation. Did they succeed? Find out in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Court Declines Jurisdiction Over Claim for Common-Law Dissolution of Delaware Corporation

The Zelouf case returns to the spotlight in this week’s New York Business Divorce, occasioned by Justice Shirley Kornreich’s decision last month denying a motion to reargue the court’s refusal to apply a marketability discount in valuing the shares of a dissenting minority shareholder of a family-owned business.
Continue Reading Court’s Rejection of Marketability Discount in Zelouf Case Guided by Fairness, Not “Formalistic and Buzzwordy Principles”

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