In an apparent first of its kind decision, the Second Department reinstated dissolution claim brought by the estate of a deceased LLC Member. This week’s post considers the decision and its potential impact.
Continue Reading Who Died and Made You a Member? Second Department Resurrects LLC Dissolution Petition Brought by Deceased Member’s Estate.
Can two contested dissolution petitions—one by each 50% shareholder based on the other’s alleged misconduct—yield a shortcut to uncontested dissolution? See what the Second Department has to say in this week’s post.
Continue Reading Dueling Dissolution Petitions Beget Dissolution Without Consideration of Alternate Remedies
Creditors take note: New York’s Business Corporation Law gives creditors a path to intervene in a contested dissolution proceeding.
See that path at work in this week’s post.
Continue Reading Potential Creditor Drags Corporation in Stalled Dissolution Proceeding into Receivership
A court is empowered to correct a mistake solely in the reduction of an agreement to writing. This week’s post shows that power at work in the interpretation of a sailboat-owning LLC’s operating agreement.
Continue Reading Scrivener’s Error Keeps Sailboat-Owning LLC Afloat
In business divorce litigation, the expert appraisers often are the key witnesses. A recent PwC Study analyzing the success of challenges to expert appraisers inspires a deeper dive into some keystone cases where courts excluded the expert testimony of an appraiser.
Continue Reading Challenges to Expert Appraisers in Valuation Proceedings
A claim for “usurpation of corporate opportunity” is simple to allege, but difficult to prove. Two recent cases out of the Manhattan Commercial Division and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York explore the bounds of the corporate opportunity doctrine under New York and Delaware law.
Continue Reading A Recurring Business Divorce Feature: Usurpation of Corporate Opportunity
This week’s post covers a case likely to make waves inside and outside of Delaware, where Vice Chancellor Laster explores the interplay between acts that are void ab initio and equitable defenses, and he encourages an appeal so that Delaware may reconsider its laws on the issue.
Continue Reading Magic Words Still Matter, and Equitable Defenses Can’t Save a “Void” Transfer
This week’s post considers a recent decision from New York County Commercial Division Justice Borrok, who offers well-reasoned guidance on the separateness between claims to specifically enforce a buy-sell agreement, on the one hand, and damages claims, on the other.
Continue Reading Never the Twain Shall Meet: Damages Claims Do Not Offset the Purchase Price in Buy-Sell Agreements
How does one value a law firm’s caseload at dissolution? The litigation over the dissolution of Brown Chiari LLP has already made its mark on business divorce jurisprudence. As it approaches its sixth birthday, the case continues to deliver, with Erie County Commercial Division Justice Timothy J. Walker recently authoring two notable decisions concerning a partner’s interest in the firm’s substantial caseload at the time of its dissolution.
Continue Reading Disputes Abound When Law Firms Dissolve
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