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.
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A Shotgun Buy-Sell Agreement and an Email Deal Walk into a Beachside Bar . . .

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.
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Re-Revisiting The Duty to Disclose Third-Party Offers Amidst Buy-Out Negotiations

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. …
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The Duty to Disclose Third-Party Offers Amidst Buy-Out Negotiations, Revisited

This week’s New York Business Divorce examines a recent decision in a lawsuit stemming from a buyout between the two members of a single-asset realty-holding LLC based on a $1.9 million valuation of the LLC’s realty followed one month later by a sale of the realty to a third-party buyer for $2.9 million. …
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LLC Member Pays the Price For Not Sticking to Deadlock-Breaking Script

Can a shotgun turn into a minefield? The answer is “yes” judging from a recent decision by Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Andrew Borrok finding a defective exercise of provisions in an LLC agreement for a deadlock-triggered shotgun buy-out. Read about it in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
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Two Entities, Two Outcomes: Withdrawal and the Right to an Accounting

This week’s New York Business Divorce compares two cases of closely-held business owner withdrawal, one involving an LLC, the other a general partnership, one resulting in a right to an accounting, the other not. Why the difference? Read on to find out.
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Business Divorce Nation: A Cross-Country Tour of Recent Decisions of Interest
It’s time for another cross-country trip in this week’s New York Business Divorce which summarizes a quintet of recent appellate decisions in business divorce cases by courts outside New York. …
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Departing LLC Members: Exercise Your Put Option Before Insolvency Approaches

Can an LLC member with a put option–the right to sell his interest back to the LLC–exercise that option when doing so will render the LLC insolvent? This week’s New York Business Divorce post highlights a recent decision by Justice Masley of the New York County Commercial Division considering this issue. …
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Consider Whether Your Buy-Sell Provision is a Call Option Before Pulling the Trigger

This week’s New York Business Divorce, authored by Peter J. Sluka, looks at a first-impression decision by the Delaware Chancery Court in which the court characterized a shareholder buy-out provision as a call option, with consequences for the company’s attempt to revoke its initiation of the buy-out. …
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This Single-Appraiser Buy-Sell Agreement Was Asking for Trouble

This week’s New York Business Divorce highlights a recent decision by Justice Joel M. Cohen in a fascinating, high stakes case involving an allegedly “rigged” appraisal pursuant to a repurchase option in an LLC agreement. …
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