Serving as the tiebreaker on a equally divided board of directors can be a thankless task, which puts it mildly when one faction sues to remove the tiebreaker. This week’s New York Business Divorce highlights a noteworthy case in which a 50% member of a Delaware LLC claimed the right to unilaterally remove the designated tiebreaker.
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Business Divorce on the Menu

You’d think amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, with restaurants struggling to stay open, that their owners would have more pressing issues to deal with than litigating against their co-owners, but as you’ll see in this week’s New York Business Divorce, some things never change.…
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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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Unauthorized Certificate of Revival Dooms Delaware LLC’s Claims Against Former Managing Members

A ministerial failure to replace the registered agent of a Delaware LLC ultimately started a chain of events leading to the dismissal last month by a New York appellate court of a direct action by the LLC against its former managers. Get the full story in this week’s New York Business Divorce.…
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Winter Case Notes: Time-Barred Dissolution Petition and Other Decisions of Interest

This week’s New York Business Divorce offers its annual Winter Case Notes with synopses of five noteworthy decisions by courts in New York, Colorado, and Delaware.…
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Advance! Amend! Retreat!

In its ruling last week in Carr v Global Payments Inc., the Delaware Court of Chancery had to decide whether to reverse its prior order requiring advancement of a former corporate officer’s litigation expenses after the company subsequently amended its complaint in the underlying suit for the precise purpose of avoiding advancement. Find out what happened in this week’s New York Business Divorce.…
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Summer Shorts: LLC Minority Member Oppression and Other Decisions of Interest

This 9th annual edition of Summer Shorts presents brief commentary on four decisions of interest in business divorce cases from courts in New York, California, Delaware, and Illinois.…
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Court Blocks “End Run” Around Bar to Subject Matter Jurisdiction in Suit to Dissolve Foreign LLC

Does a New York court have jurisdiction over suits involving foreign entities in which the plaintiff seeks forced sale of assets or forced buy/sell? Get the answer in this week’s New York Business Divorce.…
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The Demanding Demand Requirement in Shareholder Derivative Actions

Shareholder derivative actions pose unique pleading challenges designed by statute to preserve management’s role in deciding the company’s business affairs. This week’s New York Business Divorce highlights a pair of recent appellate rulings dismissing derivative actions for failure to plead demand futility with sufficient particularity.…
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