Delaware

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None too surprisingly, last week the Delaware Supreme Court in Blaustein v. Lord Baltimore Capital Corp. affirmed a Court of Chancery decision dismissing the contention that directors of closely held Delaware corporations have a common-law fiduciary duty to redeem the stock of a minority shareholder. Read more in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
Continue Reading Delaware Supreme Court: No Duty to Buy Out Minority Stockholder

Delaware law’s contractarian approach is central to that state’s jurisprudence concerning limited liability companies. Last month, in Huatuco v. Satellite Healthcare, the Court of Chancery cited freedom-of-contract in dismissing an action for judicial dissolution based on its finding that the LLC agreement’s provision, limiting member rights to those expressly granted in the agreement, constituted a waiver of the right to seek judicial dissolution. This week’s New York Business Divorce asks the question, does Huatuco take contractarianism too far?
Continue Reading Contractarianism Gone Wild?

Derivative claims are frequently asserted in business divorce litigation. Within the last two months the Manhattan-based Appellate Division, First Department, issued three decisions addressing the demand futility requirement in derivative lawsuits involving Delaware and New York corporations, limited partnerships and LLCs. Get up to speed with this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Recent Appellate Rulings Address Demand Futility in Derivative Lawsuits

The decision highlighted in this week’s New York Business Divorce may not be new, but it is one that deserves serious attention as a possible remedial template in deadlock dissolution cases, where one 50% owner with operational control uses it as a sword to force the other 50% owner to accept an under-valued buyout. …
Continue Reading How Should Courts Maximize Shareholder Value When Dissolving Deadlocked Companies?

Is an LLC membership interest forfeited or reduced when a member fails to make a required capital contribution? That was the threshold issue in a decision last week by the Delaware Chancery Court in Grove v. Brown, where the LLC’s financial success in its first year led to acrimony and litigation. Get the answer in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading LLC’s Quick Success Breeds Mutual Misbehavior in Delaware Case

Classifying a shareholder claim as direct or derivative has important consequences at the pleading stage and beyond. This week’s New York Business Divorce looks at a recent decision by Justice Melvin Schweitzer in which he concluded that the defendant majority shareholder’s alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, constituting a “de facto liquidation” of the company, could support dual direct and derivative claims.
Continue Reading Minority Shareholder’s De Facto Liquidation Claim: Direct, Derivative, or Both?

The implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is a much misunderstood and frequently misused legal doctrine in disputes between co-owners of business entities. A decision by the Delaware Supreme Court earlier this month provides an excellent roadmap to understand the doctrine and the ability–or not–to contract around it. It’s in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
Continue Reading Can’t Get Rid of Those Nooks and Crannies: Delaware Supreme Court Clarifies Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing

It happens once in a while: the co-owners of a business entity formed under the laws of State X have a choice of law clause in their agreement opting to be governed by the laws of State Y. Such was the case in Gelman v. Gelman, recently decided by Justice Daniel Palmieri involving a dispute between sibling co-members of a Delaware LLC whose operating agreement had a New York choice of law provision. Which state’s law did the court apply? Get the answer in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading What Law Applies When Internal Affairs Doctrine Clashes With Choice-of-Law Clause?

For a variety of reasons, many closely-held corporations in New York and elsewhere choose to incorporate in Delaware. A Delaware Chancery Court decision last week, in Blaustein v. Lord Baltimore Capital Corp., serves as a good reminder of the perils of Delaware incorporation to minority shareholders. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Who Wants to Be a Minority Shareholder of a Delaware Closely-Held Corporation?

Do New York courts have authority to hear suits for judicial dissolution of New York-based foreign business entities? This week’s New York Business Divorce discusses a recent decision by Justice Anil C. Singh in Holdrum, N.V. v. Edelman, which highlights a split of appellate authority on the issue.
Continue Reading Judicial Muddle Persists Over Power to Dissolve Foreign Entities