In this week’s New York Business Divorce, we consider an interesting question raised by the occasional overlap of two niche areas of law practice: the jurisdictional power of New York’s probate courts to resolve business divorce disputes.
Continue Reading Business Divorce in the Surrogate’s Court
This week’s New York Business Divorce examines a highly interesting appellate opinion in a California case centering on whether the operating agreement required unanimous member approval to remove the designated managing member.
Continue Reading Statute Trumps LLC Agreement’s Voting Rights Provision in Dispute Over Manager’s Removal
It’s back! For the third week in a row, New York Business Divorce examines a decision by Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Saliann Scarpulla in a multi-faceted feud among members of the Yu family, this time requiring the court to balance the fiduciary duty owed by LLC managers against the right to amend the operating agreement without the consent of the affected minority member.
Continue Reading Does This Decision Put the Brakes on Non-Unanimous Amendments to Operating Agreements?
This weeks New York Business Divorce examines a recent decision by Justice Saliann Scarpulla, dismissing a complaint seeking judicial dissolution of two family-owned LLCs in which the plaintiff alleged that his siblings’ actions were in furtherance of a “personal vendetta.”
Continue Reading Judicial Dissolution and the Weaponized LLC
If you’re an LLC member or member’s lawyer thinking about expelling a misbehaving co-member, but without authorization to do so in the operating agreement, read this post and think again.
Continue Reading Repeat After Me: You May Not Expel a Member of a New York LLC Unless the Operating Agreement Says So
Are you in business with, or advising a business with, a disruptive minority partner, shareholder, or member? What can you do about it? In this week’s New York Business Divorce we consider one option – the “cash-out” or “freeze-out” merger.
Continue Reading The Cash-Out Merger Solution to the Problem Minority Owner
The Appellate Division in Shapiro v Ettenson interpreted New York’s LLC Law as permitting the adoption of post-formation LLC operating agreements by majority vote, i.e, without the consent of the minority. This week’s New York Business Divorce focuses on Shapiro’s impact on member expulsion.
Continue Reading LLC Member Expulsion: What Hath Shapiro Wrought?
This week’s New York Business Divorce offers its annual Winter Case Notes with synopses of five recent decisions in business divorce cases involving LLC dissolution, cash-out merger, LLC member expulsion, and more.
Continue Reading Winter Case Notes: LLC Deadlock and Other Recent Decisions of Interest
The minority and majority owners of a Brooklyn-based vodka distillery duke it out in the case examined in this week’s New York Business Divorce centering on the proper construction of provisions in a Founders Agreement concerning the right to, and consequences of, terminating a founder.
Continue Reading Then There Were Two: Court Rejects Minority Shareholder’s Claim of Wrongful Termination Under Founders Agreement
Few recent cases in the business divorce field are as important as last week’s appellate affirmance in the Shapiro case, allowing majority LLC members to adopt an operating agreement that binds non-signatory minority members. Get the story in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Thinking About Becoming a Minority Member of a New York LLC Without an Operating Agreement? Think Again