Corporate management takes the win in this week’s New York Business Divorce with what appears to be the first New York appellate decision to apply the business judgment rule to a decision by a board of directors to oust one of its own under the “cause” standard for removal found in Section 706 of the Business Corporation Law. Whether there is, or is not, “cause” to fire a co-director, held the Court, is a matter falling comfortably within the board’s business judgment, even as a response to aggressive activism. So behave on that board. Otherwise, your colleagues may show you the door.

Continue Reading Co-Director Removal and the Business Judgment Rule

Some business divorce cases are about money. Others are about control. Today’s case, Homapour v 3M Properties LLC, 2026 NY Slip Op 04371 (1st Dept 2026), is about both.

As we often see with second and third generation closely-held family businesses, the informal trust and family hierarchy that may have helped build the enterprise

When shareholder oppression is real but dissolution is too much, should courts give majority owners a chance to straighten out before imposing the corporate death penalty?

 
 
 


Continue Reading Is it Time for Courts to Embrace Shareholder Oppression Outside of the Corporate Dissolution Context?

Family-owned businesses grab more than their fair share of business divorce matters. In his new book called The Principles of Family Business Law, Professor Benjamin Means examines the uncomfortable fit between, on the one hand, standard economic theory and law based on the “rational actor” seeking to maximize wealth and, on the other hand, the idiosyncratic dynamics of family-owned firms.

Continue Reading A New Framework for the Family Business Enterprise: A Review of Benjamin Means’ “The Principles of Family Business Law”

New York appellate case law invariably holds that a closely-held business owner lacks a direct property interest or right in the entity’s underlying real estate asset to support a Notice of Pendency. But in this week’s New York Business Divorce, we feature an uncommon motion court decision declining to vacate a Notice of Pendency placed by an LLC member upon the entity’s real estate asset to thwart the property’s sale to a third-party buyer. Is this recent decision an outlier, or the birth of an exception to the rule?

Continue Reading For Close Business Owners, the Toothless Notice of Pendency Remedy Unexpectedly Gets Some Bite

Four sisters. One house. Who owns it?

Today’s case delves into a thorny situation many closely-held family businesses struggle with—proving ownership.

It’s no secret that many closely-held family business do not comply with corporate formalities. In the absence of such formalities, it can be difficult to demonstrate ownership without stock certificates in hand, or other

This week’s New York Business Divorce presents the 2025 Winter Case Notes, where we highlight a few recent decisions of interest featuring strict adherence to statutory language and the parties’ governing agreements.
Continue Reading Winter Case Notes: Nice Try, But the Agreements Say What They Say