Family-Owned Businesses

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Last week I stopped by the courthouse in White Plains to watch the oral argument of the appeal by Paul “Junior” Teutul of American Chopper fame from the lower court’s decision on which I previously reported, compelling him to sell his shares in the custom motorcycle business to his father and television co-star, Paul “Senior” Teutul. Get the full story in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
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Continue Reading Court Hears Argument of Paul Jr.’s Appeal in American Chopper Buyout Dispute

In a first impression decision handed down last month in Matter of Deblinger, Justice Stephen A. Bucaria upheld the court’s power to compel a respondent shareholder in a dissolution case to present a derivative claim against the petitioner-director. Catch it in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
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Continue Reading Can Court Compel Shareholder to Present Claim in Dissolution Proceeding?

Must a corporate dissolution petition name all shareholders as respondents? Does the dismissal of a shareholder’s prior lawsuit asserting derivative and employment-based claims preclude his seeking relief as an oppressed minority shareholder? These are the questions answered in a recent decision by Justice Orin Kitzes in Matter of Adelstein (Finest Foods Distributing Co.), featured in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
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Continue Reading Court Addresses Necessary Party, Res Judicata Issues in Shareholder Oppression Case Pitting Uncle Against Nephews

The Partnership Law’s default provisions provide a roadmap for Justice Timothy Driscoll’s recent decision, highlighted in this week’s New York Business Divorce, involving the dissolution of a family real estate partnership following the death of one of its partners.
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Continue Reading Winding Up an Acrimonious Partnership Following Death of a Partner

The right of first refusal, commonly used to restrict stock transfers in closely held corporations, continues to live up to its reputation as one of the most reliable generators of employment for litigation attorneys in Giaimo v. EGA Associates Inc., in which the Appellate Division, First Department, recently reversed a lower court’s ruling denying summary judgment in a battle for corporate control between brother and sister. It’s in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
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Continue Reading Court Invalidates Control-Shifting Stock Transfer Made in Violation of Corporation’s Right of First Refusal

The defense of “unclean hands” frequently is employed against petitions for involuntary corporate dissolution. A recent decision by Justice Stephen Bucaria, examined in this week’s New York Business Divorce, highlights the special considerations attendant to the defense in 50/50 deadlock dissolution cases, where the focus is less on fault and more on the existence of dissension.
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Continue Reading “Unclean Hands” Defense Can Backfire in Deadlock Dissolution Case

The death in 2007 of Claudia Cohen, a well-known gossip columnist and socialite who married and divorced billionaire Ronald Perelman, led to a high-stakes litigation between her estate and her surviving brother over the valuation of the estate’s 50% share in a family partnership that directly or indirectly owned real estate interests with a market value over $20 million. A recent court decision ruled against the estate’s $11.5 million claim and, instead, enforced a $178,000 “net book value” buyout under the partnership agreement’s formula, also rejecting the estate’s argument that such a drastically below-market buyout was unconscionable. Read this week’s New York Business Divorce to get the full story.
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Continue Reading Court Rejects Unconscionability Argument in Family Partnership Valuation Case, Concludes that “Full and True Value” Equals “Net Book Value” as Defined by Agreement

Internecine litigations involving family-owned close corporations generate some of the murkiest fact patterns and knottiest legal issues known to the courts. This week’s New York Business Divorce looks at one such case, recently decided by Justice Bernard J. Fried, involving a family fight over a dissolved corporation, a second corporation with the same name,and real estate sale proceeds.
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Continue Reading Court Permits Direct Rather Than Derivative Recovery in Post-Dissolution Action Against Controlling Shareholder for Misappropriation of Assets Held by Second Corporation Found to be “Mere Continuation” of Dissolved Corporation

The necessity of an evidentiary hearing is a threshold issue in corporate dissolution proceedings. A recent decision by Suffolk County Commercial Division Justice Emily Pines serves up a good illustration of how courts approach the issue. Read more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
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Continue Reading Disputed Allegations of Shareholder Oppression Require Evidentiary Hearing