Most practitioners believe the summary judgment in lieu of complaint statute, CPLR 3213, applies just to contracts involving loans or other indebtedness. Not so. In a recent decision, a Manhattan Commercial Division Justice granted summary judgment in lieu of complaint, entering a money judgment for nearly $35 million, based upon a seldom litigated provision of the statute permitting accelerated treatment “upon any judgment” – in this case, a prior declaratory judgment. Read about the Court’s novel approach to summary judgment in lieu of complaint in this week New York Business Divorce.
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Freeze-Out Merger
Questions Abound in Parallel Cash-Out Merger Rescission / Fair Value Appraisal Lawsuits

In this week’s New York Business Divorce, read about the outcomes of two pre-answer dismissal motions in parallel lawsuits commenced by the founding shareholder of a family-owned corporation challenging a cash-out merger initiated against him by the second-generation owners, including his cousins and nephew.
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The Farro Litigation: The Rest of the Story

This week’s New York Business Divorce is a follow-up to last week’s article, a piece about the enormously important appellate decision in the Farro case, the first to carefully consider the correct meaning and interpretation of New York’s LLC merger statute and its relation to the analogous corporation merger statute. In this week’s article, learn about the rest of the story in the Farro litigation, addressed in two companion appellate decisions issued the same day.
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Groundbreaking Appellate Ruling Boosts LLC Cash-Out Mergers

In a long-awaited decision handed down last week by the Appellate Division, Second Department, the court construed two sections of New York’s LLC Law in a significant boost to the ability of members with voting control to remove minority members by means of a cash-out merger. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
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“Rank Pretext Will Not Do”: Court Enjoins Freeze-Out Merger With No Corporate Benefit

“Rank pretext will not do.” With those words, a Manhattan judge preliminarily enjoined a freeze-out merger in the absence of credible evidence that the merger advanced a general corporate purpose. Get the full story in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
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How to Initiate a Fair Value Appraisal Proceeding – a Dissenter’s Checklist

In this week’s New York Business Divorce, we go step-by-step through a tricky process, confusing to many: the procedures leading up to the commencement of a fair value appraisal proceeding.
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A Fond Adieu to Two Giants of the Manhattan Commercial Division Bench
In this week’s New York Business Divorce, a tip of the hat to retiring Justices Eileen Bransten and Charles E. Ramos with a look back at some of their more memorable business divorce rulings.
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Basics of Valuation Proceedings – Litigating an Appraisal from Start to Finish – Part 1
In this week’s New York Business Divorce – the first in a three-part series about the statutory triggers, legal rules, and accounting principles of business valuation proceedings – learn about the routes business owners can take to an appraisal proceeding.
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A Trip Down Business Divorce Lane with Recently Retired Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich
In this week’s New York Business Divorce, we salute recently-retired Commercial Division Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich with a collection of some of her most noteworthy decisions in the area of business ownership disputes.
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The Cash-Out Merger Solution to the Problem Minority Owner

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.
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