The statute governing LLC mergers requires a member vote at a meeting to be held on at least 20 days notice. In Slayton v. Highline Stages, LLC, the majority members used written consents in lieu of a meeting to approve a freeze-out merger, which the frozen-out minority member challenged. Did she succeed? Find out in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading No Meeting, No Vote Required for LLC’s Freeze-Out Merger Approved by Majority’s Written Consents

Over the last year or so Nassau County Commercial Division Justice Stephen Bucaria has issued a series of decisions in disputes among co-owners of close corporations and LLCs applying the ancient rule of partnership law prohibiting courts from adjudicating such disputes except when dissolution or a final accounting is sought. Learn more about this intriguing development in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Squabbling Partners with Piecemeal Adjudications Need Not Apply

There’s sure to be fireworks — or at least litigation — when one of two 50% members of an LLC attempts to terminate the other for wrongful conduct as vaguely defined in the LLC agreement, as illustrated in an appellate ruling last month in Harker v. Guyther, featured in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Court Construes Member Expulsion Provision in LLC Agreement

The Appellate Division’s landmark ruling in the 1545 Ocean Avenue case sharply demarcated the different statutes and different grounds available for judicial dissolution of LLCs and closely held corporations. So why, in a recent trial court decision, did the court grant judicial dissolution of an LLC under both the LLC Law and the Business Corporation Law? This week’s New York Business Divorce explains.
Continue Reading Did Anyone Tell the Judge the Business Corporation Law Doesn’t Apply to LLC Dissolution?

This week’s New York Business Divorce highlights a fascinating case involving a chain of walk-in airport spas known as XpresSpa, in which Justice Melvin Schweitzer recently ruled that the structuring of a capital investment by a private equity firm triggered a dissolution of XpresSpa’s parent company under the terms of its operating agreement.
Continue Reading Transfer of LLC’s Assets to Subsidiary Triggers Unintended Dissolution

Insurance-funded buy-sell agreements among owners of closely held companies, when done right, provide financial security for the family of a deceased owner and continuity for the surviving owners. When done wrong, well, that’s another story, as illustrated in a case recently decided by Justice Timothy Driscoll highlighted in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading How Not to Create an Insurance-Funded Buy-Sell Agreement