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

In a two-member, 50/50 LLC, can Member #1 as sole managing member assert a fiduciary breach claim against non-managing Member #2? Justice Vito DeStefano recently tackled the question in Kalikow v. Shalik, highlighted in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Court Dismisses Fiduciary Breach, Contribution Claims Against Non-Managing LLC Member

You won’t want to miss the discussion of Justice Charles Ramos’ recent decision in Serota v. Scimone in this week’s New York Business Divorce involving a family feud triggered by a management agreement given by the late founder of a real estate empire organized as a series of LLCs, that left his two sons with ownership and the title of managing member but with no authority to control or sell the business.
Continue Reading Father’s Dead-Hand Control of LLCs Frustrates Sons’ Takeover of Realty Empire

Justice Stephen Bucaria’s recent decision in PFT Technology LLC v. Wieser is one of only a handful of rulings by New York courts addressing the right to advancement of legal fees in litigation among members of a limited liability company. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Novel Ruling on Advancement in LLC Dissolution Case “Levels the Playing Field”

A noteworthy decision last week by Justice Carolyn Demarest is featured in this week’s New York Business Divorce. The case, involving a fight between sibling co-owners of a food distributor and a separate realty company, addresses important issues concerning the scope of a general release and LLC members’ right to advancement of legal defense costs.
Continue Reading Court Limits Scope of Release, Denies Advancement of Defense Costs in Sibling “Food Fight”

In this week’s New York Business Divorce you’ll read about two recent cases in which New York courts decided disputes between members of Delaware LLCs over the interpretation of provisions — one dealing with a distribution waterfall and the other with compulsory buyback of membership interests — found in highly sophisticated operating agreements.
Continue Reading Waterfalls and Compulsory Buybacks: New York Courts Decide Disputes Involving Sophisticated Delaware LLC Agreements

Unlike many states including Delaware, whose statutes authorize oral LLC agreements, New York’s LLC Law mandates a written operating agreement. A recent decision by the Appellate Division, First Department, permitting a claim based on an alleged oral LLC agreement to go forward, prompts examination of the pros and cons of oral LLC agreements, in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading The Oral LLC Agreement: Boon or Bane?