New York Business Divorce proudly presents its seventh annual list of the past year’s ten most noteworthy business divorce cases, along with short summaries and links to prior posts on the featured cases. Happy New Year!
Continue Reading Top Ten Business Divorce Cases of 2014
Operating Agreement
LLC Subscription Agreement No Bar to Transfer of Membership Interest
Does an LLC subscription agreement, barring transfer of “any interest therein,” bar the later transfer of the acquired membership interest? The answer, recently provided by a Manhattan appellate panel in Gartner v. Cardio Ventures, LLC, is discussed in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
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Court Construes Member Expulsion Provision in LLC Agreement
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.
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Court Puts LLC Out of Its Misery, Contractually
This week’s New York Business Divorce spotlights an interesting and unusual LLC dissolution case in which Justice Thomas Whelan upheld grounds for contractual as opposed to judicial dissolution. It’s one you won’t want to miss. …
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Death of an LLC Member
In a noteworthy decision last month, Justice Orin Kitzes ruled that the executor of a deceased LLC member’s estate lacked standing to assert derivative claims against the LLC’s managers. Find out why, in this week’s New York Business Divorce. …
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Transfer of LLC’s Assets to Subsidiary Triggers Unintended 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. …
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Court Dismisses Fiduciary Breach, Contribution Claims Against Non-Managing LLC Member
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. …
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Court Limits Scope of Release, Denies Advancement of Defense Costs in Sibling “Food Fight”
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. …
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Waterfalls and Compulsory Buybacks: New York Courts Decide Disputes Involving Sophisticated Delaware LLC Agreements
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. …
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The Oral LLC Agreement: Boon or Bane?
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. …
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