This week’s New York Business Divorce offers a trifecta of sorts, offering summaries of three recent decisions, one involving an LLC, another a partnership, and another a close corporation.
Continue Reading Recent Decisions Enforce LLC Member’s Right of First Refusal, Restrict Partnership Accounting, and Allow Damages Claim for Breach of Oral Shareholders Agreement
Partnerships
The “Illegality” Defense to Partnership Formation

In this week’s New York Business Divorce, read about a recent decision dismissing a partnership dissolution petition finding the alleged partnership unenforceable under the doctrine of illegality. Outcomes like this are rare. Learn why in this week’s article.
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Federal Courts Wade Into Business Divorce: Recent Decisions of Interest

State courts far and away are the dominant arena for business divorce litigation. Just for kicks if not giggles, this week’s New York Business Divorce takes a look at some recent cases involving partnership disputes decided by federal courts.
Continue Reading Federal Courts Wade Into Business Divorce: Recent Decisions of Interest
Warning: If You Want Legal Fee Advancement or Indemnification, You May Need to Amend Your Partnership, Shareholder, or Operating Agreement

Last week, the Court of Appeals announced a major clarification of the law of advancement and indemnification of legal fees in disputes among closely-held business owners. Read about it in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Warning: If You Want Legal Fee Advancement or Indemnification, You May Need to Amend Your Partnership, Shareholder, or Operating Agreement
Wrongful Dissociation Under RUPA: Toto, We’re Not in New York Anymore

A recent New Jersey appellate ruling in a wrongful dissolution case involving a partnership presents a clear contrast with New York’s contract-centric approach. Read about it in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Wrongful Dissociation Under RUPA: Toto, We’re Not in New York Anymore
Is Loss Sharing an “Indispensable Essential” of Partnership?

This week’s New York Business Divorce uses a recent decision in a dispute involving a law firm LLP to explore the issue of “sharing of losses” and whether it is an essential element in establishing one’s status as a partner of a partnership. …
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A Fresh Take on Partnership to LLC Conversions
In this week’s New York Business Divorce, read about a brand new decision considering the correct interpretation of a rarely-litigated statute: Section 1006 of the Limited Liability Company Law authorizing partnership to LLC conversions. The decision provides transactional lawyers useful guidance to structure such a reorganization to potentially avoid a limited partner’s right to dissent from the transaction and seek fair value in an appraisal proceeding.
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Disputes Abound When Law Firms Dissolve

How does one value a law firm’s caseload at dissolution? The litigation over the dissolution of Brown Chiari LLP has already made its mark on business divorce jurisprudence. As it approaches its sixth birthday, the case continues to deliver, with Erie County Commercial Division Justice Timothy J. Walker recently authoring two notable decisions concerning a partner’s interest in the firm’s substantial caseload at the time of its dissolution.
Continue Reading Disputes Abound When Law Firms Dissolve
General Partner’s Resignation Triggers Nonjudicial Dissolution of Limited Partnership

The North Carolina Court of Appeals last week handed down a significant opinion affirming the nonjudicial dissolution of a family-owned Delaware limited partnership based on the appointment of a new general partner in contravention of the terms of the limited partnership agreement. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading General Partner’s Resignation Triggers Nonjudicial Dissolution of Limited Partnership
Betting the Farm On An Oral Partnership Agreement

In a decision handed down last week, an upstate appellate panel upheld a partnership dissolution complaint not only seeking to enforce an oral partnership agreement for a business that operates an apple tree farm, but also claiming as partnership property the 40-acre farm acquired by the defendant years earlier. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Betting the Farm On An Oral Partnership Agreement