The parol evidence rule blocks the claims of a Nobel laureate based on an alleged oral stock allocation agreement in the shareholder dispute featured in this week’s New York Business Divorce. Don’t miss it!
Continue Reading No Prize for Nobel Laureate in Fight for Bigger Stake in Biotech Company
In a rare dissolution decision from the New York Surrogate’s Court – a court for the affairs of the deceased – the court declines to kill off a clothing business based upon a claim of oppression brought by the estate of the former minority shareholder. Read about it in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Surrogate’s Court Declines to Order Demise of Fashion Business
The LLC freeze-out merger has been referred to by one scholar as “hidden statutory expulsion.” In a decision last month featured in this week’s New York Business Divorce, Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Charles Ramos refused to enjoin a freeze-out merger challenged by minority members of an LLC who claimed that it violated the LLC’s operating agreement.
Continue Reading Court Finds No Breach of Operating Agreement, No Basis to Enjoin LLC Freeze-Out Merger
Stock transfer restrictions in closely held corporations are routinely upheld by courts. So are increases in authorized shares that treat existing shareholders uniformly. But sometimes, as in the case highlighted in this week’s New York Business Divorce, the combined effect of the two may breach duties owed by controllers to the minority.
Continue Reading Too Clever By Half? Court Permits Suit Challenging Share Increase Tied to Transfer Restrictions
A decision last month by Justice Robert Bruno foiled a convicted felon’s attempt to assign to his wife his 50% membership interest in two realty holding LLCs. Find out more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading How Good is Your Operating Agreement’s Anti-Assignment Clause?
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.
Continue Reading LLC Subscription Agreement No Bar to Transfer of Membership Interest
Justice Carolyn Demarest issued a noteworthy decision this month in Camuso v. Brooklyn Portfolio LLC, in which she resolved a three-way dispute over the transfer of a general and limited partnership interest as part of a divorce settlement. Get the full story in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Divorce Settlement, Tax Returns Trump Partnership Agreement’s Transfer Restrictions
“I’ll sell you my shares, but you’ll have to take my job, too.” That’s the upshot of a recent decision by Commercial Division Justice Elizabeth H. Emerson, holding that a right of first refusal in a shareholders’ agreement required any third-party buyer to assume the selling shareholder’s job responsibilities, and on that basis invalidating a minority shareholder’s attempt to sell his shares to his father. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Court Invalidates Father-Son Stock Transfer Under Right of First Refusal
Justice David Schmidt of the Kings County Commercial Division issued a decision last week holding that, absent stock transfer restrictions in the shareholders’ agreement, a close corporation shareholder has no fiduciary duty requiring that the shares of a departing shareholder be offered pari passu to the remaining shareholders. Get the details in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading There’s No Fiduciary Duty to Share and Share Alike for Shares of Stock
Matter of Bernfeld, decided last week by a Brooklyn appellate panel in a signed opinion authored by Justice John Leventhal, offers a rare and fascinating encounter with an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to obtain judicial dissolution of a professional corporation under Section 1103 of the Business Corporation Law, brought by the widow of the deceased majority shareholder. If you are, or have a client who is, a co-owner of a professional corporation, do yourself a favor and read this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Case Illustrates How Not to Plan for the Death of a Shareholder in a Professional Corporation