In litigation between co-owners of private business entities, a claim against the controllers for an equitable accounting is different from a claim seeking access to books and records — or is it? Get the answer in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Equitable Accounting vs. Access to Books and Records: Don’t Confuse Them
Outlawing of LLC’s Short-Term Rental Business Brings Long-Term Litigation
Ill-fated hardly begins to describe the legislatively doomed LLC involved in the lawsuit featured in this week’s New York Business Divorce. You won’t want to miss it.
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IP Disputes Among Private Business Co-Owners Dominate Three Recent Cases
Intellectual property rights are the lifeblood of many a closely held business entity. This week’s New York Business Divorce looks at three recent decisions involving disputes among business co-owners over the ownership and exploitation of critical IP assets.
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When Dealing in Partnership Owned Real Property, Caveat Emptor
In this week’s New York Business Divorce, read about how dissenting general partners can potentially wreak havoc on partnership real property sales, and how buyers can protect themselves from judicial invalidation of their transactions.
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Is a Schedule K-1 By Itself Enough to Prove LLC Membership?
This week’s New York Business Divorce jumps back into the fray of undocumented interests in LLCs with no written operating agreement, focusing on a recent court decision that found in favor of the plaintiff’s claim of membership based solely on the LLC’s tax return.
Continue Reading Is a Schedule K-1 By Itself Enough to Prove LLC Membership?
Think Twice Before Putting 100% Quorum Requirement in By-Laws or LLC Agreement
This week’s New York Business Divorce examines an unusual case centering on an atypical quorum provision in an operating agreement requiring the presence of all managers in order to conduct any business.
Continue Reading Think Twice Before Putting 100% Quorum Requirement in By-Laws or LLC Agreement
A Deep Dive Into the Election to Purchase in Dissolution Proceedings
This week’s New York Business Divorce takes a close look at the issues surrounding the statutory right of the corporation and other shareholders to stay dissolution proceedings by electing to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value.
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Accounting Unchained: Is the Closely Held Business Owner’s Right to an Accounting Absolute?
In this week’s New York Business Divorce, we focus on the oft-overlooked accounting cause of action, recently reinvigorated by an appellate decision referring to the claim as an “absolute right.” What does that mean for business divorce litigants? Read on.
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Does an Inactive Member of a Member-Managed LLC Owe Fiduciary Duties?
This week’s New York Business Divorce examines a noteworthy decision by Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Barry Ostrager in which he held that a member of a member-managed LLC owes fiduciary duties regardless whether the member actively participates in the LLC’s management.
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Inspection Rights, Oral Operating Agreements, and Other Pop-Diva Delights
Over the last several years, the books-and-records proceeding and its corresponding shareholder rights of inspection seem to have entered a bit of renaissance period in the courts. We here at New York Business Divorce have reported on at least nine decisions primarily addressing the topic since September 2014, going on record to proclaim the phenomenon as a “boost” for the summary proceeding, by which minority owners in closely-held businesses can get a window into the management and operation of the companies from which they’ve been shut out. We’ve even gone so far as to suggest that books-and-records proceedings may be “on a roll” of late, both in terms of an expansion what constitutes a “proper purpose” for bringing the proceeding, as well as in terms of the scope of information attainable.
That trend, at least with respect to the frequency with which issues related to inspection rights are being litigated, appears to be continuing into 2018. What follows are summaries of three of this year’s more notable decisions addressing inspection rights – all from Manhattan Supreme Court, as it happens.
But first, a quick refresher on the subject matter at hand…
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