Fall NYC Roundup

November was a whirlwind month for New York LLC litigation.  It featured disputes over how to wind up a judicially dissolved LLC, a bitter intra-family emergency indemnification/advancement injunction, and the finale of a decade-long battle over the enforceability of a partially baked operating agreement.  Some of these recent cases add clarity to the growing body of New York LLC caselaw. Others add confusion.  But all add precedential footholds for future arguments in disputes between members of New York LLCs. Members and their counsel take note.Continue Reading A Leaf Through a Busy November in New York LLC Litigation

New York’s LLC Law authorizes operating agreements to eliminate manager and member fiduciary duties, but does it really? Find out in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Diving Into the Shallow Waters of New York Law Permitting Elimination of LLC Managers’ Liability for Breach of Fiduciary Duty

The limited liability company is relatively young.  Though origin research is always a dubious task, my efforts tell me that the first LLC was created in 1977 in Wyoming, followed by other LLCs in Florida in 1982.  The years since then have witnessed the LLC’s rise to the closely held entity of choice among business owners.

One benefit of the LLC’s youthful age is that many of the minds that were most influential in its early-stage development are still teaching, practicing, and studying, all while continuing to lend their expertise on LLC formation, regulation, and litigation.  And your best chance of catching all those prominent minds in one place is at the American Bar Association’s annual LLC Institute.

For those interested in learning the intricacies of the LLC laws directly from the experts, I highly recommend attending the two-day conference.  While a single-post recap inevitably won’t do justice to the many presentations, panels, and discussions at the Institute, this week’s post attempts to sample some of the best business divorce topics highlighted in the 2024 LLC Institute.Continue Reading Greetings from the American Bar Association’s 2024 LLC Institute

In this week’s New York Business Divorce, read about last week’s important Appellate Division decision for the first time explicitly holding that LLC Law 608 gives member voting rights to the estate of a deceased member.
Continue Reading Appellate Division Construes LLC Law 608 as Giving Voting Rights to a Deceased Member’s Estate

Under traditional principles of business valuation, courts are generally expected to eschew metrics post-dating the valuation date. But often, litigants hoping to either increase or decrease an entity’s valuation ask courts to consider post-valuation date events or financial performance as affirmatory or disaffirmatory of financial projections or assumptions made before or as of the valuation date. Sometimes, litigants succeed in that endeavor. Read about a recent example in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Can Post-Valuation Date Historical Performance Trump Pre-Valuation Date Financial Projections?

New York case law concerning shareholder rights to inspect books and records of foreign business entities is far from settled. This week’s New York Business Divorce features two recent decisions in books and records cases involving a Delaware corporation and a Nevada LLC, with mixed results.
Continue Reading Foreign Affairs of the Books and Records Kind

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The shareholder oppression claim under BCL 1104-a has a unique relationship with claims for money damages.

A minority shareholder petitioning for dissolution under BCL 1104-a must establish that the majority shareholders have engaged in “illegal, fraudulent or oppressive actions,” or that the “property or assets of the corporation are being looted, wasted, or diverted for non-corporate purposes by its directors, officers or those in control of the corporation.”

Based on that standard, it’s easy to imagine conduct by the majority that both meets the criteria for dissolution and constitutes a separate tort compensable with money damages (for instance, a claim for the majority’s breach of fiduciary duty).  For that reason, it’s very common to see a dissolution petition coupled with money damages claims, all arising out of the same conduct. 

But where the money damages claims are filed before the dissolution petition, a plaintiff might be forced to litigate those to completion prior to pursuing their dissolution petition.  That’s the tough lesson learned by the petitioner of a dissolution proceeding brought under BCL 1104-a, in Ramirez v Issa, 2024 N.Y. Slip Op. 33488[U] [NY County 2024], the subject of this week’s post.Continue Reading Corporate Dissolution Petition Hits Back Burner in Favor of Earlier Filed Claims for Money Damages

Road Trip

While there is tremendous diversity from state to state when it comes to statutory and judge-made law in business divorce cases, business valuation principles are—with a few notable exceptions—far more homogenous.  So it makes sense to occasionally venture beyond New York’s borders to see how other courts and experts are addressing the business valuation questions that New York-based business divorces often encounter.

This week’s post looks at several recent decisions across the country concerning valuation principles and discounts.  While each case features different applicable rules and agreements, our New York readers would be wise to note the persuasive power of these cases, especially given the sometimes-thin body of New York caselaw on business valuation issues.Continue Reading Cross-Country Valuation Check-Up: Discounts, Buy-Sell Agreements, and Ambiguity Potholes