Spring in New York has ushered in a fresh crop of noteworthy decisions on intra-LLC disputes. Headliners include a boost to members’ rights to compel an accounting courtesy of the First Department, a procedural refresher on LLC dissolution and the applicable standard, and a winding dispute over membership bequests in the Surrogate’s Court.
Can a partnership dispute be premature and untimely simultaneously? That was the unfortunate outcome for a hapless general partner in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Premature or Untimely? Both at the Same Time? When to Sue as a General Partner
The equitable accounting claim in business disputes has experienced a resurgence. This week’s post explores the recent developments reinforcing the potency of this once-fading legal remedy.
Continue Reading Strength in Numbers: The Resurgence of the Accounting Claim in Business Divorce Litigation
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
In this week’s New York Business Divorce, read about an unusually brazen case of misappropriation of corporate opportunity culminating in a hefty judgment against the perpetrators, including punitive damages and an accounting surcharge.
Continue Reading Misappropriated Watering Hole Becomes Money Judgment Sinkhole
In what he described as “the aftermath of what had been an amicable business divorce,” New York County Commercial Division Justice Joel Cohen discusses several interesting and novel limitations on New York’s cause of action for an equitable accounting.
Continue Reading But What of the Equitable Accounting?
This week’s New York Business Divorce compares two cases of closely-held business owner withdrawal, one involving an LLC, the other a general partnership, one resulting in a right to an accounting, the other not. Why the difference? Read on to find out.
Continue Reading Two Entities, Two Outcomes: Withdrawal and the Right to an Accounting
Typically used to seek a money judgment against a successor entity, in this week’s New York Business Divorce, read about a novel appellate decision relying upon the “de facto merger” doctrine to authorize a post-judgment equitable accounting against a successor entity in which the plaintiff admittedly lacked an ownership interest or fiduciary relationship.
Continue Reading Bending the Rules of Standing: The De Facto Merger Doctrine
Law firms see more than their fair share of business divorce litigation. But what are the chances of lightning striking twice? In this week’s New York Business Divorce, read about a fascinating, post-trial decision in which an upstate law firm endured a bitter partnership breakup for the second time in a decade, with the same partner taking the opposite position in each lawsuit.
Continue Reading Lawyer Says, “I’m Not a Partner, No Wait, I am a Partner!” Which is It?
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.
Continue Reading Accounting Unchained: Is the Closely Held Business Owner’s Right to an Accounting Absolute?