In this week’s New York Business Divorce, we consider a thoughtful decision from Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Andrea J. Masley about the rules for pleading pre-suit demand or demand futility upon a “liquidator” appointed to wind up the affairs of the corporation, including the rarely-litigated concept that allegations of pre-suit demand or demand futility can potentially “relate back” to a prior pleading that is “validly in litigation.”
Continue Reading The Pre-Suit Demand Requirement for a Corporation in Liquidation or Receivership

Shareholder derivative actions pose unique pleading challenges designed by statute to preserve management’s role in deciding the company’s business affairs. This week’s New York Business Divorce highlights a pair of recent appellate rulings dismissing derivative actions for failure to plead demand futility with sufficient particularity.
Continue Reading The Demanding Demand Requirement in Shareholder Derivative Actions

Derivative actions brought by LLC members take the spotlight for the second week in a row, this time featuring a pair of noteworthy decisions involving Delaware and Nevada LLCs in which the defendants argued that the plaintiff’s right to sue derivatively was waived by the operating agreement. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Can LLC Agreement Waive Right to Sue Derivatively? Not in These Two Cases

Last week’s decision by a Manhattan appellate panel in Barone v. Sowers reaffirms its holding two years ago in Doyle v. Icon, LLC that a minority member of an LLC cannot solely rely on allegations of oppression by the majority member to survive a pretrial motion for dismissal of a dissolution claim. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Oppression Claims Don’t Cut It in LLC Dissolution Cases

Derivative claims are frequently asserted in business divorce litigation. Within the last two months the Manhattan-based Appellate Division, First Department, issued three decisions addressing the demand futility requirement in derivative lawsuits involving Delaware and New York corporations, limited partnerships and LLCs. Get up to speed with this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Recent Appellate Rulings Address Demand Futility in Derivative Lawsuits