An unusual shareholders’ agreement leads to unusual, concurrent arbitration and judicial proceedings in a shareholders’ battle for control of a Brooklyn restaurant business. Read about Justice Carolyn Demarest’s recent decision in Boz Export & Import v. Karakus in this week’s New York Business Divorce.

Continue Reading Concurrent Arbitration and Court Proceedings in Shareholder Dispute? It Can Happen.

A recent decision by Kings County Justice Carolyn Demarest ordered disqualification of plaintiffs’ lawyer in litigation among co-owners of a limited liability company, finding a non-waivable conflict of interest between two groups of complaining members. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.

Continue Reading “Beauty Bar” Case Highlights Conflicted Legal Representation in Dispute Among LLC Members

This week’s New York Business Divorce offers some “summer shorts” consisting of summaries of three recent decisions of interest including two by Justice Carolyn E. Demarest and a split decision by the Appellate Division, First Department.

Continue Reading Summer Shorts: Stock Sale Under Duress and Other Recent Decisions of Interest

The order to show cause is a critical document drafted by the petitioner’s counsel for signature by the judge when initiating a corporate dissolution proceeding. This week’s New York Business Divorce offers a drafting primer using some illustrative forms.

Continue Reading Dissecting the Order to Show Cause in Corporate Dissolution Proceedings

A rare case stemming from a petition to dissolve a residential co-op corporation is the subject of this week’s New York Business Divorce. The decision by Justice Carolyn Demarest in McDaniel v. 162 Columbia Heights addresses challenging valuation issues for this unique type of business corporation.

Continue Reading Valuing Shares in a Residential Co-op Corporation: Is the Whole Worth More Than the Sum of its Parts?

The attorney who prepares a shareholders’ agreement without documenting exactly whom the attorney does and doesn’t represent, and without appropriate disclosure of conflicts when representing multiple shareholders with divergent interests, is asking for trouble, at least, that’s the lesson to be drawn from a recent decision by Justice Carolyn Demarest in Schlissel v. Subramanian, featured in this week’s New York Business Divorce.

Continue Reading The Importance of Identifying Your Client — And Who’s Not Your Client — When Preparing Shareholder Agreements

Corporate bylaw provisions governing the number of directors and procedures for their appointment can sometimes play a critical role in the outcome of disputes among shareholders of closely held corporations, as illustrated in a recent case highlighted in this week’s New York Business Divorce involving a small residential co-op.

Continue Reading Pay Attention to the Latent Power of Corporate Bylaws

It’s not often that bankruptcy law intersects with corporate dissolution proceedings based on deadlock or minority shareholder oppression, but when it does, likely it’s bad news for the petitioner seeking to liquidate the company or to be bought out by another shareholder. A recent decision by Kings County Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Demarest illustrates why, in this week’s New York Business Divorce.

Continue Reading Failure to Disclose Stock Interest in Bankruptcy Petition Defeats Standing in Later Dissolution Proceeding