A torturously prolonged, 28-year litigation culminates in an important appellate decision affording plaintiffs suing for breach of fiduciary duty a more “lenient standard” for proving damages. Will other appeals courts do the same? Read about it in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Breach of Fiduciary Duty: A More “Lenient Standard” for Damages?
They say revenge is a dish best served cold. In this week’s New York Business Divorce, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay serves his former business partner a cold dish in the form of a large post-trial judgment in a case seeking dissolution and derivative damages on behalf of two out-of-state entities formed to operate defunct Ramsay restaurant “The Fat Cow.”
Continue Reading Gordon Ramsay’s The Fat Cow: Dishing Up Damages and Dissolution
In this week’s New York Business Divorce, read about the history and development of the doctrine of tax estoppel, including two strands of competing case law emanating from a pair of New York State Court of Appeals decisions reaching opposite conclusions about the extent to which one may prove ownership status in a closely-held business based upon estoppel.
Continue Reading The Doctrine of Tax Estoppel in Ownership Status Disputes
In this week’s New York Business Divorce – the second in a three-part series – learn about the legal rules and principles governing partnership, corporation, and limited liability company appraisal proceedings.
Continue Reading Basics of Valuation Proceedings – Litigating an Appraisal from Start to Finish – Part 2
A 2-against-1 battle between sibling co-owners of a third-generation family business leads to an interesting decision by Justice Duane Hart concerning a disputed stock buyback, highlighted in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Court Rejects Majority’s Gambit to Compel Buyback of Shares in Family-Owned Business
Appraisal experts provide critical testimony in valuation proceedings. Court rules govern pretrial expert disclosure. In this week’s New York Business Divorce, you can bone up on the disclosure requirements and read about cases in which the parties paid a price for failing to comply with disclosure requirements.
Continue Reading The High Price of Bungled Expert Disclosure in Valuation 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
Business valuation junkies, rejoice! This week’s New York Business Divorce revisits the Giaimo case, a bitter family business dispute being litigated in Manhattan Supreme Court, following a decision last week by Justice Marcy Friedman concerning a fair value determination by Referee Louis Crespo of a stock interest in two real estate holding “C” corporations, in which the discounts for lack of marketability and for built-in gains taxes take center stage.
Continue Reading Court Rejects Marketability Discount, Applies “Murphy Discount” for Built-In Gains, in Determining Fair Value of Shares in Real Estate Holding Corporations
In this second installment of a two-part series, New York Business Divorce examines recent First Department decisions clarifying the standards for overcoming general releases given in the context of transactions with fiduciaries in closely held business entities, where the plaintiffs allege that the fiduciary fraudulently induced them to enter into the transaction. This week’s focus is on a case whose name should be familiar to regular readers of this blog, Arfa v. Zamir, 2010 NY Slip Op 06070 (1st Dept July 13, 2010).
Continue Reading Recent Appellate Rulings Clarify Standards for Challenging Releases Given to Fiduciaries of Closely Held Business Entities: Part 2
This week and next, New York Business Divorce examines two recent First Department decisions clarifying the standards for overcoming general releases given in the context of transactions with fiduciaries in closely held business entities, where the plaintiffs allege that the fiduciary fraudulently induced them to enter into the transaction. This week’s focus is on Centro Empresarial Cempresa S.A. v. America Movil S.A.B. de C.V., 2010 NY Slip Op 04719 (1st Dept June 3, 2010).
Continue Reading Recent Appellate Rulings Clarify Standards for Challenging Releases Given to Fiduciaries of Closely Held Business Entities: Part 1