Oral joint venture agreements tend to be the murkiest, easiest to allege, and difficult to disprove of all closely-held business relations. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Oral Joint Ventures: The Wild West of Business Associations
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
May the executor of a deceased LLC member’s estate sue derivatively on behalf of the LLC? Find out in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Operating Agreement Dooms Derivative Claims by Deceased LLC Member’s Estate
Pappas v. Schatz, recently decided by Justice Melvin Schweitzer, is a postscript to the more famous Pappas v. Tzolis case decided by New York’s highest court in late 2012 concerning a disputed buy-out of LLC membership interests. Get the story in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Pappas v. Tzolis: A Revealing Epilogue
A recent decision by Justice Marcy Friedman draws attention to a somewhat rare breed of minority shareholder oppression involving the controlling shareholder’s repudiation of the petitioner’s stock ownership. It’s a case you won’t want to miss, in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Is Denial of Shareholder Status Shareholder Oppression?
This week’s New York Business Divorce rings in the New Year with its fifth annual list of the past year’s ten most significant business divorce cases, also providing short summaries and links to prior posts on the featured cases. Happy New Year!
Continue Reading Top Ten Business Divorce Cases of 2012
Last week’s Court of Appeals decision in Pappas v. Tzolis completes a trilogy of recent decisions by that court dismissing fiduciary breach claims by disappointed sellers concerning buy-out agreements that contain releases or waivers of fiduciary duty. Learn more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Pappas Saga Ends, Court of Appeals Upholds Fiduciary Waiver in LLC Buy-Out Agreement
The New York Court of Appeals heard oral argument this month of an appeal from the Appellate Division, First Department’s split decision in Pappas v. Tzolis pitting fiduciary duty against contractual waiver in the context of an intra-member buy-out of LLC membership interests. This week’s New York Business Divorce provides highlights of the oral argument and links to the argument’s webcast, the parties’ briefs, and other background materials.
Continue Reading Does Waiver Trump Fiduciary Duty? Court of Appeals Hears Argument in Pappas v. Tzolis
Last week, in Pappas v. Tzolis, the Appellate Division, First Department, handed down a 3-2 decision reinstating claims for fiduciary breach and fraud brought by members of an LLC against another member who acquired their interests allegedly while keeping secret his negotiations to sell the LLC’s sole asset to an outside buyer at a drastically higher valuation. It’s an important decision likely headed to the New York Court of Appeals, and it’s in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading The Rise and Fall and Rise of Blue Chip: Fiduciary Duty Trumps Waiver in Latest First Department Decision
The case of Pappas v. Corfian makes a return appearance in this week’s New York Business Divorce on the occasion of an action-packed decision last month by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jack Battaglia granting a petition for dissolution based on shareholder oppression. You won’t want to miss it.
Continue Reading Final Round of Corfian Case Features Diverse Dissolution Issues