Dissension between members of a family-owned business can present especially difficult issues when litigation erupts. This week’s New York Business Divorce highlights recent decisions by Justices Timothy Driscoll (Nassau County), Emily Pines (Suffolk County) and Deborah Kaplan (Manhattan) involving dissolution and related claims among warring family members.
Continue Reading A Toxic Mix of Family and Business
An appellate ruling last month in DeMatteo v. DeMatteo Salvage Co. brings to a close the cautionary tale of an 8-year court battle among members of a family-owned business over the enforcement of a poorly designed buy-sell agreement. It’s in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading An Ill-Fated Solution to an Ill-Fated Buy-Sell Agreement
This week’s New York Business Divorce looks at two recent decisions by Justices Stephen Bucaria and Emily Pines granting “outside the box” remedies in LLC dissolution cases, one involving buyout and the other involving appointment of a temporary receiver to act as monitor of financial records.
Continue Reading Judges Thinking Outside the LLC Dissolution Box
This week’s New York Business Divorce features an interesting decision by Commercial Division Justice Emily Pines in Nastasi v. Carlino, where she sent both sides home empty handed in a bitter shareholder dispute with misconduct on both sides.
Continue Reading Court Sends Everyone Home Empty Handed in Bitter Business Breakup
The Appellate Division, Second Department’s breakthrough decision in the 1545 Ocean Avenue case, in which the court redefined the standard for judicial dissolution of LLCs, recently marked its one-year anniversary. This week’s New York Business Divorce looks at several recent trial court decisions by Justices Warshawsky, Strauss and Pines in LLC dissolution cases to see how the new standard has fared.
Continue Reading The Emerging Influence of 1545 Ocean Avenue on Judicial Dissolution of LLCs
A post-trial decision last month by Justice Emily Pines in Matter of Wenger, a corporate dissolution case pitting father against son, addresses novel issues concerning shareholder standing and oppression remedies. It’s in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Splitting the Baby: Court in Oppressed Shareholder Dissolution Case Divides the Company Assets
Suffolk County Commercial Division Justice Emily Pines recently denied a judicial dissolution petition brought by a minority shareholder after he voluntarily left the company to take employment elsewhere, and where the shareholders’ agreement provided for buyout only in the event of a shareholder’s death. Get the full story in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Contract Trumps Shareholder Expectations in Recent Case Denying Judicial Dissolution of Close Corporation
Ex-convict Chip Watkins likely thought he’d paid his debt to society when he completed his jail sentence. As it turned out, however, Watkins short-changed society by failing to disclose to the authorities his claimed $600,000 investment in a closely held real estate company. In this week’s New York Business Divorce, find out how Watkin’s omission dashed his hopes of recovery in a shareholder derivative action recently dismissed by Justice Emily Pines.
Continue Reading Judicial Estoppel Doctrine Defeats Ex-Convict’s Standing to Bring Shareholder Derivative Action Based on Failure to Disclose Alleged Stock Interest to Probation Authorities at Time of Sentencing
This week’s New York Business Divorce presents the first in a three-part series discussing one of the thorniest problems in corporate dissolution contests involving challenges to standing based on the petitioner’s lack of a stock certificate, shareholders’ agreement or other direct evidence of shareholder status. This week’s post highlights a recent decision on the subject by Suffolk County Commercial Division Justice Emily Pines.
Continue Reading Undocumented Stock Interests Invite Challenges to Standing in Corporate Dissolution Cases: Part One
The necessity of an evidentiary hearing is a threshold issue in corporate dissolution proceedings. A recent decision by Suffolk County Commercial Division Justice Emily Pines serves up a good illustration of how courts approach the issue. Read more in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Disputed Allegations of Shareholder Oppression Require Evidentiary Hearing