New York appellate precedent uniformly holds that New York courts lack subject matter jurisdiction in dissolution cases involving foreign business entities. So what’s a business divorce lawyer to do when the client seeking dissolution of a foreign business entity presents an owners’ agreement containing a forum selection clause giving New York courts exclusive jurisdiction in any litigation between the parties? Find out in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Business Divorce Alert: Forum Selection Clauses Do Not Confer Subject Matter Jurisdiction in Foreign Entity Dissolution Cases

A longstanding inter-departmental rift was healed last week when the Appellate Division, First Department, issued a decision disavowing one of its own precedents and aligning itself with Second and Third Department decisions holding that New York courts lack jurisdiction to order dissolution of foreign business entities. Read about this important ruling in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading A Split No More: First Department Agrees, No Subject Matter Jurisdiction to Dissolve Foreign Business Entities

This week’s New York Business Divorce highlights two recently published articles on two topics of great interest to business divorce practitioners: (1) whether courts of one state have jurisdiction to dissolve business entities formed in another state, and (2) the role of equity in Delaware LLC litigation.
Continue Reading Recent Articles Highlight Dissolution of Foreign Entities and Delaware LLC Litigation

A recent decision by Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Jeffrey Oing dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction a petition to dissolve a Delaware LLC whose operating agreement included a venue provision waiving the members’ right to sue anywhere but New York. Get the full story in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Delaware LLC Agreement Says Members Waive Right to Sue Outside New York, But New York Judge Says Otherwise in Dissolution Case

In the face of Second Department case law rejecting subject-matter jurisdiction over statutory dissolution claims involving foreign business entities, the plaintiffs in Bonavita v Savenergy, Inc. argued to Justice Timothy Driscoll that he nonetheless could hear a claim for common-law dissolution of a Delaware corporation. Did they succeed? Find out in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Court Declines Jurisdiction Over Claim for Common-Law Dissolution of Delaware Corporation

Justice Emily Pines’ decision last month in Matter of Bianchi, dismissing for lack of subject matter jurisdiction a petition to dissolve a New York-based Delaware corporation, raises anew the conflicting decisions on the issue among New York’s several Appellate Divisions. This week’s New York Business Divorce has the story.
Continue Reading The Conflict Continues Over Judicial Dissolution of Foreign Corporations

Do New York courts have authority to hear suits for judicial dissolution of New York-based foreign business entities? This week’s New York Business Divorce discusses a recent decision by Justice Anil C. Singh in Holdrum, N.V. v. Edelman, which highlights a split of appellate authority on the issue.
Continue Reading Judicial Muddle Persists Over Power to Dissolve Foreign Entities

This week’s New York Business Divorce travels to the Green Mountains of Vermont, whence comes a carefully reasoned decision holding that the courts of that state lack subject matter jurisdiction to hear a petition for judicial dissolution of a Delaware LLC. New York courts have reached the same conclusion, but without offering much if any analysis, which makes the Vermont case all the more noteworthy.

Continue Reading Vermont Court Declines Jurisdiction Over Dissolution of Delaware LLC