General partnerships are supposed to be the easiest of all business organizations for co-owners to separate. Not in the case featured on this week’s New York Business Divorce, where it took almost ten years for the majority partners of a New York general partnership to secure a court ruling that a formal written notice of withdrawal by one of the partners dissolved the business by operation of law.

Continue Reading The Pick-Your-Partner Principle

“Can I withdraw?” is a question frequently posed by unhappy LLC members to their legal counsel. This week’s New York Business Divorce features a recap of a highly informative conversation on that topic conducted on the Listserv of the ABA Business Law Section’s Committee on LLCs, Partnerships and Unincorporated Entities.
Continue Reading Does an LLC Member Have Absolute Power to Withdraw from the LLC?

Law firms see more than their fair share of business divorce litigation. But what are the chances of lightning striking twice? In this week’s New York Business Divorce, read about a fascinating, post-trial decision in which an upstate law firm endured a bitter partnership breakup for the second time in a decade, with the same partner taking the opposite position in each lawsuit.
Continue Reading Lawyer Says, “I’m Not a Partner, No Wait, I am a Partner!” Which is It?

The Appellate Division, Second Department last week decided a trio of appeals in related cases concerning the consequences of an LLC member’s withdrawal, holding that the member was not entitled to a fair-value buyout and that upon withdrawal he lost standing to maintain derivative claims. Read all about it in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Operating Agreement Defeats Statutory Buyout Rights Upon LLC Member’s Withdrawal

This week’s New York Business Divorce highlights a trio of recent decisions involving LLC disputes concerning the membership rights of the estate of a deceased member, the intended purpose of the LLC as the basis for a dissolution claim, and the power to expel a member.
Continue Reading LLC Case Notes: Member Expulsion, Withdrawal, and LLC Purpose

The Appellate Division, Second Department, last week decided three appeals in the same business divorce case, addressing important issues concerning claims for LLC dissolution, equitable buyout, and use of company monies for legal fees defending dissolution proceedings. This week’s New York Business Divorce has the story.
Continue Reading One Parking Lot, Two Brothers, Three Decisions

Can majority members of an LLC withdraw a dissolution claim, over two years into the case, for the purpose of enforcing against a minority member the LLC agreement’s non-compete provision which, by its terms, lapses upon dissolution? Find out in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Court Rebuffs Dissolution Withdrawal in Denying Enforcement of Non-Compete

A Brooklyn appellate panel last week provided more fodder for the DLOM debate that’s been in the legal news of late, upholding a 0% DLOM in a fair value appraisal of a membership interest in a real estate holding company. It’s featured in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Appellate Court Upholds 0% Marketability Discount in LLC Fair Value Case

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Saliann Scarpulla’s recent ruling in Poole v. West 111th Street Rehab Associates illustrates some of the difficult interpretive and factual issues that often accompany internal partnership disputes governed by the “old” Limited Partnership Act adopted by New York in 1922. This week’s New York Business Divorce explains.
Continue Reading Death of a General Partner, or How Not to Plan for Succession in a Limited Partnership