In the world of business divorce litigation, this summer saw everything but a slowdown. We witnessed (and blogged about) Justice Crane cap a long-running fair value proceeding with helpful guidance on appraisals and...more
As both a practitioner and a close follower of New York business divorce caselaw, I’ve seen a recent uptick in disputes centered on the breakup of professional services firms and cryptocurrency businesses. Perhaps the crypto...more
One of the best parts of being a business litigator is the frequent opportunity it affords to work with (and against) expert witnesses of all stripes. And perhaps because there are so many ways that a business divorce can...more
One of the best parts of being a business litigator is the frequent opportunity it affords to work with (and against) expert witnesses of all stripes. And perhaps because there are so many ways that a business divorce can...more
There are plenty of advantages to practicing business divorce litigation in New York. The diversity of businesses and clients, complexity of agreements and transactions, and excellence of judges and attorneys make New York,...more
The last time we featured a notable decision on a claim for dissolution of a restaurant-operating LLC was in 2017, with a post by Frank McRoberts titled, “LLC’s Purpose Being Achieved? Business Doing Fine? Good Luck Getting...more
“Under any standard of value, the true economic value of a business enterprise will equal the company’s accounting book value only by coincidence . . .” says the late business valuation expert and author Shannon Pratt. So...more
More often than not, the centerpiece of an intra-owner business dispute is a claim that those in control of the business breached their fiduciary duties to the company or the minority owners. While often easy to assert, the...more
This first post of 2024 brings the New York Business Divorce Blog into its eighteenth calendar year of weekly commentary on disputes among co-owners of closely held businesses.
This year, let business owners and their...more
One need not peruse the pages of this blog for long to learn that its authors strongly advise against entering into an owners’ agreement that calls on the members to “annually” (or worse, “regularly”) update a critical aspect...more
The books and records demand often is the opening act in business divorce litigation. The relatively low burden that an owner must meet in order to obtain access to a company’s books and records, and the availability of an...more
11/20/2023
/ Books & Records ,
Business Disputes ,
Business Divorce ,
Business Litigation ,
Inspection Rights ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Membership Interest ,
Merger Clause ,
Ownership Interest ,
Shareholder Rights ,
Shareholders
The corporation of which you are a shareholder just sent you notice that it plans to merge with another corporation. And although the other existing shareholders will have their shares exchanged for shares of the new...more
The owners’ agreement is the backbone of the closely-held business. In intracompany LLC disputes, few things are more important than what the operating agreement has to say on the subject. As a consequence, the pages of...more
The distinction between direct and derivative claims pervades business divorce litigation. Whether a dissident owner’s claim against his or her co-owners is a direct claim (one that the owner can assert in their individual...more
At the beginning of last year, I wrote a eulogy for the equitable accounting cause of action in business disputes: But What of the Equitable Accounting? The gist was that perhaps due to its potential potency, and certainly...more
The authors of this blog have a special affinity for fair value appraisal proceedings. The narrow hearings—where the sole issue before the court is the fair value of an owner’s interest in a business—require attorneys and...more
MiniCorp has five shareholders, all of whom are employees. Each shareholder’s employment agreement states that they are an at-will employee of MiniCorp, and the shareholders agreement provides that when a shareholder’s...more
I previously wrote that one of the most difficult periods in the lifecycle of a closely held business is the period following the death of an owner, due to the tension between the remaining owners wishing to continue the...more
Over its three-decade rise to the closely-held business entity of choice, the Limited Liability Company has won a special place in our hearts. The majority of disputes we litigate and blog about concern ownership of or...more
Resolving ownership disputes with a buyout at auction has a tempting simplicity. The buyout gives the owners the divorce they need. And the auction—particularly a blind auction, in which no owner is aware of the other’s...more
When a minority shareholder petitions for dissolution of a corporation on the grounds of oppressive or illegal conduct (see BCL 1104-a), Section 1118 of New York’s Business Corporation Law allows the corporation or any other...more
In 1941, two of the three shareholders of Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, Inc. entered into an agreement stating that they would vote their combined 630 of the outstanding 1000 shares of Ringling Bros. stock...more
4/10/2023
/ Board of Directors ,
Business Disputes ,
Business Divorce ,
Business Litigation ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Governance ,
Director Nominations ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Private Right of Action ,
Shareholders ,
Voting Rights
This blog frequently covers cases considering a shareholder’s request to dissolve a corporation under New York’s oppression-based corporate dissolution statute, BCL 1104-a. That statute allows a shareholder to petition for...more
The dissolution of a company—and the winddown and liquidation that usually follow—often impacts a broad range of stakeholders beyond just the owners of the company, including creditors and potential creditors, who often are...more
The members of Nite Cap’s owner, Bull-Poet, LLC, recently traded the full sheets and gentle seas of the Hudson for the strum and drang of litigation in New York’s Supreme Court. But the squall has passed; thanks to New York...more