Episode 5: Business Divorce, Delaware Style
Episode 8: Minority Oppression in the LLC: Interview With Professor Douglas Moll
It wasn’t long ago that my partner, Peter Sluka, posted about the Andris case where the Appellate Division, Second Department, reinstated an LLC judicial dissolution proceeding brought by the estate of a deceased member. ...more
In 2022, The LLC Jungle covered the opinion Friend of Camden, Inc. v. Brandt in a post titled LLC Dissolution Vote Defeats Statutory Buyout. In the Friend of Camden case, the Court of Appeal held that an LLC membership vote...more
Delaware Chancery Court’s contractarian approach to all things LLC, embedded statutorily in Section 18-1101(b) of the Delaware LLC Act (“It is the policy of this chapter to give the maximum effect to the principle of freedom...more
Count ’em: At the time A sued B for judicial dissolution of one of their several jointly owned companies, there are not one, not two, not three, but eight pending lawsuits between the two 50/50 business partners who first...more
Some years are easier than others to select the most significant business divorce cases. In this, the 16th year I’ve published this top-10 list, the task is made especially difficult by a veritable flood of court decisions...more
I recently had the privilege of speaking to an audience of judges of the New York Supreme Court Commercial Division at Fordham Law School’s Eileen Bransten Institute on Complex Commercial Litigation. Naturally, the topic was...more
New York courts are not in the vanguard when it comes to devising less drastic, alternative remedies in LLC judicial dissolution cases. In their defense, there’s nothing in Article 7 of New York’s LLC Law that expressly...more
When two or more people become owners of a limited liability company and embody their relationship in an operating agreement, they usually see sunshine and rainbows in their future. They have an idea, they have a corporate...more
Since its legislative birthing in New York in 1994, the limited liability company has become the preferred choice of entity New York and across the country. Over the ensuing 15 years or so, New York’s lower courts struggled...more
I’m delighted to present our 15th annual list of the past year’s ten most significant business divorce cases. This year’s list includes decisions by New York’s trial and appellate courts concerning a smorgasbord of...more
It’s a bit of a stretch to suggest that King Solomon prophesied the standard for judicial dissolution of LLCs, but there it is: under New York’s judicially construed standard for involuntary dissolution under Section 702 of...more
The statutes authorizing judicial dissolution of Delaware LLCs (LLC Act § 18-802) and New York LLCs (LLC Law § 702) essentially are the same: the petitioner must show that it is no longer “reasonably practicable” to carry on...more
In Congel v Malfitano, New York’s highest court wrote that business partners are free to include in partnership contracts practically “any agreement they wish,” including about “the means by which a partnership will dissolve,...more
Appearances can be deceiving. - That, essentially, was the argument made in two recently decided cases involving claims for judicial dissolution. ...more
It’s not surprising that Vice Chancellor Zurn’s recent, first-impression decision in In re Coinmint, LLC, aligning itself with rulings in many other states including New York, found that Delaware courts lack subject matter...more
Welcome to this 11th annual edition of Summer Shorts! This year’s edition features brief commentary on half a dozen business divorce cases of interest from across the country. ...more
Under both New York and Delaware law, members of an LLC may petition for judicial dissolution on the grounds that the management is so hopelessly deadlocked that the LLC can no longer function in accordance with its purpose...more
Of late I’ve been ruminating on New York’s membership in the shrinking pool of states that don’t recognize oppression of an LLC minority member by the controlling members or managers as ground for judicial dissolution....more
“The Company is formed for any valid business purpose” Nine seemingly benign words in the garden-variety operating agreement of a realty holding LLC. Nine words that, as one judge opined under similar circumstances some...more
I was especially drawn to the case I’m about to introduce involving LLC member withdrawal, owing to the Jacobs v Cartalemi case that I litigated to a successful conclusion about two years ago, also involving member...more
In the end, it wasn’t much of a fight. The case of Huggins v Scott, decided last month by Justice W. Franc Perry of the Manhattan Supreme Court, illustrates anew the well-nigh insurmountable hurdle faced by a minority...more
In 2018, two members of a realty holding LLC sought judicial dissolution based on the death of one of the other members. The operating agreement defines a member’s death as an event of “Dissociation.”...more
Here we go again — and again and again. On numerous prior occasions I’ve written about judicial dissolution cases and other infighting among LLC members featuring disputes over membership percentages. ...more
The nationwide landscape of statutes and case law governing judicial dissolution of limited liability companies exhibits more state-to-state similarity than dissimilarity....more
Parking lots breed partnership disputes. I’ve litigated them and I’ve written about them, most notably the Kassab saga. I suppose it’s the untapped development potential of parking lots, especially in flourishing downtown...more