Williams Mullen Mezzanine Lending Video Series - Episode 4
Private Equity and Delaware Law – Part One
NGE On Demand: Profits Interests: Granting & Receiving with Patty Cain and Josh Klein
Episode 021: Member Liquidity, Default Rules, and the Corporate-ization of LLCs: A Conversation with Dean Donald J. Weidner
Episode 19: The LLC’s Two Worlds: A Conversation with Professor Peter Molk (Part One)
Lawyers on Tap: Tap Tips for Entity Formation and Taxation
Episode 014: Business Divorce Stories: Business Appraiser Tony Cotrupe and Attorney Jeff Eilender
Episode 4: John Cunningham Interview on Avoiding LLC Deadlock
Episode 6: Tom Rutledge Takes on LLC Member Expulsion
Homebuilder Series Webinar: Joint Ventures Solutions, Steve Lear
In my business divorce practice I deal with many closely held corporations that have only a few or perhaps just two shareholders, each of whom is actively involved in running the business. Within that category are many...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
One of the earliest signs that a closely-held business is headed for divorce lies in how its owners treat new opportunities. When the relationship among the owners reaches a certain level of distrust, an owner presented with...more
Nestled between Broadway and Church Street in New York City’s hottest neighborhood is the landmarked, stone-façade building at 66-68 Reade Street. Now marketed as the superluxury boutique condominium complex 66 Reade, the...more
The Delaware Limited Liability Company Act allows for the fiduciary duties of a member to be expanded, restricted, or eliminated by provisions in the operating agreement of a limited liability company (“LLC”). If drafters...more
I can’t say what the number is, but my own experience tells me that a significant percentage of lawsuits by a minority owner of a closely-held company against those in control of the company include a demand for an...more
Case law involving limited liability companies (LLCs) is rapidly evolving. Some states, most notably Delaware, permit LLCs to limit or eliminate liability for breaches of fiduciary duty by an LLC’s members or managers. Other...more
One of the goals in a business divorce is finality – ending a business relationship once and for all. But what if the end isn’t really the end?...more
In In re Cadira Group Holdings, LLC (2021 WL 2912479 (Del. Ch. July 12, 2021)), the Delaware Court of Chancery has again shown its inclination to treat an agreement that purports to replace traditional fiduciary duties with...more
Does a member of a limited liability company owe a fiduciary duty to the company and the other members? Section 17704.09(a) of the California Corporations Code states that a member owes a duty of loyalty and a duty of care. ...more
LLC managers owe fiduciary duties both to the LLC and to the LLC’s members, similar to the duties owed by a partner to other partners in a partnership. (Corp Code §17704.09.) These include the duty of loyalty, care, and...more
In Villareal v. Saenz, a district court magistrate judge for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, has recognized that members exiting a limited liability company may continue to hold fiduciary duties despite...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
Oral agreements to form and operate business enterprises are a recurring subject of this blog. We’ve written many times, for example, about the comparative ease vis-a-vis other kinds of entities with which one can...more
The restaurant business is on the skids amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Yelp reports that 60% of closed restaurants won’t re-open. Apart from the pandemic, the success rate for new restaurants is dauntingly low. Surveys show a...more
Under Delaware law, indirect controllers of a Delaware limited liability company (“LLC”) can owe limited fiduciary duties to the LLC and its members if they exert control over the LLC’s assets, unless those duties are clearly...more
The ongoing coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic has quite literally impacted everyone and everything in New York, including the courts, which were forced to temporarily cease non-essential functions. The result was a short-lived...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
Arizona has finally resolved the issue of whether managers and members of an Arizona Limited Liability Company (LLC) owe a common law fiduciary duty to the LLC and whether an operating agreement can lawfully limit those...more
A unanimous panel of the Appellate Division, First Department recently affirmed a ruling by the Commercial Division dismissing causes of action against the ACE Group International LLC (“AGI”) brought by the estate of the...more