Like the Energizer bunny, some business divorce lawsuits keep going and going and going. Years of protracted litigation, brutal though they may be upon the parties, are a bonanza for voyeuristic business divorce practitioners...more
In an earlier post, we wrote about a fascinating law firm limited liability partnership dispute culminating in a thoughtful post-trial decision by Erie County Commercial Division Justice Timothy J. Walker. Capizzi v Brown...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
3/15/2021
/ Breach of Duty ,
Business Divorce ,
Business Formation ,
Business Litigation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fraudulent Conveyance ,
Joint Venture ,
Operating Agreements ,
Oral Contracts ,
Partnership Agreements ,
Unjust Enrichment
Section 1007 of the Business Corporation Law (the “BCL”) has a procedure for dissolved corporations to publish “notice requiring all creditors and claimants . . . to present their claims in writing and in detail at a...more
In last week’s New York Business Divorce, Peter Mahler wrote about an important new decision with far-reaching implications for New York LLC owners....more
Business divorce clients often arrive in the throes of a crisis, complaining of co-owners siphoning, diverting, depleting, or denying access to company assets and resources for their own personal use or for the benefit of a...more
Many business divorce practitioners are familiar with a phenomenon one might call “petitioner’s remorse” – an often abrupt abandonment of one’s desire to dissolve a closely-held business entity when the opposing party...more
If a written limited partnership agreement contains detailed provisions governing partner withdrawal and dissolution, can a court nonetheless look to the statutory “default rules” in the Revised Limited Partnership Act (the...more
Corporate shareholder and LLC operating agreements routinely contain provisions addressing the transfer of equity interests upon the death of an owner of a closely-held business. Such provisions are vital for succession...more
6/8/2020
/ Business Continuity Plans ,
Business Divorce ,
Business Litigation ,
Business Succession ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Contract Terms ,
Decedent Protection ,
Equity ,
Estate Planning ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Operating Agreements ,
Ownership Interest ,
Probate
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
We’ve written from time to time, about the need to allege pre-suit demand or demand futility where a shareholder seeks to sue derivatively on behalf of a corporation for whom the court has appointed a receiver....more
Business Divorce 101: To be entitled to an accounting of a closely-held business, the plaintiff or petitioner must demonstrate the existence of a fiduciary relationship giving rise to a duty to account....more
2/18/2020
/ Appeals ,
Business Divorce ,
Business Litigation ,
Closely Held Businesses ,
Commercial Court ,
Dissolution ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Membership Interest ,
Pro Rata Allocation Rule ,
Shareholder Distributions ,
Standing
There are countless New York corporations in which the owners are equal 50/50 shareholders and co-members of a two-member board. Where one sues the other for judicial dissolution, and the ground for dissolution is “deadlock”...more
1/20/2020
/ Business Disputes ,
Business Divorce ,
Business Litigation ,
Corporate Deadlock ,
Corporate Dissolution ,
Counterclaims ,
Cross Motions ,
Dissenters Rights ,
Judicial Dissolution ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Resignation ,
Right to Control ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders ,
Sole Proprietorship
In litigation, the term “spoliation” generally refers to loss or destruction of evidence. Spoliation can involve physical evidence, paper documents, or electronic data. Spoliation can be intentional or unintentional....more
12/23/2019
/ Business Divorce ,
Business Litigation ,
Commercial Court ,
Contempt ,
Counterclaims ,
Discovery ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Evidence ,
Judicial Dissolution ,
Misappropriation ,
Motion To Strike ,
Motions in Limine ,
Spoliation ,
TRO
Under the so-called “American Rule,” litigants usually must pay their own lawyer fees. But in business divorce and other private company disputes between business co-owners, there are a variety of ways for individual...more
Earlier this year, we wrote about a partnership dispute involving a prominent insurance litigation firm, D’Amato & Lynch, LLP. In that case, a lawyer who enjoyed the title and certain trappings of “partner” tried, but failed,...more
Often business owners enter into arbitration agreements because they hope it will result in a speedier, less expensive resolution than litigation to disputes with their co-owners. ...more
A basic and well-known principle of partnership law is that, absent an agreement to the contrary, general partners have authority to unilaterally bind the partnership to contracts with third parties....more
Let’s face it. In business divorce, the accounting cause of action doesn’t get a lot of love. It’s not as sexy as the torts (conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, waste, etc). It lacks the oomph of judicial dissolution....more
Lawyers are famous for arguing seemingly inconsistent positions at the same time. We practitioners lovingly refer to the technique as “arguing in the alternative.” The famous Texas trial lawyer, Richard “Racehorse” Haynes,...more
In business divorce litigation, petitioners / plaintiffs often want to start the case with a bang. A common tactic is to file a petition / complaint simultaneously with an injunction motion. Often there is a real need for an...more
How can majority business owners legally rid themselves of a problematic minority owner? Not by transferring the business’s assets to another entity for no consideration. ...more
3/19/2018
/ Breach of Duty ,
Business Litigation ,
Corporate Conversions ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fraudulent Conveyance ,
Freeze-Out Mergers ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Minority Shareholders ,
Summary Judgment ,
Transfer of Assets
As LLCs have become the dominant form of closely-held business in New York, cases involving dissolution of partnerships have become more and more rare. Section 63 of the Partnership Law is the statute governing judicial...more