Corporate Divorce – Preventing and Managing the Break-Up of a Business Partnership
Building and Exiting Business Partnerships
Navigating Corporate Divorce With Michael Einbinder
Episode 23: LLCs as They Approach the 50-Year Milestone: A Conversation with Professor Susan Pace Hamill
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Buy-Sell Agreements: A Conversation With Expert and Author Paul Hood
I Wish I Knew What I Know Now: Conversations with AGG on FDA Issues - Business Divorces in the Food and Supplements Space
Law Brief ®: Alan Gaynor and Richard Schoenstein Explore Business Divorce
Episode 8 | Breaking Up Is Hard To Do: Navigating the Domestic Relations Arena
Episode 021: Member Liquidity, Default Rules, and the Corporate-ization of LLCs: A Conversation with Dean Donald J. Weidner
Episode 17: Arbitrating Deadlock: A Conversation with Arbitrator Erica Garay
Episode 015: Confessions of a Business Appraiser: A Conversation with Chris Mercer
Episode 014: Business Divorce Stories: Business Appraiser Tony Cotrupe and Attorney Jeff Eilender
Shareholder oppression has long been a favorite topic of mine—for good reason. A cornerstone of business divorce litigation, a claim of minority shareholder oppression under BCL 1104-a often invites creative argument over...more
One of the first business divorce cases that I participated in as a young litigator was a lengthy arbitration over whether a minority shareholder was oppressed under BCL 1104-a. With those fond memories, evolution of the...more
The limited liability company is relatively young. Though origin research is always a dubious task, my efforts tell me that the first LLC was created in 1977 in Wyoming, followed by other LLCs in Florida in 1982. The years...more
Welcome to this year’s Winter Case Notes where, amidst the arctic blast currently sweeping most of the nation, I offer shortish takes on several court decisions in recent business divorce cases. This year’s edition...more
In matters of corporate divorce, deadlock, majority oppression, or usurpation of corporate opportunities are all well-tread grounds for disputes between co-owners of closely held entities. These disputes often culminate in...more
Earlier this year, using as a springboard the Maryland intermediate appellate court’s decision in Eastland Food Corp. v Mekhaya, I posted about a topic on which there’s little or no New York law, viz., whether a complaint for...more
Potential client sits down with business divorce lawyer and says, “I’m a minority shareholder in XYZ Corp. I’ve been completely frozen out by the majority. Can you help me?” The lawyer says, “Absolutely. New York law gives...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
There are many ways that an owner of a closely-held business can use their superior financial resources to gain an advantage over their co-owners in a dispute. One common way is the use of a capital call provision to dilute...more
Occasionally, we come across post-trial decisions with such scathing rebuke of one side that it’s difficult to imagine why the loser ever chose to take the case to trial. O’Mahony v Whiston is a perfect example....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
De facto dividend. Disguised dividend. Constructive dividend. They all refer to the same thing: monies in excess of reasonable compensation taken by owners of closely held companies, booked as deductible employment...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
In 1950, Sam Hoffman and his two sons, Hyman and Melvin, founded Brooklyn-based Cornell Beverages, Inc. to manufacture and distribute seltzer. Those were the days when “seltzer men” made weekly home deliveries of cases of...more
Longtime readers of this blog may recall a post I wrote three years ago titled Minority Shareholder Oppression in the #MeToo Era. The post highlighted an apparent first-of-its-kind decision in a judicial dissolution case...more
A watershed moment or a forgettable outlier? It is often difficult to predict how much a novel decision will impact the body of laws governing closely-held corporations and their shareholders. Decisions that seem the most...more
Two years ago, Peter Mahler wrote about a dissolution lawsuit by a female minority shareholder alleging that her male co-shareholders condoned a pattern of sexually offensive and demeaning conduct by a senior co-worker, which...more
For the second time in two years, the Connecticut Supreme Court has ventured into uncharted waters of LLC governance under the Revised Uniform LLC Act which, to date, has been adopted by 22 states and awaits legislative...more
If ever there was a ticking time bomb of a family-owned, closely held business more likely to result in business divorce litigation than the one in Matter of Brady v Brady, 2021 NY Slip Op 02705 [4th Dept Apr. 30, 2021], I...more
David F. Johnson presented his paper “Business Divorce: Minority Shareholder Rights In Texas” to the State Bar of Texas’s Business Disputes Course on September 2-3, 2021. This presentation addressed shareholder oppression...more
Iowa was one of the first states to adopt the 2006 Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act. As of this year, 21 others have done so not including New York which continues to limp along with its creaky LLC Law enacted...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
Fine dining and business divorce crossed paths in a recently decided case featuring a lengthy battle between co-equal ownership factions of the corporation that operates Delmonico’s, the renowned Manhattan restaurant...more
Three shareholders co-own an 8-year old internet-based “marketeer” business that imports Chinese-manufactured sinks, faucets, and related plumbing fixtures that it sells primarily to distributors and retailers in the United...more
This year’s list offers a good mix of business entities: six involve disputes among LLC members, two involve law firms organized as limited liability partnerships, one involves an accounting firm organized as a professional...more