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Business Litigation Limited Liability Company (LLC) Business Divorce

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

On Camera: My Recent Video Interview on, What Else, Business Divorce (Part One)

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I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Sandra Schulte at the media production studios of the Manhattan Neighborhood Network located near the Javits Center. Sandra, whom I met at a CLE program where I was a...more

ArentFox Schiff

How Boilerplate Agreement Advancement Clauses Can Transform Ownership Disputes

ArentFox Schiff on

Indemnification and advancement clauses are often seen as mere boilerplate language in a company’s governing documents, routinely copied from one form agreement to another. However, advancement clauses may be important...more

Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth

California Business Divorce: California Court Recognizes LLC Member Lists as Trade Secrets in Recent Ruling

California Court Recognizes LLC Member Lists as Trade Secrets in Recent Ruling - When an LLC member suspects the company is playing favorites with redemption requests, how much access should they have to the membership rolls...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

A Message of Acceptance from the Garden State

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

This week’s New York Business Divorce takes us to the Garden State for a delightfully-written, post-trial decision by retired, recalled Appellate Division Judge Clarkson S. Fisher, Jr....more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Demand Futility, Dissolution, and Transfer Restrictions: Spring Blooms Fresh Developments in LLC Litigation

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

In addition to blooming trees and longer days, spring in New York has ushered in a fresh crop of noteworthy decisions on intra-LLC disputes.  Headliners include a boost to members’ rights to compel an accounting courtesy of...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Business Appraiser Liability? That’s a New One.

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

We’ve written about accountant liability. We’ve written about bookkeeper liability. A carefully crafted complaint can state viable claims for either. But business appraiser liability?...more

Patton Sullivan Brodehl LLP

LLCs Can Assert Offensive Claims Against Members

In “business divorce” litigation involving LLCs, it is common to see a disgruntled LLC member asserting claims against the LLC’s manager. Depending on the type of harm alleged, those claims might be asserted directly (by the...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

LLC Member States Direct Claims Arising from Machiavellian Manager’s Tactical Bankruptcy Petition

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“There is only going to be one winner here, and it’s not going to be you—give in while there is something still left in it for you,” said one LLC member to the other. With co-owners like that, who needs enemies?...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Winter Case Notes: Nice Try, But the Agreements Say What They Say

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Spring is soon upon us. March Madness is at our doorstep. The Formula 1 season is underway. Baseball season will be in full swing shortly. And my allergies are already in bloom....more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Top 10 Business Divorce Cases of 2024

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Welcome to our 17th annual edition of the Top 10 business divorce cases featured on this blog over the past year. This year’s selections buck the trend of previous years in which cases involving limited liability...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Check Your Footing: $36 Million Money Judgment Eviscerated in Brutal Appellate Standing Loss

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

To prevail on a cause of action in a business divorce lawsuit, the plaintiff has many essential boxes to check. Pleading requirements vary from one claim to another, but all business divorce cases have one thing in common....more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

To be or Not to Be (a Member). That is the Question… That Estoppel Can Help Answer.

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Evidence of ownership. Necessary in business divorce. Not always so easy to prove. Today’s case— Xiaoyan Lu v Sagewood SFF III LLC, 2024 NY Slip Op 05895 (1st Dept 2024)—gives an example of how far (or not) the doctrines of...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Fact Issues and Credibility Determinations on Injunction Motions

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Almost exactly one year ago, we wrote about the go-to line of New York case law for business divorce litigants hoping to secure injunctions: a substantial and ever growing body of authority holding that involuntary loss or...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

A Leaf Through a Busy November in New York LLC Litigation

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

November was a whirlwind month for New York LLC litigation.  It featured disputes over how to wind up a judicially dissolved LLC, a bitter intra-family emergency indemnification/advancement injunction, and the finale of a...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Diving Into the Shallow Waters of New York Law Permitting Elimination of LLC Managers' Liability for Breach of Fiduciary Duty

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

There’s a ton of Delaware caselaw enforcing Section 18-1101 (c) of that state’s LLC Act as amended in 2004, authorizing LLC agreements to eliminate the members’ and managers’ liability for breach of fiduciary duty, the only...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Diving Into the Shallow Waters of New York Law Permitting Elimination of LLC Managers’ Liability for Breach of Fiduciary Duty

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

There’s a ton of Delaware caselaw enforcing Section 18-1101 (c) of that state’s LLC Act as amended in 2004, authorizing LLC agreements to eliminate the members’ and managers’ liability for breach of fiduciary duty, the only...more

Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth

California Business Divorce: The Power of LLC Members to Ratify Past Actions Despite Defective Meeting Notices

Here’s What Happened This dispute arose from the operations of 409 North Camden, LLC, which owns a two-story office building in Beverly Hills. The property's history dates back to 1963, when six friends purchased it as...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Appellate Division Construes LLC Law 608 as Giving Voting Rights to a Deceased Member’s Estate

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

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

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Recent Appellate Rulings Address Novel Issues in General Partnership Disputes

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

The era of the old-fashioned general partnership long ago petered out, largely displaced by subchapter S corporations and, in the last few decades, limited liability companies, both of which allow pass-through taxation...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Conditional Grants of Membership Interests Are a Roadway to Courtroom Conflict

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

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

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Did Chancery Court Just Crack Open the Door to Equitable Dissolution of LLCs?

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

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

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Dissolution Undone

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Business divorce and non-judicial (a/k/a voluntary) dissolution of a business entity rarely intersect. But when they do, or even in a non-business divorce setting, if a business owner needs to rescind a certificate of...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

It Takes More Than a Litigation Tsunami Between Hostile Members to Obtain Judicial Dissolution of a Realty-Holding LLC

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

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

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Limo Company Shareholders Can’t Hitch a Ride in Derivative Litigation

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Closely-held business entities come in all shapes and sizes. By definition, under Partnership Law § 10, it takes “two or more” owners to form a general partnership. But corporations and LLCs have no such impediment, ranging...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Battle for Company Control Turns on Conflicting Copies of Operating Agreement Amid Accusations of “Old-Fashioned Forgery”

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

“This case (and its many state-court siblings) has a tortured history,” is the opening line in Judge Subramanian’s decision. The “siblings” are five or so related lawsuits filed in New York State Supreme Court beginning in...more

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