The use of a commercial lease to rip off minority owners in a closely held business
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Law Brief ®: Alan Gaynor and Richard Schoenstein Explore Business Divorce
Episode 8: Minority Oppression in the LLC: Interview With Professor Douglas Moll
New York’s Commercial Division has long prided itself on adopting practices and procedures similar to the federal courts. A recent amendment to its rules takes a further step in that direction by mandating initial disclosures...more
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
This first post of 2024 brings the New York Business Divorce Blog into its eighteenth calendar year of weekly commentary on disputes among co-owners of closely held businesses. This year, let business owners and their...more
Injunctions are an indispensable weapon in the business divorce lawyer’s arsenal. Primarily defensive in nature, temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions tend to feature prominently at the outset of business...more
Occasionally, we come across court cases in which the majority owners so egregiously mistreated their minority co-owners that it’s difficult not to write about it — if only as a lesson in what not to do to separate oneself as...more
Do New York’s Surrogate’s Courts have jurisdiction to compel an accounting related to a non-party limited liability company in which the decedent’s estate has only a minority interest? ...more
In the menagerie of closely held companies, those owned and controlled by 50/50 business partners pose unique benefits and challenges. On the benefit side, co-equal ownership and control can foster cooperation,...more
Closely-held business owner breakups often defy easy categorization. What seem at first blush to be traditional business divorce cases sometimes end up treading far into other legal practice areas. Other disputes blur...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
In a lawsuit filed in California last year, Journey guitarist Neal Schon alleged that bandmate Jonathan Cain had denied him access to the group’s corporate credit card. Cain alleged in a cross-complaint that Schon’s prior...more
There is arguably no more prevalent legal claim in business divorces than a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty. Simply put (and I do mean simply), when one person owes a fiduciary duty to another, the person with the duty...more
Last month, we tackled Pennsylvania’s “universal” demand requirement. As a refresher, unlike many states, Pennsylvania will not excuse the shareholder of a company who wants the company to sue its executives or directors from...more
It’s hard not to feel sorry for the petitioner in Fernandes v Matrix Model Staffing, Inc., Decision and Order, Index No. 160294/2021 [Sup Ct, NY County Apr. 20, 2022]. In Fernandes, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Frank...more
The right of shareholders to elect a corporation’s directors is one of the most valuable rights attendant to share ownership. Election of directors is where shareholders can directly exert their influence on the corporation,...more
On the latest Law Brief ® episode, Corporate & Securities Partner Alan Gaynor joins Partner and Host Rich Schoenstein to discuss business divorces for closely-held corporations. They explore how the courts typically approach...more