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
Many posts on The LLC Jungle blog have focused on the fiduciary duties owed by LLC managers to both the LLC’s members and the LLC itself. Other posts have focused on the pitfalls of LLC Operating Agreements that fail to...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
In the world of LLCs, buyouts — where one member sells his/her membership interest to another member or the LLC itself — are commonplace. Buyouts generally fall into one of two categories: contractual — where the...more
LLC operating agreements frequently provide for indemnity to the LLC’s manager. This is consistent with the statutory default rule embodied by California Corporations Code section 17704.08(a), which provides for indemnity...more
California’s anti-SLAPP statute (Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16) aims to protect defendants from meritless lawsuits designed to chill “protected activity” — i.e., the exercise of rights of petition or free speech on...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
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
You know you’re in big trouble if the post-trial decision in a lawsuit you filed begins like this: “The court finds the plaintiff, Rowen Seibel, not credible. This is primarily because it appears he fabricated evidence...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
Appearances can be deceiving. - That, essentially, was the argument made in two recently decided cases involving claims for judicial dissolution. ...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
Most folks associate beer with pleasure. Many craft brewers will tell you they went into business for that reason: to make themselves and others happy (and, oh yeah, make money). ...more
The derivative suit concept so familiar in the corporate context has been grafted onto the limited liability form. The contractual nature of limited liability companies and their often closely-held membership can pose...more
In Villareal v. Saenz, two co-owners of a limited liability company sued each other regarding conduct surrounding a business divorce. 5-20-CV-00571-OLG-RBF, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94183 (W.D. Tex. May 18, 2021)....more
Last week, Peter Mahler blogged about a recent decision holding that a minority shareholder’s claim against its majority co-owners for breach of fiduciary duty in connection with a sale of the business to a third party...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
In Terry L. Menacker v. Overture, L.L.C., et al., C.A. No. 2019-0762-JTL (Del. Ch. Aug. 4, 2020), the Delaware Court of Chancery (the “Court”) considered a motion to dismiss claims by a former member of Overture L.L.C. (the...more
In 77 Charters, Inc. v. Gould et al.., C.A. No. 2019-0127-JRS (Del. Ch. May 18, 2020), 77 Charters, Inc. (“Plaintiff”) brought suit against defendants Jonathan Gould (“Gould”), Stonemar MM Cookeville, LLC (“Stonemar MM”),...more
In Skye Mineral Investors LLC v. DXS Capital (U.S.) Limited, et al., the Delaware Court of Chancery (the “Court”) denied defendants’ motion to dismiss, finding that plaintiffs had sufficiently pled a breach by the members...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
LLC managers (or members vested with decision-making authority) are sometimes lulled into a false sense of security by “sole discretion” provisions in their LLC’s operating agreement. That can be a costly mistake....more
Whether Maryland law recognizes an independent cause of action for breach of fiduciary duty has been an unsettled question. As the Maryland Court of Appeals noted in its July 14, 2020 opinion in Plank v. Cherneski, “Maryland...more
In 77 Charters, Inc. v. Gould, the Delaware Court of Chancery refused to dismiss breach of fiduciary duty claims against an indirect, “remote controller” of a limited liability company in connection with a series of...more