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Business Disputes Shareholders Business Litigation

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

And the Award for Most Creative Attempt to Evade a Book Value Buy-Sell Provision Goes To . . .

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

“Under any standard of value, the true economic value of a business enterprise will equal the company’s accounting book value only by coincidence . . .” says the late business valuation expert and author Shannon Pratt.  So...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Enforcing the Guardrails on Transactions Involving Interested Directors of Close Corporations

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

In my business divorce practice I deal with many closely held corporations that have only a few or perhaps just two shareholders, each of whom is actively involved in running the business. Within that category are many...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Top 10 Business Divorce Cases of 2023

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

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

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Proceed with Caution: Strategy Considerations Before Making a Books and Records Demand

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

The books and records demand often is the opening act in business divorce litigation. The relatively low burden that an owner must meet in order to obtain access to a company’s books and records, and the availability of an...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

How to Stop a Cash-Out Merger from Cancelling Your Shares

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

The corporation of which you are a shareholder just sent you notice that it plans to merge with another corporation.  And although the other existing shareholders will have their shares exchanged for shares of the new...more

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Limitations on Good Faith Damages: No Presumption of Loss for Breach of Honest Performance

Stikeman Elliott LLP on

In Bhatnagar v. Cresco Labs Inc., 2023 ONCA 401, the Ontario Court of Appeal elaborated on the Supreme Court’s decision in C.M. Callow Inc. v. Zollinger, 2020 SCC 45 (“Callow”) and clarified that a breach of the contractual...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Can a Shareholder Suing Derivatively Face Countersuit Individually?

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

That was the interesting, infrequently-litigated question addressed in a recent decision by Manhattan Commercial Division Justice Melissa A. Crane. Simon v FrancInvest, S.A. (2023 NY Slip Op 32422[U] [Sup Ct, NY County...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Can One 50% Shareholder Sue the Other in the Company Name on the Company Dollar? Answer: It Depends

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

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

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Must a Professional Corporation Redeem the Shares of its Retired Shareholders?

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

I previously wrote that one of the most difficult periods in the lifecycle of a closely held business is the period following the death of an owner, due to the tension between the remaining owners wishing to continue the...more

Freiberger Haber LLP

Derivative Standing and The Internal Affairs Doctrine

Freiberger Haber LLP on

By: Jeffrey M. Haber The internal affairs doctrine is a “conflict of laws principle which recognizes that only one State should have the authority to regulate a corporation’s internal affairs—matters peculiar to the...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Derivative Standing and the Internal Affairs Doctrine

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Choice-of-law questions in shareholder derivative lawsuits venued in New York courts involving out-of-state or international entities can be confoundingly difficult, even for appeals court judges....more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Misappropriated Watering Hole Becomes Money Judgment Sinkhole

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

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

Robson & Robson, P.C.

Without Equal? Pennsylvania Federal Court Charts New Path, Rules Fiduciary Duty Exists Between 50/50 Co-owners Of A Business

Robson & Robson, P.C. on

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

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

First Department Recognizes Cause of Action for Specific Performance of LLC Member Voting Agreement

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

In 1941, two of the three shareholders of Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, Inc. entered into an agreement stating that they would vote their combined 630 of the outstanding 1000 shares of Ringling Bros. stock...more

Robson & Robson, P.C.

Can Closely Held Companies Investigate Shareholder Complaints Without Breaking The Bank?

Robson & Robson, P.C. on

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

Robson & Robson, P.C.

Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing

Robson & Robson, P.C. on

In Pennsylvania, Manufactured Deadlocks are Unlikely to Trigger Judicial Dissolution - In disputes among the owners of a closely held company, involuntary judicial dissolution is the nuclear option....more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Dueling Dissolution Petitions Beget Dissolution Without Consideration of Alternate Remedies

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

This blog frequently covers cases considering a shareholder’s request to dissolve a corporation under New York’s oppression-based corporate dissolution statute, BCL 1104-a.  That statute allows a shareholder to petition for...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Business Divorce, Brooklyn Style

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

The pictured architectural rendering of the sunlit Kings County Supreme Courthouse at 360 Adams Street, completed in 1957, doesn’t quite capture the reality of its dour, hulking presence in downtown Brooklyn. Its design...more

Conyers

Getting Ready for the Big Day – Keys for Planning a Successful Virtual Trial

Conyers on

British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) companies are widely used as corporate vehicles for joint ventures in Asia, especially at their pre-listing stage. There are over 450,000 active BVI companies set-up by users around the world....more

Allen Matkins

In Some Cases, A Dissociated Partner May Remain Liable As A Partner

Allen Matkins on

The anomalously named California Uniform Partnership Act of 1994 specifies when a partner in a general partnership "dissociates".  Cal. Corp. Code § 16601.  Upon dissociation, a general partner loses the right to participate...more

Winstead PC

Litigating Minority Shareholder Rights - Presentation

Winstead PC on

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

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Stop the Vote: Injunction Halts Shareholders Meeting Pursuant to Courts’ Broad Power to Review Corporate Elections

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

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

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Turmoil Follows Involuntary Transfers of LLC Membership Interests

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

LLC enabling legislation swept the country in the late 1980s through the mid 1990s. By the turn of the century we saw a trickle of litigation working its way through the courts involving disputes among LLC co-owners. A decade...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Resignation: Antidote for Internal Dissention and Deadlock?

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

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

Amundsen Davis LLC

Flagrant Foul: Business Disputes At The Center Of Ice Cube’s Basketball League

Amundsen Davis LLC on

As many of us learned early in life, Ice Cube has found out that it’s always better to get the money up front. In 2017, Ice Cube co-founded the Big3 basketball league, which features 8 teams playing a 10 week season of...more

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