Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 167: Listen and Learn -- Direct and Derivative Actions (Corporations)
Board Diversity Podcast
Securities Litigation and Disclosure Issues
Podcast: CFTC Issues LIBOR Transition Relief for Swaps
To practitioners familiar with internal disputes involving closely held companies, the allegations in Lafayette Village Pub, LLC v. Burnham, 2025 NCBC 8, are nothing new. The member running the business (allegedly) made bad,...more
While entity distinctness is a bedrock principle of corporate law, it may often appear redundant and unnecessary for a limited liability company (“LLC”) to sign its own operating agreement. That was likely the thinking of the...more
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
Asserting claims derivatively on behalf of an LLC, as opposed to directly on behalf of an LLC member, can be tricky business for even experienced litigators. The requirements for derivative claims have been explored in...more
I recently had the privilege of speaking to an audience of judges of the New York Supreme Court Commercial Division at Fordham Law School’s Eileen Bransten Institute on Complex Commercial Litigation. Naturally, the topic was...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
Welcome to the 12th annual edition of Summer Shorts. This year’s edition features brief commentary on a handful of recent decisions by New York trial judges and appellate courts in a variety of business divorce cases...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
I can’t say what the number is, but my own experience tells me that a significant percentage of lawsuits by a minority owner of a closely-held company against those in control of the company include a demand for an...more
The New York Times yesterday published an article entitled Climate Change Enters the Therapy Room discussing persons suffering from “climate anxiety.” As a northeasterner, the frigid, snow-blessed, ground-freezing winter...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
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
Goureau v. Lemonis, C.A. No. 2020-0486-MTZ (Del. Ch. Mar. 30, 2021) Delaware follows the modern “transactional” view of claim splitting, which bars a plaintiff from bringing bring duplicative proceedings in different courts...more
In business divorce litigation, petitioners / plaintiffs often want to start the case with a bang. A common tactic is to file a petition / complaint simultaneously with an injunction motion. Often there is a real need for an...more
In Matter of Jacobs v. Cartalemi, No. 2016-05041, 2017 BL 435890 (2d Dep’t Dec. 6, 2017) (“Jacobs I”), a unanimous Appellate Division, Second Department panel affirmed an order by Westchester County Commercial Division...more
When the tsunami of LLC enabling statutes swept the U.S. in the late ’80s and early ’90s, including New York in 1994, many included a default rule authorizing as-of-right member withdrawal and payment for the “fair value” of...more
I wish I could take credit for it, but I can’t. The phrase “bare naked assignee” was coined by the preeminent scholar and LLC maven Professor Daniel Kleinberger whose massive oeuvre (not to mention his guest posts on this...more
New York’s LLC judicial dissolution statute, Section 702 of the Limited Liability Company Law, provides far more limited grounds to dissolve a business than the Business Corporation Law – a harsh reality for allegedly...more
In a decision handed down on August 15, 2017 by the New York Appellate Division First Department, the court endorsed the practice of the appointment of a Special Litigation Committee (SLC) by a limited liability company (LLC)...more
Regular readers of this blog know it’s been anything but summer doldrums in the world of business divorce, what with case law developments such as the Appellate Division’s potentially far-reaching ruling on the purposeless...more
A little over three years ago I reported on the first round of a fascinating “food fight” among four siblings, each of whom is a 25% shareholder of a Brooklyn-based, second-generation food distributor known as Jersey Lynne...more
Effective February 21, 2017, Pennsylvania law will change significantly for business corporations, nonprofit corporations, and especially for limited liability companies (“LLCs”), limited partnerships (“LPs”), limited...more
Advancement and indemnification rights are vital in attracting the best and brightest individuals to serve as managers of Delaware entities. Those rights are meant to provide managers of Delaware entities comfort when...more
The Tennessee Business Court continued its prolific promulgation of rulings affecting the resolution of internecine disputes between LLC members. In Terrell K. Raley, et al. v. Cees Brinkman, et al., Case No. 16-0196-BC, the...more