Nonprofit Basics: How To Wind up a California Charity
Episode 013: Interview with Justice Carolyn E. Demarest (Ret.) on Business Divorce Litigation
What is a petition for dissolution of marriage and what does it mean to serve the petition?
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
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
Mehra v. Teller, C.A. No. 2019-0812-KSJM (Del. Ch. Sept. 20, 2024) - In this post-trial decision, the plaintiffs claimed that one of the defendants breached his fiduciary duties by failing to distribute assets equally at...more
I’ve noticed over the many years since this blog’s launch a disproportionate number of posts concerning disputes among restaurant co-owners. The only explanation I’ve come up with is that first-time, start-up restaurant...more
Join me if you know this refrain: In New York, deadlock is not an independent ground for LLC dissolution. But… Almost exactly two years ago from today, Peter Mahler published a post titled: “Has the Time Come for...more
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
In yesterday's post, I discussed the Court of Appeal's unpublished opinion in Milks v. Affirmed Techs., LLC, 2024 WL 1502944 (Cal. Ct. App. Apr. 5, 2024), reh'g denied (Apr. 30, 2024). That case involved claims against a...more
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
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
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
The last time we featured a notable decision on a claim for dissolution of a restaurant-operating LLC was in 2017, with a post by Frank McRoberts titled, “LLC’s Purpose Being Achieved? Business Doing Fine? Good Luck Getting...more
The owners’ agreement is the backbone of the closely-held business. In intracompany LLC disputes, few things are more important than what the operating agreement has to say on the subject. As a consequence, the pages of...more
Someday, perhaps, I’ll find the comedic inspiration to come up with a joke that begins, “An LLC, a partnership, and a close corporation walk into a bar . . ..” Until then, I’ll have to satisfy myself with writing about an...more
Our federal courts by and large are not hospitable to business divorce litigation. The two mainstays of the federal courts’ limited subject matter jurisdiction — federal question and diversity of citizenship — typically are...more
A limited partnership without a general partner cannot lawfully continue. That’s why it’s critical that the limited partnership agreement thoughtfully address general partner succession and, when triggered, the agreement’s...more
Ownership status in a closely-held business is the first and most vital box almost every business divorce petitioner must check....more
Like the Energizer bunny, some business divorce lawsuits keep going and going and going. Years of protracted litigation, brutal though they may be upon the parties, are a bonanza for voyeuristic business divorce practitioners...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 Lazar v. Attena LLC, Justice Andrea Masley of the New York County Commercial Division granted Arik Mor and Uriel Zichron’s (together, “Respondents”) motion to dismiss a petition to dissolve three limited liability...more
“The Company is formed for any valid business purpose” Nine seemingly benign words in the garden-variety operating agreement of a realty holding LLC. Nine words that, as one judge opined under similar circumstances some...more
The ongoing coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic has quite literally impacted everyone and everything in New York, including the courts, which were forced to temporarily cease non-essential functions. The result was a short-lived...more
Business Divorce 101: To be entitled to an accounting of a closely-held business, the plaintiff or petitioner must demonstrate the existence of a fiduciary relationship giving rise to a duty to account....more
I’ve yet to see him make a court appearance, and hope I never do, but the Grim Reaper sure has a knack for disrupting business divorce litigation involving LLCs and limited partnerships....more
In 2018, two members of a realty holding LLC sought judicial dissolution based on the death of one of the other members. The operating agreement defines a member’s death as an event of “Dissociation.”...more
The nationwide landscape of statutes and case law governing judicial dissolution of limited liability companies exhibits more state-to-state similarity than dissimilarity....more