On this episode of “Splitting Heirs,” Warren K. Racusin talks with Lowenstein partner Nick San Filippo IV, Chair of the firm’s Business Divorce practice, and Jeff Savlov, a partner in the family business and wealth consulting...more
“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
The distinction between direct and derivative claims pervades business divorce litigation. Whether a dissident owner’s claim against his or her co-owners is a direct claim (one that the owner can assert in their individual...more
The authors of this blog have a special affinity for fair value appraisal proceedings. The narrow hearings—where the sole issue before the court is the fair value of an owner’s interest in a business—require attorneys and...more
MiniCorp has five shareholders, all of whom are employees. Each shareholder’s employment agreement states that they are an at-will employee of MiniCorp, and the shareholders agreement provides that when a shareholder’s...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
One of the pleasures of being a litigator is that we constantly learn. The pleasure multiplies as a law blogger, where articles we write inspire litigation arguments, and litigations we fight inspire articles....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
In 1950, Sam Hoffman and his two sons, Hyman and Melvin, founded Brooklyn-based Cornell Beverages, Inc. to manufacture and distribute seltzer. Those were the days when “seltzer men” made weekly home deliveries of cases of...more
A year and a half ago, we blogged about a decision in which Bronx County Supreme Court Justice Llinet M. Rosado ruled that a shareholder’s alleged stock transfer through a bequest in his last will and testament was...more
For owners of closely-held businesses, there are few provisions meriting more attention in an owners’ agreement than the buy-sell agreement. Buy-sell agreements come in many different forms, and the best ones are designed to...more
As is true with other relationships, some business relationships do not stand the test of time. Whether it be the stress caused by weak financial performance, lopsided efforts, differing opinions regarding employees,...more
There’s tremendous diversity from state-to-state when it comes to statutory and judge-made law in business divorce cases. The basic fact patterns one sees in cases from across the country, however, don’t vary nearly as much....more
Shareholder agreements and operating agreements contain a variety of knobs and levers, many of which a company’s founders hope never to invoke. Chief among them are the provisions for resolving disputes or deadlocks in...more