The law that controls any business organizations is a creature of state law, and disputes among owners in a business divorce involve the application of the law where the business was formed. More often than not that means the law of the state in which the dispute is being heard,…
Is an intractable deadlock among the shareholders good grounds to force the sale of a large, successful corporation? That was the issue before the Delaware Supreme Court in a case in which the trial court’s decision to sell the business as a going concern – over the objection of one…
It may take a unanimous action of the members of a limited liability company to dissolve the entity or to change the date on which the company will dissolve according to the terms of its operating agreement. But unless the Operating Agreement specifically requires the members to act unanimous to…
A partnership has no obligation to complete performance of its executory contracts, the Texas Court of appeals held in affirming a multi-million dollar trial court verdict involving a chain of TGI Fridays in Dallas. The case involved a joint venture formed with TGI Fridays and several entites that qualified as…
Here is the hard reality. The chances that your case, or any case, will get to a real trial on the merits is way less than one in 10. The truth is that only between two and five cases out of 100 will be resolved with a trial. What does…
An LLC member breached his fiduciary duty by competing with his own company, a trial court in New York City holds in issuing an injunction against one of the principals of a successful company that makes automated parking systems. The case involves the company that makes Parkmatic parking systems, mechanical…
New York’s oppressed shareholder statute has a unique provision that was initially intended to prevent the oppressed shareholder from destroying a viable business. That is because the New York statute otherwise gives the court only two options: send the oppressed shareholder away or force the dissolution of the business. Other…
One of the hardest things about being an effective negotiator is the ability to leave your ego at the door. We need to listen, not impress. Seasoned Negotiators, Effective Apologies As negotiation trainer Jim Camp warns, an effective negotiator learns how to let the other side be “ok,” even when…
When is a partnership dissolution not a dissolution? When the partnership is not subjected to the formal dissolution procedures, even if it appears that the Court may have intended otherwise. Express Finding of Dissolution of Partnership Required That was the result of a split decision of the Fifth Circuit Court…
Reading through a recent court opinion out of the New York Supreme Court, I am struck by the way the law has diverged in corporate governance litigation. There are two distinctly different approaches to the business divorce. Crossing the Hudson can make a world of difference in operating a closely…