The limited liability partnership or LLP is a highly popular form of business association for professional practices including law firms and medical groups. As its name suggests, the LLP combines the attributes of a partnership with the limited liability traditionally associated with corporations, except that professionals in LLPs generally remain…
The three majority members of a five-member limited liability company decide that they want to take a major action, such as selling the assets of the business or buying another business. They present the decision to the minority and proceed over their objections (We’ll assume for the moment that the…
The New Jersey Supreme Court will consider the standards for expulsion of a member from a limited liability company. The Court granted certification in IE Test, LLC v. Carroll, Docket NO. A-6159-12T4 (N.J. Super. App. Div., March 17, 2015)(see our discussion here.) The opinion construes N.J.S.A. 42:2B-24(b)(3)(a) of the now…
LLC Divorce: Till Death Do Us Part, or Just Irreconcilable Differences Should a business divorce be hard or easy? In the world of human divorces, it’s the difference between no-fault divorce and divorce only after a showing of cause. In the world of businesses, it turns on the concept of…
Agent Fails to Dislcose Principal Exists, Avoids Liability Was the limited liability company statute supposed to eliminate basic principles of agency law? That seemsto be the import of a decision by the Appellate Division of Superior Court in Castro v. Giacchi, Docket No. A-6220-12T2 (N.J. Super. App. Div. December 5, 2014)(Opinion…
A recent dispute involving the owners of a medical office building demonstrates, once again, how unexpected business governance issues can threaten an ongoing business. This opinion from the Appellate Division, in New Jersey Realty Concepts, LLC v. Mavroudis, Docket No. A-2013-12T1 (App. Div. March 18, 2014)(opinion here), demonstrates how the…
A recent amendment to New Jersey’s limited liability company law changes the rights of creditors seeking to collect a judgment from a member of a limited liability company, eliminating the creditor’s right to foreclose the member’s interest. Foreclosure of LLC Member Interests Eliminated This particular aspect of the Revised Uniform…
Appellate courts usually defer to a trial court’s factual findings in a business divorce case that makes it to trial. Here is a rare decision, however, in which the Appellate Division reversed the factual determinations of the trial judge, finding that the disputed ownership interest had been conceded by one…
Holding a family business together gets more difficult as time passes, as this recent opinion from the Appellate Division demonstrates. A rift between the family members still working for, and in control of H. Schultz & Sons, resulted in the minority members who stopped receiving dividends while the company was…
Most of the cases that we handle – like any other litigation – get settled before trial. One of the incentives to settle is that invariably the departing owner will agree to some sort of restrictive covenant against competing against his former company. The case that goes to trial, or…