Years ago, oppressed minority shareholders in New Jersey corporations had more protection than oppressed members of a New Jersey LLC. When the statute was revised in 2014, that changed, and LLC members now have similar remedies available to them. But there is one little-known section of the New Jersey LLC statute that makes it a more powerful tool for the majority owners than the corporate statute – the ability to “dissociate” a member. » Read More
Minority owners of closely-held corporations (in New Jersey) often put themselves in a position where they are cut off from access to the company’s books and records. When that happens, several things can occur, and few of them are good.
For example, majority shareholders who have unfettered access to the company’s finances often abuse their power by granting themselves impermissible benefits that are not related to their employment by the company, and are not proportionately shared with the minority shareholders. » Read More
Because termination of one’s employment does not necessarily equate to shareholder oppression under New Jersey law, as seen in my last post, it is often a good idea to take proactive measures to inoculate yourself against a termination that leaves you in the company as a shareholder, but not as an employee. » Read More
Most of the time, when I ask a new client who is in control of the company, the question is not difficult to answer. Even after an election takes place, the results are usually not difficult to discern. After all, an LLC or corporation usually does not have so many members or shareholders that the votes are difficult to count. » Read More
As many of you have read here before, the New Jersey Limited Liability Company Act now includes recovery for minority member oppression. Those remedies cannot be waived, as a matter of law. However, the parties to an LLC’s operating agreement (or a corporation’s shareholder agreement) can agree to an alternate dispute resolution (“ADR”) mechanism in advance, impacting the forum in which these issues will be decided. » Read More
In my last post, I wrote about the fact that your right to simply withdraw from a New Jersey LLC and be paid fair market value for your shares – provided the Operating Agreement does not prohibit this – is being eliminated on March 1, 2014. » Read More
Recently, a defendant testified in a deposition that I was conducting that there was no reason that he could not fire my client, who was a 28% minority shareholder in a New Jersey corporation. Since the defendant was the majority (51%) owner, he believed he could fire whomever he wanted. » Read More
I have written many times over the years about the differences between a corporation and an LLC when it comes to minority owner rights in New Jersey. On many occasions, I have written about the fact that shareholder rights are much more expansive in a corporation, and much more restrictive in an LLC. » Read More
I have written extensively about the difference between the law in New Jersey protecting a minority shareholder in a corporation, and the law protecting a minority member in a limited liability company (LLC). Most lawyers practicing extensively in this area of law have long argued, and believed, that the statute protecting minority shareholders in a corporation from what is considered “shareholder oppression” does not apply to LLC’s (much as we may want it to). » Read More
