Blog, Business Litigation
Trust/Estate Litigation Meets Corporate Litigation
Minority shareholders of a family corporation, were also trust beneficiaries and found themselves in the voting minority of a multiple trustee trust which controlled the family corporation. This erupted into business related trust litigation over corporation affairs of the operating company. There were also trustee and shareholder differences where corporate governance and trust governance issues converged resulting in corporate and trust fiduciary duty claims and fundamental contract law disputes. In addition, the decedent’s capacity became a material litigated issue. At trial, the clients defeated the conflicted management trustees’ claim for a seven figure oral contract bonus. This litigated resolution of the bonus claim identified evidence that resulted in a global resolution of all issues, and also resulted in a separate trust litigation seven figure settlement for KGR’s clients who were the heirs and trust beneficiaries. For a thorough discussion of these issues, or if you have other questions regarding your minority shareholders rights, please contact David Wright and Kevin Koons, or one of our other attorneys here to discuss your situation. It would be our pleasure to assist you.
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Blog, Business Litigation
Shareholder Rights, Minority Shareholder Oppression
The founding executive and shareholder of a closely-held business found himself to be a minority owner after many years of success, growth and sharing the fruits of success. He then found himself fired which resulted in a fight for his personal and family financial survival when his shareholder distributions, salary and benefits were terminated, while taxable non-cash income continued accruing to the shareholder. At this juncture it was critical to preserve the family’s financial viability and resolve the career issues via claims including breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. The claims resulted in a resolution that met the client’s goals for securing the future for himself and his family, under confidential terms. For a thorough discussion of these issues, or if you have other questions regarding your minority shareholders rights, please contact David Wright and Steve Runyan, or one of our other attorneys here to discuss your situation. It would be our pleasure to assist you.
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Arbitration, Blog
Arbitration is Not a One Size Fits All Solution
Justice Hart of the Arkansas Supreme Court recently wrote a scathing dissent on the proliferation of arbitration to settle disputes. You can find a story summarizing the dissent here and the full dissent here. Whether you favor or disfavor the use of arbitration, Justice Hart raises a number of points that attorneys and clients should consider before agreeing to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution. She notes that arbitration is not often the cost saving resolution touted. She is undoubtedly correct that paying an arbitrator (or panel) is significantly more expensive than the cost of a court where a litigant is only responsible for the filing fee and court costs. Whether the total cost of arbitration is cheaper or more expensive than traditional litigation depends on the nature of the matter and the scope of discovery undertaken. Certainly if extensive discovery occurs in traditional litigation but an arbitration panel would have limited the scope of discovery, then you may spend less money through the course of the decision making process. But that begs the question, do you need the discovery? If your case hinges on discovery, are you willing to risk that discovery may be limited by the panel? Further, if you require discovery from a nonparty in traditional litigation, it can generally be compelled through issuance of a subpoena with the discovery. Virtually no additional steps are required. In arbitration however, the panel does not have the power to compel compliance with a non-party discovery request. Consequently, in order to compel a response, a…
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