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Family Feud Leads to Breach of Contract, Fraud and Constructive Trust Claim in Suffolk County

It is a very sad day when you can’t trust your own brother.
According to the plaintiff in the Suffolk County case of Kimelstein v. Kimelstein, he was wrongfully frozen out of his 50% interest in a property that he and brother had acquired jointly through a non-party corporation.  More specifically, he contends that pursuant to [...]

New York Federal Judge Allows Piercing the Corporate Veil Claims To Proceed – For Now

In light of my previous columns (see, e.g., Piercing the Corporate Veil – Critical Facts That You Will Need to Prove Your Case and, from earlier today, No Personal Liability For Corporate Fraud, Court Holds) setting forth some of the difficulties in piercing the corporate veil, here’s a “hot-off-the-presses” decision from a Federal judge in [...]

Posted Under: breach of fiduciary duty, business fraud, piercing corporate veil
This post was written by Jonathan Cooper on December 14, 2009 Comments (0)

Westchester Court Refuses To Let Defendant Off The Hook On Fraud Claims

In a case with salacious – and all-too-common facts – that was reported in this week’s New York Law Journal, a Westchester County court declined to dismiss the plaintiff’s claim that the defendants were diverting their assets in a desperate attempt to avoid a judgment that had been rendered against them in a breach of [...]

Posted Under: Breach of contract, business fraud, commercial litigation, piercing corporate veil
This post was written by Jonathan Cooper on December 9, 2009 Comments (0)

When A Corporation Is Not Liable For Its Employees’ Actions Under New York Law

Although we’ve written about the concept of an employer being held legally responsible for the acts (or omissions) of its employees that were committed in the performance of their job (see, “Why A School Was Deemed Responsible For A Science Experiment That Went Awry“), there is a very important exception to this rule that should [...]

Contrarian New York Federal Court Court Castigates SEC’s Proposed Settlement Of Merrill Bonuses

Just because you buck the trend and challenge the establishment doesn’t mean you’re wrong.
Earlier today, New York Federal Judge Jed Rakoff issued a lengthy decision detailing why, despite the traditional deference granted to parties in determining the terms of their own settlements, he would not sign off on the S.E.C.’s willingness to accept a $33 [...]

Posted Under: breach of fiduciary duty, business fraud
This post was written by Jonathan Cooper on September 14, 2009 Comments (0)

How A Client’s Bad Behavior In Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Fraud Case Led To Disaster

In a case that should sound a warning to ill-tempered, egomaniacal bosses everywhere, a jury recently awarded five of former Guess CEO Georges Marciano’s employees a total of $370 million  on their counterclaims for intentional infliction of emotional distress, libel and defamation.
The initial action, which sought monetary damages for these former employees’ alleged breach of [...]