Showing results for: “ribstein”
The man who invented the hostile takeover
Henry Manne first theorized the market for corporate control, but the man who first put the concept into action was Louis E. Wolfson. I blogged briefly about Wolfson when he died in 2008. Now you can read more about him in Alan M. Weinberger, What’s in a Name?– The Tale of Louis Wolfson’s Affirmed, 39 Hofstra ... The man who invented the hostile takeover
Coding legal arguments
The NYT writes about computerized journalism: The company’s (Narrative Science) software takes data, like that from sports statistics, company financial reports and housing starts and sales, and turns it into articles. * * * The Big Ten Network, a joint venture of the Big Ten Conference and Fox Networks, began using the technology in the ... Coding legal arguments
Pre-formation fiduciary duties in LLCs: Roni v. Arfa
Last year I wrote here about Roni LLC v Arfa, which I cited as an example of the “troubling lawlessness of NY LLC law.” As discussed in my blog post, the court in that case, after holding that the parties’ arms-length pre-formation business relationship did not support a fiduciary relationship, nevertheless denied defendants’ motion to dismiss ... Pre-formation fiduciary duties in LLCs: Roni v. Arfa
The legislative response to Olmstead
I wrote last year about how the Florida Supreme Court had messed with the LLC “charging order” remedy to give the creditors of the sole member of an LLC access not just to the members’ financial rights, as the statute allows, but also to the member’s governance rights, which the statute arguably forecloses. The dissenters ... The legislative response to Olmstead
Incentive pay for bank regulators
Now that regulating banker pay has been studied exhaustively, here’s something else worth studying: bank regulator pay. Fred Tung and Todd Henderson are on the case, in Pay for Regulator Performance. Here’s the abstract: Few doubt that executive compensation arrangements encouraged the excessive risk taking by banks that led to the recent Financial Crisis. Accordingly, ... Incentive pay for bank regulators
One is not a partnership
Bob Hillman and Don Weidner have a nice little paper in the form of a dialog about what you have when a partner withdraws leaving only one “partner”: Partners Without Partners: The Legal Status of Single Person Partnerships. Here’s part of the abstract: Although we have differing views on whether a single person partnership is ... One is not a partnership
Delaware bans LLC creditor derivative suits
On Friday the Delaware Supreme Court decided the important case of CML V, LLC v. Bax (see Francis Pileggi’s helpful summary). The court, per CJ Steele, held that a creditor lacks standing to sue an insolvent LLC derivatively. The court reasoned that when the Delaware LLC Act says in §18-1002 that a plaintiff in an ... Delaware bans LLC creditor derivative suits
The effect of Van Gorkom and 102(b)(7)
Yaniv Grinstein and and Stefano Rossi have an interesting paper, Good Monitoring, Bad Monitoring, on the effect of corporate law, and specifically of the famous Delaware case Smith v. Van Gorkom and the Delaware legislature’s subsequent “fix” of that result. Here’s the abstract: We estimate the value of monitoring in publicly traded corporations by exploiting ... The effect of Van Gorkom and 102(b)(7)
UCLA’s Milken gift
The NYT discusses a controversy at UCLA (mainly, it seems, involving objections by Lynn Stout) to the $10 million gift it just announced from Lowell Milken, Michael’s brother. Lowell was accused many years ago in connection with his brother’s securities violations and escaped prosecution because of his brother’s plea deal. Steve Bainbridge comments in response ... UCLA’s Milken gift
Remedying Skilling
The WSJ comments on bills in Congress to “remedy” the Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Skilling by explicitly criminalizing agent conduct that doesn’t involve bribery or kickbacks: The biggest objection to such laws is their injustice, but they also harm the economy by introducing legal uncertainty that deters or delays business investment. A Congress ... Remedying Skilling
Another move to over-fiduciarize investing
The WSJ comments on a dumb proposal by the Employee Benefits Security Administration to broaden the definition of “fiduciary” to cover brokerage services with respect to retirement accounts. As the WSJ notes, For decades the finance industry has provided investors roughly two kinds of services: the “advisory” model, in which an investment professional makes trading ... Another move to over-fiduciarize investing
Uncorporate Kodak!
There are reports in the press that corporations are sitting on a huge cash pile — $1.2 trillion. Apple has over 70 billion. Today’s WSJ discusses Kodak (remember film?) which is burning through money it’s collected in patent litigation in a so far futile effort to compete in selling computer printers. Since the government can’t ... Uncorporate Kodak!
