Law Commons^™

Delaware Dissolves The Glue Of Capitalism: Exonerating From Claims Of Incompetence Those Who Manage Other People's Money, Daniel S. Kleinberger

Faculty Scholarship

Delaware law is the leading source of non-federal law governing U.S. business organizations. Over the past 25 years that law has tilted further and further toward insulating individuals who manage business firms from any liability to the firms’ owners based on claims of misconduct. These developments have occurred both in corporate law and the law of unincorporated organizations.

Although often described as consistent with market principles, these developments actually undercut the proper functioning of a market system. Effective competition among firms does not require a “dog eat dog” mentality within firms. Managerial responsibility is a prerequisite to healthy firms, which …

Foreword: Shape Shifting In The Law, Daniel S. Kleinberger

Faculty Scholarship

As this issue of the William Mitchell Law Review reflects, a significant dislocation is occurring in the law of business organizations. Something far more fundamental than a legal definition or any similarly specific concept is in flux. The legal and philosophical question is not whether a business organization should be able to engage instrumentally in non-profit activities but rather whether a business organization's purpose may include something in addition to (and likely prejudicial to) the purely pecuniary interests of the organization's owners.

Aba Business Law Section, On Behalf Of Its Committees On Llcs And Nonprofit Organizations, Opposes Legislation For Low Profit Limited Liability Companies (L3cs), Daniel S. Kleinberger

Faculty Scholarship

This document comprises a letter and attachment “submitted by the ABA Business Law Section on behalf of its Committee on Limited Liability Companies, Partnerships, and Unincorporated Entities and its Committee on Nonprofit Organizations … and states our views on … a bill ‘relating to limited liability companies [and] providing for the creation and operation of low-profit limited liability companies.’” The letter and attachment “have not been approved by the House of Delegates or the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association and should not be construed as representing the policy of the ABA.”

Supported by detailed analysis of both …

Two Decades Of "Alternative Entities": From Tax Rationalization Through Alphabet Soup To Contract As Deity, Daniel S. Kleinberger

Faculty Scholarship

This essay: (i) puts into perspective the past 20 years of developments in the U.S. law of limited liability companies (LLCs), limited liability partnerships (LLPs), and limited liability limited partnerships (LLLPs); (ii) explains how a movement toward tax rationalization has been transformed into a palace coup aimed at fiduciary duty (a fundamental tenet of the U.S. law of closely held businesses); and (iii) criticizes both conceptually and pragmatically efforts to "kill Cardozo" and worship "freedom of contract."

The Plight Of The Bare Naked Assignee, Daniel S. Kleinberger

Faculty Scholarship

A new and separate opportunity for oppression exists because LLC law purports to (1) recognize a species of persons holding legal rights vis-á-vis the LLC (assignees) while (2) denying those persons any remedies whatsoever in connection with those rights. This article addresses the conceptual mechanics, history, and ultimate instability of that denial. The article also considers a note of irony­—namely, that the plight of the "bare naked assignee" derives from a construct, the organization as "aggregate," that LLC law has in all other respects emphatically transcended. To understand the plight of the assignee of an LLC interest, one must first …

The Llc As Recombinant Entity: Revisiting Fundamental Questions Through The Llc Lens, Daniel S. Kleinberger

Faculty Scholarship

Rather than being a simple hybrid, the U.S. limited liability company is better described as a recombinant entity that combines attributes of four different types of business organizations. The LLC offers an almost ineffably flexible structure, but that flexibility does not place the LLC beyond the range of traditional, formalist analysis. To the contrary, parsing the LLC in pursuit of conventional forms may allow us "to know the place for the first time." This essay uses conventional concepts to: (i) explore whether "labels matter" when LLC membership interests are described as Contract or as Property; and (ii) examine how the …

The Next Generation: The Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, Daniel S. Kleinberger

Faculty Scholarship

In July, 2006, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws approved Re-ULLCA - the Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act. The product of a three-year drafting process, heavily influenced by 13 advisors appointed by the ABA, the new Act brings major innovations to the law of limited liability companies. This article, written by the two co-reporters for the drafting committee: (i) explains why the Conference decided to draft a new LLC statute, reviews the process through which the Conference produced and approved the new Act, and describes the Act's basic architecture; (ii) highlights the Act's major innovations; and …

Direct Vs. Derivative, Or "What's A Lawsuit Between Friends In An 'Incorporated Partnership'?", Daniel S. Kleinberger

Faculty Scholarship

In any context the distinction between direct and derivative claims carries significant consequences. The procedural requirements are different, as are the available remedies. In addition, the remedies benefit different parties. A successful derivative claim typically enriches the corporate treasury, while a successful direct claim typically puts money directly in the hands of the shareholder claimant. Moreover, derivative defendants can shelter behind several powerful bulwarks-including special litigation committees and the business judgment rule-that are unavailable to direct defendants.

Under the 'internal affairs' doctrine, Minnesota law governs the direct/derivative issue for all Minnesota corporations. Current Minnesota law provides inadequate guidance when the …