Litigation between shareholders can be as unpleasant and messy as a divorce. That was the situation today in Koopman v. Koopman Dairies, Inc., a case which the North Carolina Business Court called a "corporate domestic dispute."

That analogy to family law led the Court to award attorneys’ fees for the defendants’ contempt of court orders. Ordinarily, fees aren’t allowable in a contempt proceeding. Getting that type of award is as rare as, say, a 75th wedding anniversary.

In Koopman, two brothers and their wives each owned 50% of…

Continue Reading Being A Minority Shareholder Can Be Like Being In A Bad Marriage