The managing member and president of an LLC could not be liable for tortious interference with contract for firing the Plaintff. "A party to a contract, including the party’s managing agent, cannot be liable for wrongful interference of the contract." The defendant was not an outsider to the contract, and therefore could not be liable
Unfair & Deceptive Practices
J Freeman Floor Company, LLC v. Freeman, March 14, 2009 (Diaz)(unpublished)
The Business Court, relying on the Court of Appeals decision in White v. Thompson, dismissed an unfair and deceptive practices claim brought by an LLC member who claimed that another member and manager had usurped Company opportunities and converted Company assets. It held that there was no assertion that the defendant’s "actions had any…
BHB Enterprises, Inc. v. Waste Management of Carolinas, Inc., March 25, 2009 (Diaz)(unpublished)
A parent corporation can, under certain circumstances, be liable for the actions of its subsidiary under a conspiracy theory, notwithstanding the doctrine of intracorporate immunity.
This opinion summarizes prior law in North Carolina — consisting of six cases — addressing the doctrine of intracorporate immunity in the context of a claim for civil conspiracy under…
Faruque v. Bishopric, November 18, 2008 (Tennille)(unpublished)
The Court dismissed unfair and deceptive trade practice claims in a dispute among doctors based on the "learned profession" exemption and because the dispute was not "in commerce."
Plaintiff alleged that her partners had forced her out of their medical practice. Judge Tennille (in a very short order), held that "North Carolina Appellate Courts have…
A-1 Pavement Marking, LLC v. APMI Corp., 2008 NCBC 13 (N.C. Super. Ct. August 4, 2008)(Diaz)
Defendants’ contention was that they were entitled to reformation of a contract because a page was inadvertently left out of the asset purchase agreement. The missing page detailed long term liabilities which Defendants claimed the Plaintiff was obligated to pay. Defendants argued that the failure to pay constituted a violation of the accompanying Promissory Note and…
Reid Pointe, LLC v. Stevens, 2008 NCBC 15 (N.C. Super. Ct. August 18, 2008)
The Business Court dismissed on a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings an unfair and deceptive practices claim stemming from a dispute between members of a limited liability company.
CDC, a minority member of the LLCs, argued that the member owning a 70% interest, Grimmer, had removed CDC as a manager and had made unnecessary…
Hinson v. Trigon Healthcare, Inc., August 23, 2001 (Tennille)(unpublished)
This was a dispute between insurance agents and an insurer for which they had sold policies.
Plaintiff asserted that the Court had personal jurisdiction over a parent company with an indirect subsidiary in North Carolina based on the alter ego doctrine. The Court held that "if [the parent] has dominated and controlled. . . a second…
Western Piedmont Anesthesia, P.A. v. Barnette, November 20, 2007 (Tennille)(unpublished)
The Court dismissed the derivative claim of a minority shareholder who alleged that the majority shareholders of the corporation had breached their fiduciary duty to the minority shareholders by failing to make distributions, failing to investigate allegations on that subject, and terminating the minority shareholder’s employment.
The Court held that this was not a proper…
Kaplan v. O.K. Technologies, June 27, 2008 (Tennille)(unpublished)
A minority member (Kaplan) of a limited liability company, who was the LLC’s only source of funds and who controlled the LLC’s checkbook, did not have fiduciary duties to the LLC and its other members.
Judge Tennille held:
Being an investor in a company does not create a fiduciary relationship. . . . Kaplan, as a minority shareholder, had
…
Voyager Pharmaceutical Corp. v. Bowen, April 15, 2008 (Jolly)(unpublished)
“Choice of Law” “Aiding and Abetting Breach Of Fiduciary Duty”…
Continue Reading Voyager Pharmaceutical Corp. v. Bowen, April 15, 2008 (Jolly)(unpublished)