The Delaware Court of Chancery has held that under the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act, creditors of an insolvent Delaware limited liability company do not have standing to pursue a derivative claim against the managers of the company.

The Delaware Court of Chancery has granted the plaintiffs' request for judicial dissolution of BVWebTies LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. In the case, co-equal owners and managers of the LLC disagreed over the company's management. The company's LLC agreement, however, provided no method by which to break a deadlock among the members.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Code provides for the appointment of a bankruptcy examiner to investigate the debtor with respect to allegations of fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, misconduct or mismanagement. The right examiner, with a clearly defined mission, will have a major influence on the bankruptcy process. The difference between a successful financial restructuring or liquidation-resulting in substantial recoveries for the key constituencies-and a time-consuming (and asset-consuming) meltdown, can depend on the approach of the examiner and the examiner's support team.

In today’s turbulent economic climate, it is vital for creditors and debtors to understand the precise boundaries of their rights and duties when an enterprise becomes insolvent. Directors, officers and managers must acknowledge those to whom they owe fiduciary duties and fulfill those duties at the risk of personal liability, while creditors evaluate their potential remedies against misbehaving insiders to collect on defaulted obligations.

The Delaware Court of Chancery decided earlier this month that a creditor of an insolvent LLC does not have standing to maintain a derivative suit in the name of the LLC against its managers. CML V, LLC v. Bax, No. 5373-VCL, 2010 Del. Ch. LEXIS 220 (Del. Ch. Nov. 3, 2010).

In re Leslie Controls, Inc., (Bankr. D. Del., Case No. 10-12199, 2010)

CASE SNAPSHOT

Under Delaware law, do creditors of an insolvent limited liability company have the same standing as creditors of insolvent corporations to pursue derivative claims against directors on behalf of the LLC? Most commentators, and some courts, have assumed that the answer was “yes.” However, the Delaware Court of Chancery in CML V LLC v. Bax, No. 5373-VCL, 2010 WL 4517795 (Del. Ch. Nov. 3, 2010), determined that the plain language of the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act (the LLC Act) denies derivative standing to such creditors.

The Chapter 11 plan for Washington Mutual Inc. (WaMu) took a page from Engelbert Humperdinck’s song book, with numerous third parties crooning Please Release Me, Let Me Go. On January 7, however, Judge Mary F. Walrath of the Delaware Bankruptcy Court denied confirmation of WaMu’s plan, demonstrating both Delaware’s long-standing view that third party releases should rarely be granted and a clear and laudable preference for the Psychedelic Furs’ No Release unless, like Buffalo Springfield, you Pay the Price.

In a decision that may come as a surprise to many, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (the “Court”) recently dismissed a derivative suit brought by a creditor on behalf of an insolvent limited liability company. See CML V, LLC v. Bax et al., 6 A.3d 238 (Del. Ch. 2010)(JetDirect Aviation Holdings, LLC, Nominal Defendant).

In a recent decision, CML V, LLC v. Bax, et al., C.A. No 5373-VCL (Del. Ch. Nov. 3, 2010), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that, unlike Delaware corporations, creditors of an insolvent Delaware limited liability company cannot bring derivative actions against the members or managers of the company unless they specifically contract for such rights.