Hotel Management Firm Founder Can’t Unilaterally Oust Top Execs

The founder of a hotel management company didn’t have authority to remove from the board its top two corporate officers under the terms of the limited liability company agreement, Delaware’s Chancery Court ruled.

Phillip McNeill, executive chairman of McNeill Investment Group, lacked “unilateral authority” to execute a written consent of the managing
board to drop Christopher Ropko and Thomas Burdi from the panel, said court vice chancellor Paul A. Fioravanti, Jr. in a Monday post-trial opinion.

McNeill’s attempt to remove Ropko, the group’s CEO and Burdi, its CFO, through written consent of the company’s managing board was “ineffective and violated ...