Beware of the corporate opportunity doctrine

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Abstract: Under the corporate opportunity doctrine, an agent of a corporation can’t divert or exploit for the agent’s own benefit an opportunity that’s the principal’s opportunity. This article summarizes a recent case in which a New York trial court found the majority owners of a successful sports bar misappropriated a “corporate opportunity” when they used lease buyout proceeds to relocate the bar and start a new corporation to run it. O’Mahony v. Whiston, No. 652621/2014. (N.Y. Cty., Feb. 15, 2023).