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In KOVACS-WHALEY v. WELLNESS SOLUTIONS, INC. ET AL., No. M2011-00089-COA-R3-CV decided March 16, 2012, the Tennessee Court of Appeals held that Defendants were not entitled to summary judgment on a breach of contract claim because a jury could ultimately decide that Plaintiff's objection to the stock appraiser chosen by Defendants was reasonable. This case highlights the perils of including provisions of mutuality and reasonableness in Shareholders' Agreements, or as we like to say, "no good deed goes unpunished."

A majority of American small businesses use the s-corporation form of doing business (i.e. dentists, opticians, and even retailers). The main reason is that an s-corporation is a pass-through entity, meaning the net earnings of the s-corporation are passed through to the shareholders of the company and reported on their individual income tax returns. This may seem simple enough for accounting principles but the tax ramifications can be substantial.