In disputes among the owners of a closely held company, involuntary judicial dissolution is the nuclear option.

When a group of shareholders successfully petitions a court to dissolve and then liquidate their company because the owners reached an impasse they could not overcome, there will be no more company to speak of. While that might have been the intended outcome for the petitioning shareholders, the fire-sale price the company’s assets will probably fetch on the open market is an unpleasant accompanying pill they’ll have to swallow.