The wording errors appear to reflect a classic organizational error by the law firm Investors. A senior partner assigns responsibility for a series of transactions to a partner lawyer who does not have the experience to understand the conditions of the cascade. The partner makes the mistake, and then the partner doesn`t read the agreement or if they did, they don`t focus on the key terms of the stunt. The investor`s representative relies on the firm`s partner, and the partner relies too much on the inexperienced partner. In the figure below, the LLC has two categories of membership interests: preferred interests and common interests. This cascade stipulates that 100% of distributions of an LLC must be given to preferred members until obstacle 1 is reached. The parties may identify obstacles to comply with their agreement. Typically, the initial hurdle provides preferred members with a 10% return on their capital contributions. While distributions of an S company must be based strictly on a percentage of ownership, distributions of an LLC may be based on a more complicated formula based on priority (i.e., a distribution cascade). For example, some members may receive the value of their contributed capital plus a preferential return before other members receive distributions. This error occurred because the firm`s investor partner, who was heavily involved in the first transaction, handed over the second transaction to an inexperienced partner. The terms of the second transaction reflected the terms of the first, but when the conditions of the cascade in the third transaction changed, the employee accidentally placed the heel of the key in the wrong position. The partner did not read the final agreement or did not notice the error, and the error remained in the final agreement.

When the parties negotiated the third of the five agreements, they agreed to a two-stage subsidy. This was similar to the waterfall above, except that the last level that defines the promotion goes to a higher promotion percentage for the developer after the distribution of a certain amount. In the example above, an upper limit would be added to the third level, and a fourth level would be added with the top promotion. The next step in understanding a waterfall is to determine the levels in the distribution structure. The steps determine the steps that each distribution dollar will take before it is paid in full. A common scenario may require up to four steps, although this can be adjusted by agreement between the parties, whose components (1) being a repatriation of capital; (2) a preferred rate of return; (3) the catch-up rule; and (4) interest paid. In the first stage – the repayment of capital – all products must first be paid into the repayment of the full investment amounts of investors. After that, the preferred yield (also commonly referred to as the “obstacle rate”) must be achieved. Typically, this is an amount in the order of 6% to 8% of the investment. .