Ask ten lawyers if non-compete agreements are enforceable in New York and you may receive ten different answers, ranging from “they’re not worth the paper they’re written on” to “they are absolutely iron-clad.” As with most complex legal questions, the answer is somewhere between these two absolutes, and is dependent on a variety of factors….
One of my colleagues, corporate attorney Stephen Furnari, hates it when his clients refuse to pay his bills. I mean really, really hates it. In one of his blogs, Steve examined some of the reasons lawyers give for their failure to pursue collection from clients more aggressively and found those reasons to be lacking. In this…
One of the challenges facing the small business is finding the right lawyer. Unlike larger businesses, which may have one or more attorneys in their organization, or a general counsel charged with responsibility for all of the company’s legal matters, for the small business, the task of finding and hiring the right attorney can be…
Most small businesses with more than a single owner typically opt to conduct their business as a corporation or as a limited liability company. When these businesses are properly established, the owners will enter into a shareholder’s agreement or a well-drafted operating agreement that provides a mechanism for the sale of a minority owner’s interest…
It is a general rule in New York, as well as most other jurisdictions, that a corporation that purchases the assets (as opposed to the stock) of another corporation does not become liable for the seller’s liabilities or contract obligations. Of course, many unscrupulous businesses view this rule as a means to escape their financial…
A typical client call begins, “You know, someone posted this ridiculous thing about my business on the internet, and now every time someone does a search, it is the first thing that comes up on Google. What can I do?” In my last article, I outlined some of the problems inherent in bringing a defamation lawsuit…
The Internet. Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. A friend posts something online about you in fun, in jest, out of spite or anger, and now it is out there for the world to see, read, and/or comment upon. Oh, it will go away or blow over, you think. But will it? The…
It is a fact of life for every business that a certain percentage of your customers will fail to pay you for your goods or services on the terms you and the customer agreed upon. Although ideally the parties will attempt to resolve a payment dispute in a mutually acceptable way that permits the business…
In my earlier blog about frivolous lawsuits, I mentioned that these actions may be susceptible to dismissal on an accelerated basis by such devices as a motion to dismiss or a motion for summary judgment. While these motions are available to either the plaintiff or defendant, in this article I will focus on its use by…
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which enacted comprehensive healthcare reform into law. Although the law makes sweeping changes to expand coverage, increase benefits and lower costs, and reform both our public and private health insurance systems, this blog post will focus on the Affordable Care Act’s…