Business Litigation Legal Questions

You can't be compelled to be deposed in Florida if you live in Indiana.  Rather, plaintiff will have to depose you in Indiana unless you voluntarily agree to travel to Florida.  Thus, you can refuse to travel to Florida unless your reasonable expenses are paid.  Since this is a voluntary agreement, you can ask for whatever you want, but plaintiff will be careful to agree to pay only reasonable and necessary expenses, lest he/she/it be accused of buying your testimony (of course, this is not really an issue if the plaintiff and defendant split the costs).  If you can't reach agreement, and you are compelled to testify in Indiana, you will receive only minimal compensation, if any. BTW, if they don't want to travel to Indiana, why don't they just depose you by phone, or video conference?... Read More

I'm very sorry for your loss. It may be that the bars could lose their license and/or the servers could possibly serve jail time, but you have no official say in these proceedings.  The best you can do is to try to convince the local district attorney, and liquor authority, to proceed against the bars, and to seek the maximum penalties allowed.  However the ultimate choice of whether to do so is up to them. You may have standing to bring a civil suit against the bars, but the sole remedy you could obtain would be money damages, not criminal or quasi-criminal sanctions, like jail time or the revocation of a liquor license.... Read More

It is not only possible, it is done all the time.  The cost for just sending a demand letter should be minimal, no more than a few hundred dollars at most, maybe less.  However, you have to be prepared for the likelihood that the demand letter will not resolve the matter, and decide what you want to do in that event.  Do you want to sue?  Do you want a lawyer to represent you if you do sue?... Read More

Well, with 90k+ FL attorneys, finding an attorney that will draft up terms and conditions shouldn’t be a problem.  However, I write more to give a little insight from my experience as to what to look for in your search.  Generally, one of the things I see the most, are folks leaving the lawyer’s office with a draft that they may not even understand.  Make sure you know why the lawyer put this or that into the terms and conditions.  Much of it may be necessary ‘boilerplate,’ but still make sure you know it.  The next thing you may find helpful is to find an attorney that knows your business industry.  It may not make much of a difference in the end, but, in my experience, it may help ease communication difficulties between you and your attorney.  Finally, to answer your question directly, there are a number of outlets to find and research attorneys in your area, so take advantage of that.  Also, consider contacting your local bar association for a referral.  You may want to consult with a couple of attorneys before choosing one.  The main thing, particularly with drafting work, is to find an attorney with whom you understand and are comfortable with his or her methods of communication.... Read More

Probably.  The customer is not claiming that her acceptance was not valid because it was provided in an email, which defense would probably not work unless she indicated her intent not to be bound until a contract was signed.  Rather she is claiming that she did consent, but that she did not do so for herself, but as an agent for another.  However, if she never disclosed to you, and you did not know, that she was acting for someone else, she is personally liable on the contract.  She may be entitled to be reimbursed by her customer, but that doesn't affect her obligation to you. ... Read More

I regularly assist businesspeople in disputes over the control of their business when one partner/member/etc. wants to leave the business.  Were this to go to court, in the absence of an operating or partnership agreement, the court would look at all documents, emails, correspondence, course of dealing, etc. to determine the true nature of your business relationship.  Without seeing those documents, it is hard to predict what a court would do or to say what your "partner" would be entitled to. I am working with a client on a similar matter and we are going over everything so he can preserve control of the company he built in the face of a challenge to a "partner" who did very little and who is seeking to take the company from him.  It sounds like you are in a similar situation.  If you would like to discuss further, please do not hesitate to reach out to me:  301.654.6570 or stm@morrisesq.com.  I'd be happy to share my thoughts from that case and see if anything applies to your case. Yours, Sean... Read More

You can bring a wage and hour claim under state law or a fair labor standards act claim under federal law.  Either way, you can get the back pay paid to you (often plus attorney's fees and some multiple of the amount wrongfully not paid to you).  This is very common in the restaurant business, which is an industry that I focus on in my practice.  I have worked with both restaurants and employees in such matters.  Feel free to contact me (301.654.6570 or stm@morrisesq.com) if you have any further questions. Yours, Sean Morris  ... Read More

It is true that you need to prove damages; however, it seems the seller's material misrepresentations have compromised your receiving the full benefits that you negotiated under the purchase contest. Had you known of the violations, you likely would have paid less or not purchased at all. Also, every day that you are operating out of compliance subjects you to potential damage or injury. I would be happy to discuss your case in detail. Mitch Abdallah, Esq. (916) 446-1974... Read More

I assume that you are quoting from a lease under which you or your business are a tenant. I don't know if I can give you a definitive answer, but if it were up to me, I would certainly consider your Jeep with a sign on it parked in the center to be a mobile sign for which you need the landlord's permission.  It just doesn't make sense for that type of sign to be excluded from the clause.  The landlord has just as much of an interest in exercising control over tenants' advertising in their vehicles which are parked in the center as it does in exercising control over any other type of advertising.... Read More

If the two executives knowingly made false statements of fact (not opinion) about you which caused you damage, they have defamed you (libel is written defamation, slander is oral defamation).  If they lied about you with the intent of getting you fired, and you were fired as a result of their lies, they have tortiously interfered with your employment contract.  You can sue the executifves for these torts, and possibly other causes of action.  Litigation is expensive, however, and there is never any guarantee that you will win. ... Read More

Yes.  To the extent that you might be restricted (for example, restrictions on revealing privileged information would remain in any defamation action you bring against the client), the same restrictions apply whether you represent yourself or are represented by another attorney. ... Read More

I assume you mean a check made out TO the decedent; there is no legal reason you can't cash a check FROM a deceased person (although you may run into practical difficulties, such as the account being frozen).  However, you can't cash a check made out to the deceased person, as it is an asset belonging to the estate.  Only the person or persons appointed by the Court as administrator/administratrix (if no will) or executor/executrix (if there is a will) of the estate can cash the check, the proceeds of which become part of the estate and distributed along with all other assets of the estate. ... Read More

First, if the lease was for two years, you can't terminate for two years unless the landlord materially breaches the lease, or the lease provides conditions on which you can terminate.  Second, there is no reason why emails can't create a binding contract, but without seeing all the emails (and maybe not even then) I couldn't tell you for sure whether they did in this case or did not - it is quite possible that the situation is not that clear, and may need a court to resolve.  Assuming you had a binding contract to pay 6 month's rent and your security deposit in full settlement of all your obligations under the lease, that is all you are obligated to pay; if however you never reached a binding agreement on those terms, your obligations under the original 2 year lease continue.... Read More

You say that you received a final judgment against a business.  I assume that this business is some form of independent legal entity (corporation, llc, llp, etc.), because otherwise you would have obtained a judgment against an individual or individuals.  Employees and equity owners of an entity (e.g. shareholders of a corporation, members of an llc) are normally not individually responsible for the entity's obligations, including judgments.  There are some exceptions, but you would have to sue the individual and prove that an exception applied, you could not simply collect from the individual to satisfy the judgment against the entity.  A lien does not operate against a business, or any other debtor; it operates against assets, such as bank accounts, vehicles, real estate, etc. which is owned by the debtor.  Thus, for example, you may be able to place a lien against a vehicle owned by the judgment debtor (I don't know the exact procedures you would need to follow to do that in Florida).  You can then start an action to foreclose on that lien, i.e. to have the vehicle sold to satisfy your judgment.  As long as you properly record the lien with the proper agency (I don't know what it would be in Florida) in order to give notice to potential buyers that you have a lien against the vehicle, anyone who purchased the vehicle would take it subject  to your lien - in other words, as long as the buyer was on notice of your lien, you can enforce your lien through foreclosure even if the business goes out of business and sells the vehicle to someone else.  Things may change, however, if the business files bankruptcy, especially if it does so within 90 days of your lien.  You should know that any lien you place will likely not be first in priority.  You indicate that there are other creditors of the business.  It is likely that one or more of them, especially the financer of the business (a bank or other lending institution) already has a lien on the assets of the business.  Thus, for example, it is likely that a bank or mortgage company has a first mortgage on any real property owned by the business; any lien you assert will be junior to that.  Any prior lien would have priority over yours, and thus you would not be able to satisfy your judgment by having assets sold until the debts owed by the business to prior lienors had been satisfied.... Read More

Being a member of an llc does not automatically entitle you to a share of profits; it depends on the llc operating agreement.  However, if the agreement to which you refer is being breached by the other llc member, you can sue for breach of contract.  Also, you are entitled to access to the llc's financial books and records, and can sue to compel such access.... Read More