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Archives for the ‘Business Law’ Category

Can I just close my doors if I am sued?

By Sean M. Sweeney • May 4th, 2010 • Category: Business Law, Newest Post

Unfortunately, as is the case with many legal questions, the answer is maybe. There are a number of factors to look at before that question can be answered, and most likely you would need to see a lawyer to evaluate each individual case.
Generally speaking a party suing your business, if they obtain [...]



What are my damages in a Breach of Contract Lawsuit?

By Sean M. Sweeney • Jan 28th, 2009 • Category: Business Law, Civil Litigation, Newest Post

In many litigation cases, the question is not, “was there a breach”, but rather “what are my damages.” As smart business people, the decision must always be what is my likelihood of success combined with my likely award. Unfortunately, there are many times when one party is as right as rain, but if the damages [...]



Benefits to Business of .tel (Trademark Owners Act By Feb. 2)

By Elizabeth T. Russell • Jan 14th, 2009 • Category: Business Law, Newest Post

A new top level domain is currently being made available: . tel

Unlike other top level domains, which simply direct users to websites that may be hosted anywhere in the world, .tel will store the owner’s contact information directly on the associated DNS (domain name server) — and will return that contact information when a user [...]



Economic Loss Doctrine, what is it and how does it apply in Business lawsuits

By Sean M. Sweeney • Dec 19th, 2008 • Category: Business Law, Civil Litigation, Newest Post

In Brew City Redevelopment Group, LLC v. Ferchill Group 297 Wis.2d 606, the Wisconsin Supreme Court defines the economic loss doctrine as
“a judicial doctrine intended to preserve the fundamental distinction between contract and tort. It works to prevent a party to a contract from employing tort remedies to compensate the party for purely economic losses [...]



A Tax Change For Single-Member LLCs

By Elizabeth T. Russell • Nov 26th, 2008 • Category: Business Law, Newest Post, Tax Law

For federal tax purposes, an LLC with one owner is referred to as an entity that is not separate from its owner (a “disregarded entity”) unless an election is made for it to be treated as a corporation.
An upcoming change affects how single-member LLCs will be required to pay employment taxes.
For wages paid before Jan. [...]



Law Suit over Sick Leave Referendum

By Sean M. Sweeney • Nov 22nd, 2008 • Category: Business Law, Civil Litigation, Newest Post

The latest news I have seen comes from a Wisconsin Law Journal Article on Tuesday stating that the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce’s (MMAC) directors unanimously chose to sue the city of Milwaukee to stop the sick-leave ordinance from taking effect. You can see the article here MMAC to sue Milwaukee over sick leave by [...]



Sales Tax - Pay the Tax Owed or Face Personal Liability.

By Robert B. Teuber • Nov 21st, 2008 • Category: Business Law, Newest Post, Tax Law

In my last post, I wrote about the imposition of the Wisconsin sales tax on retail sales of tangible personal property and certain services. Generally, business owners are at least loosely familiar with the rules concerning the imposition of the sales tax and the fact that the sales tax exists.  Further, they are aware that [...]



Work Made For Hire (May Not Be)

By Elizabeth T. Russell • Nov 14th, 2008 • Category: Business Law, Intellectual Property Law, Newest Post

Twice this week I’ve heard lawyers proclaim in public that you don’t own the copyright to your work anymore, if you’ve signed a “work made for hire” agreement.
That’s not necessarily so.

The general rule is: if you create copyrightable material, you are called the “author” of that material and you own the copyright.
That general rule doesn’t [...]



How to leave an LLC? Not always as simple as it seems

By Sean M. Sweeney • Nov 12th, 2008 • Category: Business Law, Newest Post

All LLC’s should have a well set out operating agreement, describing how the LLC will operate from an administrative standpoint. Some of these operating agreements will have provisions describing how a member may leave the LLC. However, most LLC’s either don’t have a proper operating agreement, or if they do, it simply refers to the [...]



Anatomy of a Contract

By Sean M. Sweeney • Nov 3rd, 2008 • Category: Business Law, Newest Post

Always a question that concerns business owners is what should be included in a contract? The short answer: everything that is needed. However, there are ways to break up drafting a contract to make it easier to know what should be included, and when it is too much and jeopardizes the deal getting done.
Even though [...]