Business Law

Virtually every day, Americans buy, sell, and/or consume products – cars, trucks, SUVs, foods, computers, cell phones, clothes, gas, and more.  Most transactions go smoothly, but some do not. When consumers, businesses, or buyers do not receive the benefit of the bargain, the law provides them with remedies.  The law of contracts, the Uniform Commercial…

Buying a business, big or small, is not necessarily simple. Generally speaking, there are two types of sales: a purchase of a company’s assets or a purchase of a company’s stock. An asset purchase occurs when potential buyers select and purchase certain assets, such as a business’s inventory, trade secrets, confidential information, client lists, office…

Federal law sets a minimum wage at no less than seven dollars and 25 cents per hour and requires overtime for more than forty work hours in a given week.  Although seven dollars and 25 cents per hour is the minimum wage that employees must be paid, local and state governments can raise the minimum…

Businesses, consumers, nonprofits, and governments buy goods or services and often enter into written contracts or agreements.  In a written contract, the parties involved usually have specified the terms and conditions. For instance, paying this price at a particular time will result in the delivering goods or providing services. However, contracts may contain such numerous…

Consumers, businesses, and non-profits often seek to buy products or items, such as vehicles, homes, and clothes, but do not have the funds to pay for said items at the time of purchase.  The sellers of these items – lenders, retailers, dealers, banks, finance companies, etc. – may sell the product on credit but require…

Privacy, trust, secrecy, and protection thereof are important in today’s business world, and a confidentiality agreement often is used to protect confidential information between an employer and employee or between businesses proposing to enter or entering an agreement. Also known as a non-disclosure agreement, a confidentiality agreement is a binding agreement between two or more…

The business world often can be complicated and confusing. A recurring source of confusion is agreements not to compete. But what exactly is a non-competition agreement? A non-competition agreement is often, but not always an agreement between an employer and employee where the employee agrees not to compete in the same line of business for…

Legislatures have often enacted laws with conflicting or cross purposes.  What one particular statute or regulation encourages or requires may run contrary to another.  A small business may try to justify its practices or activities by relying on a particular law, regulation, or agency opinion, but a different separate law may require a result that…

In the world of business, there are several different structures for doing business, mainly, sole proprietorships, partnerships (general or limited), corporations (s-corporations or c-corporations), and limited liable companies (LLCs).  But let’s focus on the two types of partnerships and LLCs, and many businesses in the United States fits in one of those categories. In a…