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2016 California Laws Affecting Commercial Real Property

Norma J. Williams February 27, 2016

The California legislature enacted several measures affecting commercial real property that became effective Jan. 1, 2016. Selected measures include: Repeal of Energy Disclosure Law: New Energy Program The energy disclosure law in effect in California since 2007 requiring disclosure of energy consumption in non-residential buildings in connection with certain sales, leases and financing of real property was repealed. New Public

Are Your Corporate Clients Ready For The H-1B Visa Stampede?

Dan White February 18, 2016

Companies use the H-1B visa to employ foreign national professionals in engineering, information technology, finance and other fields requiring a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent for entry-level work. Due to the quota, the H-1B visa is unavailable most of the year and the April opening of the filing window triggers an employer stampede. The H-1B visa filing window opens April

Flaws in Workers’ Compensation System

Cindy Kobal February 9, 2016

There are many flaws in the workers’ compensation system. These flaws can egregiously harm the injured worker physically, financially and emotionally. The news and TV seem to focus on the bad injured workers who have committed fraud or abused the system. The truth is that those injured workers do not represent the average workers’ compensation claimant. Those are the rare

IP Due Diligence: “Boop-Oop-A-Doop”

Z. Peter Sawicki and James L. Young January 25, 2016

“ Numerous trademarks and copyrights protect a good part of our Valentine’s Day commercialism and one particular image now associated with Valentine’s Day is a character named Betty Boop.” “Betty Boop’s history is rife with controversy, particularly in regard to the intellectual property rights to her name and image.” February is the month for lovers, relationships and maybe making long-term

In the Best Interests of a Teenager: How Child-Centered Mediation Can Help Keep the Peace

Kathleen Newman January 25, 2016

Parents, lawyers, social services professionals and therapists all become involved in trying to work out a parenting schedule that works. The focus, however, is too often on what is fair to the parents versus what will meet a teenager’s needs. As a family law attorney, I have had several cases recently where the parties have inquired about parenting time for

2015 Amendments to the Florida Revised LLC Act

Laurie Thompson January 5, 2016

The Florida Revised LLC Act was enacted in 2013 and took effect Jan. 1, 2014 for new Florida LLCs and Jan. 1, 2015 for all Florida LLCs. However, in 2015, the legislature further amended the act with clean-up changes and glitch fixes as well as some important substantive adjustments. One of those substantive adjustments may cause members and managers of

Changes Proposed for Ohio Foreclosure Process

Marc Dann January 4, 2016

The Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) recently supported amendments to legislation in the Ohio General Assembly that propose substantial changes to Ohio’s foreclosure process. The legislation has four components: increasing the statute of limitations for suit on a promissory note, expanding the right to enforce a promissory note, creating new criminal code for homeowners between the date of foreclosure filing

Workers’ Compensation & Social Security Payment Effects

Erin Schmidt January 4, 2016

For many workers’ compensation clients, their injuries lead them to also apply for Social Security disability. Later, most are upset to find out that some or even all of their Social Security benefits are offset by their workers’ compensation payments (some states offset workers’ compensation benefits, others Social Security). The windfall provision, under the Social Security Act (SSA), allows for

Patently Obvious – Fact or Fiction?

Z. Peter Sawicki and James L. Young January 4, 2016

Legal fictions are everywhere. For instance, we often invent people to play roles in applying our legal standards. The most well-known is probably the reasonable person standard for a negligence determination where the liability evaluation is based on how an idealized person exercising ordinary prudence would act in a certain situation. The reasonable person is not an average person and

Hide and Seek: Determining an Accurate Value of a Business in a Divorce

Kathleen Newman January 4, 2016

Divorce is as much a financial process as an emotional one. If a party does not receive his/her fair share of the marital property, that spouse may be left facing difficult financial circumstances for some time after the divorce. That is why the failure of a party to disclose all of the assets during a divorce is a critical violation

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