Court Issues Partial Summary Judgment in Favor of Party Alleging Breach of Contract
Paganelli v. Lovelace Background Parties’ agreement. The defendant, and counterclaimant, Richard Lovelace, was an estimator and project manager for Safe Environmental Corp. (the Company). He eventually became a vice president but was not involved in the finances of...
Plaintiff Fails to Convince the Court That Physical Loss or Physical Damage Has Occurred; Virus Clause Applies and Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Is Granted
Family Tacos, LLC v. Auto Owners Ins. Co. Summary In this business interruption case resulting from mandatory shutdowns to control COVID-19, the court grants a motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s claims. Plaintiff operates two restaurants in Ohio, which has incurred...
District Court Rules ‘Decisively’ Against the DOL in an ESOP Overvaluation Case
Walsh v. Bowers Defendants Brian Bowers and Dexter Kubota owned all the stock in an engineering firm, Bowers & Kubota Consulting Inc. They created an ESOP to which they sold all of their stock for $40 million. The government sued, alleging that they had violated...
Turn Customer Complaints Into Value-Building Opportunities
Have your customers been complaining about such issues as service disruptions, back-ordered products, unreturned phone calls, curtailed business hours, and unexpected price increases? Thanks to labor shortages, rising costs, and supply chain disruptions for many...
In a New York Business Divorce, a Petition for Dissolution Triggers Buy-Sell Agreements
Collins v. Tabs Motors of Valley Stream Corp. Tabs Motors of Valley Stream Corp. (Tabs), respondent and third-party plaintiff, sought to enforce a shareholders agreement through specific performance. This decision addressed only the counterclaim of Tabs against the...
Husband Dissipates Assets by Placing Them in Trusts for the Children, but the Appellate Court Does Not Allow Unaccrued Interest
Mohen v. Mohen The appellate court (AC) vacated the trial court order (TC) that erroneously charged the husband with $4,360,158 in unaccrued interest on marital assets that the husband fraudulently dissipated from the marital estate. This altered the equitable...
Malpractice Insurer Not Required to Defend Valuation Firm for Claim Alleging Securities Fraud
Great Am. Fid. Ins. Co. v. Stout Risius Ross, Inc. In this suit, the defendant (Stout) was initially sued over its valuation of the stock of a paper company in connection with the ESOP for that company. Stout demanded coverage for that suit from its malpractice...
Due Diligence Considerations when Buying a Business
Buyers of businesses generally prefer to arrange for an asset purchase transaction instead of purchasing an ownership interest in the target business entity. Why? The primary reason is to avoid exposure to liabilities — both known and unknown — related to the business...
How to Keep Your Business Strong Despite Inflation Pressures
The Consumer Price Index covers food, clothing, shelter, fuels, transportation, doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. Over the last year, consumer prices rose 7.9%, according to the latest data from...
Why Cost Codes Are Critical to Construction Business Success
No matter the size of your construction business, cost codes are essential for tracking where and how you incur project costs. Although a job's overall cost will tell you what was spent and how much was made, it won't tell you why you spent the money or earned that...