Recently, the first-ever federal privacy standards to protect individuals’ health-care information went into effect. The mandate for these standards, collectively known as the Privacy Rule, was in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The Privacy Rule gives individuals access to their medical records and greater control over the use and disclosure … Read more
Personal Guarantees Nondischargeable Stanley and his wife, Kay, owned and operated a travel agency. To facilitate the business of selling airline tickets, the agency entered into an agreement with an airline ticket broker. The broker acted on behalf of airline carriers, issuing tickets and collecting payments from travel agents. The travel agency maintained a trust … Read more
On May 28, 2003, the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 became law. Much of this federal tax law applies only to the years 2003 and 2004, after which provisions in the 2001 Tax Act will again become effective. Nonetheless, the Act contains some significant changes for individuals as well as businesses. … Read more
Maxine worked in New York for a financial information services provider. When she moved to Florida, her employer agreed to allow her to telecommute. Maxine was responsible for the same tasks that she had handled in New York, only now from her laptop in Florida she logged onto her employer’s mainframe computer each workday. Two … Read more
It is a common practice for an employer to require an employee to sign an agreement preventing the employee from competing with the employer for a certain period of time and in a designated geographic area. For many years, interpretation and enforcement of these noncompetition agreements or covenants not to compete, as they sometimes are … Read more
A state supreme court has ruled that a commercial landlord has a duty to mitigate damages when a tenant breaks the lease by leaving the property. A bookstore agreed to a ten-year lease in a shopping center. Citing lost profits due to competition from a new bookstore in the same mall, the tenant abandoned its … Read more
California recently entered new territory in legislative responses to the growing problem of identity theft. A new law requires a business to notify any California resident whose personal information may have been compromised by a breach of its computer security. The legislature was acting, at least in part, in response to an incident in which … Read more
When the time comes for an important transaction for an individual, such as buying insurance, taking out a mortgage, or applying for a job, having good credit can be critical. Second only to having good credit is being able to prove it in writing, in a consumer report compiled by one of the credit reporting … Read more
The transfer of ownership interests in a small business should take into account all of the considerations that make each business, and especially a family-owned business, unique. The vehicle for accomplishing the transfer is usually called a buy-sell agreement. Its name barely begins to describe the buy-sell agreement’s various purposes. With professional advice, the agreement … Read more
Generally, business entities such as corporations or limited partnerships are legally separate and distinct from the shareholders and members who compose them. When justice requires it, however, courts have ignored the separation of the business and the individual and have allowed a creditor of the business to satisfy the debt from the assets of an … Read more