A fascinating and enlightening article by Renee M. Mehl in the March 2009 edition of the Wisconsin Lawyer presents some interesting and note worthy observations about the law in Wisconsin regarding LLC’s and its members or managers representing the entities themselves. You can see the entire article here For whatever reason the legislature has never […]
I have written in the past about the importance of a well written contract, but as my litigation practice expands I am constantly reminded about how important this is. The importance of not only including all of the legal boilerplate, but also making sure the specifics of dispute resolution are ironed out is paramount. While […]
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 […]
Generally speaking, in Wisconsin, the statute of limitations for a contract claim is 6 years. How that is interpreted however, can make a world of difference for your case. The Wisconsin Courts have held that the six year statute of limitations for Breach of Contract claim is an absolute six years, running from the date […]
The Wisconsin Law Journal brought a recent case to my attention about a man who wrote up a contract with his brother to try and cheat his now ex-wife out of some of the family assets. The terms of the contract were that Stanley, who was thinking of getting divorced, transferred 20 acres of land […]
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. I am very interested to see what the […]
It seems quite often you see contracts that contain provisions similar to the following: Either party may cancel this contract at any time by giving the other party 60 days written notice. This always sounds like a good idea when you discuss it. Basically it is the back-out provision, if things are going badly, you […]
The law that was passed by referendum sets out a rule that mandates that Milwaukee Businesses provide mandatory sick leave to their employees. The rule states that employees will earn 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours they work, with a cap of 5 days to 9 days depending on the size of […]
The short answer: YES. DirecTV is cracking down on Commercial Misuse over the last year and a half, particularly misuse of NFL Sunday Ticket, resulting in huge fines. Previously DirecTV had limited its focus to just those who were using “Pirate” boxes or illegal access cards to get at its content. Now, DirecTV is unleashing […]
Often, when a company is looking to acquire another business, it looks at all of its gleaming equipment and its wonderful balance sheet as the reason to purchase the company, but in reality all of that success is probably more tied to the employees that work there then the systems or equipment associated with the […]
There are two mainstream ways that Businesses go about acquiring other businesses. This is through either an Asset Purchase or a Stock Purchase. There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches, taking a look at what you want to accomplish will go a long way towards helping you decide which method to take.
In a January 2007 decision, Estate of James H. Matteson v. Robert R. Matteson et al. , the Wisconsin Appellate court takes the time to further clarify its decision from Lange v. Bartlett , 121 Wis. 2d 599, 602 which stated [W]hen one partner leaves a partnership and allows the other to continue the business, […]
To the unsuspecting business, there are a surprising amount of consumer protection laws in Wisconsin, especially relating to penalties from a business. Businesses regularly get themselves into hot water by imposing sanctions on consumers without taking those laws into account, the consequences can be dire and expensive. A recent Wisconsin Appellate case James Cook et […]
Unless you are making all other parties actually aware of your business entity, you may not be. A recent Wisconsin Appellate decision Black v. Bach, 2005AP3010 reminds us that agents (this means anyone, employees, owners, or anyone acting to bind the LLC or Corporation) need to take steps to ensure that everyone they deal with […]
It is probably relatively obvious how to find an attorney, open the yellow pages or jump on Google and you will have thousands to choose from. The title of this post should be “how to find a GOOD attorney in Milwaukee?” The first thing to realize is that a good attorney for one person, is […]
If you are looking to start a business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or already own a business in the Wauwatosa or Milwaukee area, you might think, “I can save some money on using contracts and business formation services from an on-line website.” And this is true, you will certainly get a cheap alternative. Of course, as […]
The short answer- Yes; but you can only recover damages of up to $5,000 plus statutory attorney’s fees ($250-$500) and court costs. A recent decision in the Wisconsin Court of Appeals Winkler v. Spaman Wholesale confirmed as much when it denied the defendant’s motion to vacate the default judgment for $5,000 because the demand in […]
This is an issue that comes up quite often in my Business Litigation Practice. When two businesses, especially small businesses, first get together they are excited to have the service/ a new client and other than maybe a written a proposal have nothing in writing setting out the terms of the agreement. If everything does […]
Everyone always wants them, very few people actually get them. There are generally three ways to get attorneys fees. One, if they are explicitly granted as a part of a contract for which you are pursuing a breach of contract claim, if you win you will get Attorney’s fees. If you do not, you may […]
Click the links to get to Anatomy of a Contract part 1 of 3 or part 2 of 3 In part 2 of 3 I mentioned that the “Action” part of a contract is the most important part of a contract; and it is, but mainly because of how it relates to the “insurance” part […]