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It’s the Holiday Season…and OSHA Reporting Changes are Coming to Town

For employers this year, it will not matter if they have been naughty or nice, they are all getting the same gift in their stockings – changes in OSHA reporting requirements.  Effective January 1, 2015, all employers get to ring in the New Year with these changes, which are the result of OSHA rule-making activities …

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Designing A Credit Application That Works For Your Business (And Not Your Customer)

Few customers offer to pay in cash.  Most want some form of credit.  What credit you extend results from an objective and subjective assessment of the prospective customer’s credit-worthiness.  The steps you take to assess credit worthiness can mean the difference between a good paying customer and one who can, quite literally, put you out …

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You’re Not From Texas…But a Texas Court Wants You Anyway! Frequently Asked Questions About Litigating in Texas

We often collaborate on trial teams with lawyers from around the country.  Here are some of the questions we are routinely asked as we move through the life-cycle of a lawsuit.  Obviously, there are unique features to every case, or particular local rules, which may result in a different answer than is given here.  However, …

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FAA Legal Interpretation Presents Problems for Ride Sharing Websites and the Pilots Who Use Them

In an August 13, 2014 legal interpretation letter, the FAA challenges the legality of general aviation “ride sharing” websites such as Airpooler.com, and it raises important issues for pilots relating to potential FAA enforcement actions and problems with insurance coverage. Airpooler.com is a website designed to facilitate “ride sharing” between private pilots and passengers, essentially …

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The Death of Minority Shareholder Oppression Claims in Texas?

Bad news for minority shareholders in Texas.  On June 20, 2014, the Texas Supreme Court delivered the opinion in the case of Ritchie v. Rupe, which is available here.  In one of the most important business law cases decided by the Texas Supreme Court in recent memory, the Court ruled (in a 6-3 decision) that: (1)   There is no common …

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Texas Supreme Court Issues New “Spoliation” Rules with Implications for Company Document-Retention Policies

Earlier this month, the Texas Supreme Court issued a key decision on a subject every business owner and executive should know about: the duty to preserve company documents and the consequences for failing to do so.  A court, in some circumstances, can hold a company that has destroyed or failed to preserve documents responsible for …

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Fifth Circuit Clarifies the “Active Participation” Exception to the Internal Revenue Code’s Farming-Syndicate Rules

Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed down some good news for individual cattle ranchers and farmers wishing to take advantage of S corporations for tax purposes, yet seeking to avoid having their business operations classified by the IRS as an impermissible tax shelter.  In Burnett Ranches, Ltd. v. United …

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U.S. Supreme Court Clarifies Defense of Laches

Earlier this year, the U. S. Supreme Court came out with an interesting opinion clarifying the defense of laches. While this case was decided in the context of copyright law, the ruling likely affects all areas of federal law. The entire holding is summarized by Justice Ginsberg in three sentences: courts are not at liberty …

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Responding to Preference Demand Letters- a Primer

A debtor’s bankruptcy is never a good thing (usually it means little or no payments on the debt will be forthcoming). Even greater insult to this injury is to receive a demand letter from a chapter 7 Trustee asking that you return funds paid to you by the account debtor in the days or months …

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Owning the Fruit of our Labors

Increasingly, companies are requiring their employees to assign to their employers any inventions or ideas they may come up with during, or after, the course of their employment. This Op-Ed in the New York Times discusses an interesting study the author made examining this question: “How does a reality in which we own so little …

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Eyes in the Sky – What drones are allowed to see in Texas

While Amazon may simply want to deliver packages to your home using drones, a vast field of public (law enforcement, military) and private (mapping, surveying, inspecting) uses for such unmanned aircraft is developing.  On September 1, 2013, the Texas Privacy Act (Tex. Gov’t Code Ch. 423) became law and set ground rules for the lawful …

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The Eminent and Inverse Environment – Interplay Between Environmental Issues and Condemnation

“THE EMINENT AND INVERSE ENVIRONMENT – The Interplay Between Environmental Issues and Condemnation” was presented to the Tarrant County Bar Association, Environmental Law Section in Fort Worth, Texas on February 27, 2014, by Mary Colchin Johndroe, 817-877-2810, mjohndroe@staging.poised-team.flywheelsites.com.  The following summary contains highlights of the presentation. In a statutory condemnation, the condemnor compensates the property owner before appropriating property.  If the government appropriates property without first paying adequate …

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Is a Credit Cap Bid in Your Future?

In a much criticized decision, a bankruptcy court in Delaware recently held that cause existed to limit a secured creditor’s right to credit bid its claim at the amount it paid to purchase the claim.  In re Fisker Automotive, 2014 WL 210593 (Bankr. D. Del. 01/17/2014). Fisker, involved in green energy, manufactured electric vehicles financed …

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Blackmail Ransomware: Beware!

This week, the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Bureau of Investigations issued a warning about an aggressive blackmail ransomware referred to as Cryptolocker.  Cryptolocker first appeared last fall and again this winter in an updated, copy-cat version. The ransomware uses strong cryptography to encrypt all files that an infected computer has access to and demands …

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