In the News
IS REAL ESTATE STILL IN YOUR NAME? YOU ARE EXPOSED!
Owning property is a cornerstone of the American dream, but if it is deeded in your name, you might be opening yourself up to more risk than reward! Cost-cutting and risk avoidance are crucial to a company's success – especially small businesses. Here at Weiss LLP, we have found that transferring one's title to a property, owned in his or her sole name, into a limited liability company (LLC) offers such protection. Benefits to doing so range from avoiding payment of certain taxes otherwise ap...
COURT FIRES WARNING VOLLEY AT FINANCIAL SERVICES BUSINESSES THAT USE AFFILIATED TITLE COMPANIES IN REAL ESTATE SETTLEMENTS
The United States District Court in Maryland has recently ruled that a lender who uses an internal title company for its real estate settlements is on the hook for the title company’s alleged violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This ruling could spell bad news for financial services businesses that use owned or affiliated subsidiaries in their real estate settlements, as it indicates that courts may be willing to look bey...
Virginia Legislature Enacts Law to Protect Consumer Privacy: Big Consequences for Business Owners
Does your business deal with a consumer’s personal data? Does your business interact with Virginia residents? If so, your business operations could be greatly affected by a new law aimed at protecting consumer privacy. Set to take effect January 1, 2023, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”) will grant Virginia residents the rights to access, correct, delete, know, and opt-out of the sale and processing for targeted advertising purposes of their personal information. It will...
Website Compliance Under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
Recently, there have been a plethora of “professional plaintiffs” filing lawsuits against clients under the ADA based upon “website compliance;” this is a follow-up by the same professional plaintiffs who filed dozens of ADA lawsuits last winter against some of our clients. The purpose of this article is to advise you to ensure that you ask your web designer if your website is compliant with the ADA. Note: This article does not reflect compliance standards under local laws. For example,...
Secure Act 2.0: Changes To Retirement Plans Are Coming Your Way
If you are a business owner or an employee, your retirement plans may have changed following Congress’s bipartisan $1.7 trillion spending bill, Secure Act 2.0. Inside the bill, which is headed to the President for signing, are provisions directed toward increasing retirement savings and access to 401(k) and other individual retirement accounts for low- and middle-income workers. Some of the key retirement provisions of the legislation include: Starting in 2025, many businesses must enr...
IS YOUR INVESTMENT IN BANKRUPTCY? WHAT IS CLAWBACK AND SHOULD YOU BE CONCERNED? DON’T THROW IN THE TOWEL IF CLAIMS ARE MADE FOR CLAWBACK
Giving Back What You Got? Federal bankruptcy and state insolvency laws permit a bankrupt or insolvent company to “claw back” or recover payments made to investors and third parties. Most understand bankruptcy laws – but beware that all states have some kind of “insolvency laws” which is similar to bankruptcy laws but only applicable to a particular state’s proceedings. Both procedures claw back money and assets in these cases for a variety of reasons. Most important is that, i...
D.C. Wage Payment: Pay the Right Amount and Stay Out of Trouble
If you are an employer in the District of Columbia, your employees are owed certain compensation. To avoid wage disputes and substantial fines, make sure your employees have been properly paid for their work. How much and when do you need to pay your employees? Under the District of Columbia Minimum Wage Act, most employees within the District of Columbia are protected and must be paid the minimum wage. The minimum wage in the District increased to $16.10 per hour on June 1, 2022. Ti...
EMPLOYMENT HANDBOOKS → EMPLOYMENT CLAIM INSURANCE
Clients are overwhelmed with government regulations in business operations and oftentimes overlook one important tool that can provide some insurance against many employee claims: the employment handbook. With the “welcome mat” that most courts give employees for just about any grievance against employers, the employment handbook can be a valuable defense shield against many of these lawsuits. When weighed against the significant dollars that a single employee lawsuit can cost, the employme...
Docu-“don’t”-sign: Don’t rely on Docusign!
Are you relying on Docusign as proof of a signature? You shouldn’t be. When the World Wide Web launched in 1993, it changed the world. An entirely new domain was opened to the public and we began to see a shift from commerce to “e-commerce,” mail to “e-mail,” book to “e-book,” and sports to “e-sports.” Then, about ten years after the emergence of the internet, Docusign, a company that wanted to “centralize and simplify agreement processes” ushered in an era that saw ...
REDEMPTION FOR THE BROKERAGE COMMUNITY: DC CIRCUIT REVERSES DENIAL OF $780,000.00+ COMMISSION
(JLL was Denied Commissions by Trial Court – Appellate Court Reverses) Over the last decade, a single broker representing both parties in a transaction has become increasingly common for the sake of efficiency; that is what Jones Lang LaSalle Brokerage (“JLL”) had in mind when it signed up 1441 L Associates L.L.C. to lease its building at 1441 L Street, NW. Earlier this year, US District Court Judge Florence Pan (District of Columbia.) ruled in Jones Lang LaSalle Brokerage Inc v. 14...