Employers and employees may not see eye-to-eye on many topics, including the adequacy of their paychecks. When it comes to wages and salaries, the amounts are relatively cut-and-dried. However, the value of contingent compensation elements — such as health benefits — can be harder to evaluate until claims are filed. New research by supplemental employee  Continue Reading »

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 losses due to the pandemic. Because the policy, as a matter of law, does not  Continue Reading »

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 organizations, complaints are becoming ubiquitous. Even with “help wanted” signs posted everywhere and constant news about business challenges, customers often  Continue Reading »

Equity Planning Corp. v. Westfield Ins. Co. Case Digest  COVID-19-related damages cases are making their way through state and federal courts. Plaintiffs typically are businesses that have suffered economic losses because of various mandatory shutdowns. They file claims with their insurance agency, which frequently denies coverage for business interruption losses. However, more often than not,  Continue Reading »

A price increase is sometimes unavoidable — and now might be one of those times as many businesses are dealing with cost increases, supply chain bottlenecks, and labor shortages. The key to implementing a price hike with minimal loss of customers is timing. It’s hard to be the first one in your industry to raise  Continue Reading »

Innovation Ventures, L.L.C. v. Custom Nutrition Labs., L.L.C. This case involves a consideration of motions by both the plaintiff and the defendant to exclude the testimony of the other party’s expert witness based on Daubert and the Federal Rules of Evidence. Plaintiff’s expert testified on how to calculate lost profits based on the plaintiff’s market  Continue Reading »

You may still have time to significantly reduce this year’s business federal income tax bill even with all the uncertainty about proposed tax law changes. Congress is currently considering some tax changes. Here are five possible moves to consider — but stay tuned for developments.    Claim 100% First-Year Bonus Depreciation for Last-Minute Asset Additions Thanks  Continue Reading »

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 profit. Cost codes provide an easy  Continue Reading »

Case digest The case implicates section 727 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which concerns a Chapter 7 debtor’s request for discharge. Objections to discharge are challenging to prove because the denial of discharge is the “death penalty” in bankruptcy. The objector has the burden of proving the debtor failed to disclose property, including a customer  Continue Reading »

Ryan Trust v. Ryan  In a bitter buyout dispute involving a thriving private family business and featuring two veteran appraisers, the Nebraska Supreme Court recently affirmed the district court’s decision to unreservedly credit the valuation testimony of the expert for the late majority shareholder. In contrast, the district court found the company’s expert’s valuations under  Continue Reading »