In recent months, several states and localities have passed laws to mandate paid sick leave. One way the local laws differ is in the grounds required for taking sick leave. Most cover sick leave when the employees or their family members are sick, and some also cover preventative care. Many are now granting coverage for  Continue Reading »

Bank of America, N.A. v. Veluchamy (In re Veluchamy), 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 5106 (Dec. 18, 2014) A noteworthy discussion involving reputed valuation experts over how to value stock in one of the defendants’ S corporations lies buried in a bankruptcy case that features over 20 claims of fraudulent transfers. The court ruled on bread-and-butter valuation  Continue Reading »

Studies show that staff members and managers can be greatly resistant to change, whether it be a major restructuring or a simple change in the color of the office. It may feel like an over-reaction, but to some employees change can suggest an invasion of turf. They might worry that new procedures or equipment will  Continue Reading »

Valuation experts receive a lot of advice on how to guard against an attack from the opposing side, but sometimes an attack can come from the expert’s own client. A recent case shows how an appraiser who sued a client over unpaid fees was put on the defensive. Costly divorce: The client hired an accounting  Continue Reading »

As a small business owner, you may have had the experience of buying a new, state of the art machine, only to find out that you paid more for features you really didn’t need. Or maybe you’ve invested in an inexpensive piece of business equipment that didn’t work properly and ended up being more trouble  Continue Reading »

When the owners of a C corporation sell their business’ stock for a large profit, usually they are taxed at a maximum federal rate of 20 percent, as long as they’ve had the shares for more than a year. Relatively speaking, this tax rate isn’t too bad. However, a tax-free sale to an ESOP would  Continue Reading »

Small business owners will often get phone calls about former employees, regarding their work performance. The issue is more complicated than just answering questions about the job someone did. The wrong answers can lead to serious consequences, even litigation. Here are some steps for employers to consider in dealing with requests for information about former employees: Get professional  Continue Reading »

As a Maine-based small business owners know that they need to be mindful of the tax implications of any decision they make, regardless of the time of year. Here are just five of the tax-smart decisions to make during the year that could significantly reduce tax liability if handled properly: If the small business needs new vehicles,  Continue Reading »

Lane v. Lampkin, 2014 Miss. App. LEXIS 497 (Sept. 16, 2014) How do you assess damages in a situation in which one of two equal shareholders died and the surviving partner feels compelled to open a new company that does the same work as the original company? A divided appeals court recently dealt with the  Continue Reading »

Financial experts are often needed in commercial litigation cases. They could be used to value a business, figure out economic damages, or to look into fraud allegations. In these cases, the quality of the numeric data that is available to the expert is critical, affecting both the time that the financial expert must put into  Continue Reading »