Should it matter whether the pilot on your next flight has a bachelor’s degree? Delta Airlines recently asked that question, and management decided to end the requirement for new hires to have a four-year college degree. Although the company still prefers its pilots to have a college degree, Delta recently announced, “There are highly qualified  Continue Reading »

Walsh v. Bowers Defendants Brian Bowers and Dexter Kubota owned all the stock in an engineering firm, Bowers & Kubota Consulting Inc. They created an ESOP to which they sold all of their stock for $40 million. The government sued, alleging that they had violated ERISA by manipulating data so that the ESOP paid more  Continue Reading »

Buyers of businesses generally prefer to arrange for an asset purchase transaction instead of purchasing an ownership interest in the target business entity. Why? The primary reason is to avoid exposure to liabilities — both known and unknown — related to the business that’s being acquired. However, liability avoidance can’t be assured unless the seller  Continue Reading »

Yaquinto v. Thompson St. Capital Partners “As part of a refinancing transaction in 2014, Stone Panels Inc. (SPI) and Stone Panels Holding Corp. (Holding) jointly borrowed roughly $14 million that was immediately transferred to Thompson Street Capital Partners III, LP (Thompson Street) to partially satisfy a debt for which only Holding was obligated. Robert Yaquinto,  Continue Reading »

Uncle Sam is helping to pick up the tab for certain business meals in 2021 and 2022. Under a Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) provision, the usual tax deductions for 50% of the cost of business meals is doubled to 100% for food and beverages provided by restaurants for the 2021 and 2022 tax years. So,  Continue Reading »

Paganelli v. Lovelace Background Parties’ agreement. The defendant, and counterclaimant, Richard Lovelace, was an estimator and project manager for Safe Environmental Corp. (the Company). He eventually became a vice president but was not involved in the finances of the Company. The Company is an asbestos and lead paint remediation company. Anthony Paganelli, the owner of  Continue Reading »

Many employers have been raising wages substantially to maintain operations in today’s tight labor market. That’s most evident in the leisure and hospitality sector, where average hourly wages rose 12% for the year ending October 2021. For many organizations, getting by with paying minimum wage is generally a distant memory. That’s particularly true where the  Continue Reading »

Great Am. Fid. Ins. Co. v. Stout Risius Ross, Inc. In this suit, the defendant (Stout) was initially sued over its valuation of the stock of a paper company in connection with the ESOP for that company. Stout demanded coverage for that suit from its malpractice insurer, Great American Fidelity Insurance Co. (Great American). Great  Continue Reading »

Have you compiled a list of New Year’s resolutions for your small business in 2022? Resolutions don’t have to be limited to your personal life. Consider how you can improve your role as a small business owner in the upcoming year. Of course, everyone’s list will be different. But here are eight common aspirations that  Continue Reading »

Dipak Patel, Plaintiff-Appellant v. Siddhi Hospitality, LLC, et al. Plaintiff, Dipak Patel, was a 25% owner in defendants’ two entities, franchised hotels. Believing that his fellow LLC members were not treating him fairly, the plaintiff filed suit against the entities and the individual members. He asserted multiple complaints alleging various claims. The defendants filed counterclaims  Continue Reading »