By Sharmil McKee on February 22, 2010
“In a new White Paper, the national nonprofit consumer group Center for Justice & Democracy explores how the weakening of investors’ and borrowers’ legal rights since the 1990s has compounded deregulation and lax regulatory enforcement led to the recent economic collapse. In Legal Abandon: How Limiting Lawsuits Led To The Financial Collapse And What To [...]
Posted in Litigation, Research | Tagged tort reform
By Sharmil McKee on February 19, 2010
Will and Jada Smith have responded aggressively to legal threats that they fraudulently induced someone to invest in their film project.
In 2007, Jada wrote a film, the “Human Contract”; Will produced it. They convinced David Grasso to invest in the film. He did with $5 million dollars. The film went straight to DVD. In January [...]
Posted in Litigation, Understanding Contracts | Tagged celebrity, Litigation
By Sharmil McKee on February 17, 2010
The Mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, announced a pilot program that will reduce the city’s tax rate for certain business industries. The program targets Research-and-development firms in engineering and life sciences as well as computer system design firms. Under the program, these city will exempt a portion of their net income from the business privilege [...]
Posted in Taxes
By Sharmil McKee on February 10, 2010
While having a small accounts-receivable balance indicates good financial management, (around 1.5% to 2.5% of your gross income), collecting past-due balances is a displeasing aspects of business. Studies show that 75% of receivables that are 3 months delinquent are paid. However, this number drops to 56% after 6 months. Therefore your delay in collecting past-due [...]
Posted in Litigation, Management, Start-ups | Tagged breach of contract, collections
By Sharmil McKee on February 7, 2010
Over 25 inches of snow fell in Philadelphia between February 5th and 6th. If you own property in Philadelphia, you have 6 hours from last snow fall to shovel and clear your sidewalks. Philadelphia Municipal Code 10-720. The code requires you to clear a path atleast 30 inches wide. If you fail to do so, you [...]
Posted in Headlines, Landlord Tenant, Management, Property
By Sharmil McKee on February 4, 2010
Jill Scott is facing a possible multi-million dollar judgment. Her record label, Hidden Beach, is suing her for breach of contract. They claim that she promised to produce 6 albums, but she has only produced 3 so far. They are seeking to recover the money they would have earned had she produced the final 3 albums. [...]
Posted in Litigation, Understanding Contracts | Tagged breach of contract, celebrity, Litigation
By Sharmil McKee on January 19, 2010
A week ago, Conan O’Brian lost his job, as the host of the Tonight Show. Actually, it appears the Conan quit when the network (NBC) decided to more the show from 11:30 pm to 12:05 am. http://tinyurl.com/yz5xt7u The network’s decision was made after examining Jay Leno’s rating of his 10 pm show. The poor ratings [...]
Posted in Understanding Contracts | Tagged breach of contract, celebrity
By Sharmil McKee on January 10, 2010
Marvel is suing the Jack Kirby estate to keep its copyright licenses.
Jack Kirby is best known for creating, The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, and co-creating Spider-Man. The Kirby estate sent notices to Marvel that its rights to use Kirby’s characters terminate in 2014. Basically, in 2014, the rights to use and copy Kirby’s characters [...]
Posted in Headlines, Intellectual Property, Litigation | Tagged celebrity, copyright
By Sharmil McKee on December 27, 2009
Nicholas Cage is being sued for fraud.
Red Curb Investments alleges that Nicholas Cage failed to repay a $5 million loan. A loan is a contract where Party A agrees to lend money to Party B. In exchange, Party B agrees to repay the money on a certain day. When Party B fails to repay [...]
Posted in Understanding Contracts | Tagged breach of contract, celebrity, Litigation
By Sharmil McKee on November 12, 2009
I received this question by email:
I am 50% owner in an S-corp. I am the treasurer and Secretary but my partner is trying to run the business like she is the sole owner. We no longer have a civilized relationship. The business is 1 year old and I have never gotten a penny from it [...]
Posted in Asked and Answered, Litigation | Tagged corporation, directors
