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EVEN THE COURT EXPECTS YOU TO HAVE CLEAN HANDS …

Author: Molly O'LearyOn: Mar 24Categories: Business, Uncategorized No Comments

Our legal system is based on the common law passed down to us from merry ol’ England.  In addition to express rules (statutes) that one can research in the Idaho Code (legislature.­idaho.­gov/­idstat/­TOC/­IDStatutesTOC.­htm)  and regulations...

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UNTIL DEATH DO US PART …

Author: Molly O'LearyOn: Mar 24Categories: Business, Uncategorized No Comments

Depending on your point of view the phrase “until death do us part” can either sound hopelessly romantic or like another way to say “albatross around my neck” – and no, I am not speaking of a traditional marriage. In Idaho, a business partnership...

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NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS …

Author: Molly O'LearyOn: Mar 24Categories: Business, Uncategorized No Comments

BE IT RESOLVED … to clean up your business “act” in the New Year. Here are a few suggestions of areas where most small businesses would do well to pay more attention:  Inventory.  No, not the widget-counting kind (although if you’re in the widget-selling...

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HOW’S THE VIEW FROM YOUR FISCAL CLIFF …?

Author: Molly O'LearyOn: Mar 24Categories: Business, Uncategorized No Comments

‘Tis the season to wrap up loose ends for and take stock of the financial health of your business.  Are there any looming “fiscal cliffs” in your business’s near future?  Here’s a checklist for taking inventory: Do you have sufficient elasticity...

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USE A LITTLE HORSE SENSE …

Author: Molly O'LearyOn: Mar 24Categories: Business, Uncategorized No Comments

In my practice, I occasionally come across small business owners that appear to be confused regarding the difference between an independent contractor and an employee. Oftentimes, this confusion is fueled by a misguided belief that it is better to “1099”...

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GOING TO THE CHAPEL …

Author: Molly O'LearyOn: Mar 24Categories: Business, Uncategorized No Comments

If you’re going to the chapel to get hitched with a business partner, you need a pre-nuptial agreement.  For a limited liability company, the document is officially called an Operating Agreement. For a corporation, the concepts discussed below may...

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FREEDOM OF CONTRACT …

Author: Molly O'LearyOn: Mar 24Categories: Business, Uncategorized No Comments

Generally speaking, public policy favors the right of two or more people to enter into an agreement for whatever purpose they agree upon. In legal terms, this policy is called “the freedom of contract”.  But the freedom of contract is not without...

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LET THE MASTER ANSWER …

Author: Molly O'LearyOn: Mar 24Categories: Business, Uncategorized No Comments

Most business owners like the idea of being self-employed and, therefore, the “master of their universe”.  But the downside of that dominion is that sometimes the business and/or its owner(s) may be liable in damages for its employees’ conduct...

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LET THE MASTER ANSWER, Part II …

Author: Molly O'LearyOn: Mar 24Categories: Business, Uncategorized No Comments

Last week’s blog addressed the legal theory called respondeat superior, or “let the master answer”.  As discussed, if an employee injures someone (or something) during the course and scope of his or her employment, under the respondeat superior...

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THE LOW DOWN ON PRODUCT DISPARAGEMENT …

Author: Molly O'LearyOn: Mar 24Categories: Business, Uncategorized No Comments

The recent events surrounding the on-again, off-again relationship between Ogden’s Own Distillery and the Idaho State Liquor Division (ISLD) over the “tastefulness” of Ogden’s Own’s “Five Wives Vodka” (see Idaho Business Review, June 6,...

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