ExpertAdvice

Introduction The importance of the term 'misrepresentation' can be inferred from the fact that "free consent" which is inevitable for an agreement to be enforceable under Section 14 of Indian Contract Act, 1872 is rendered negative if misrepresentation is proved. In other words, misrepresentation to any party in a contract so as to induce them for consent renders the contract void. Section 18 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (the "Contract Act") defines misrepresentation. This section is quoted below: "Misrepresentation" means and includes - (1) the positive assertion, in a manner not warranted by the information of the person making it, of that which is not true, though he believes it to be true...

Has this ever happened to you? You find yourself in a jam and desperately need money for an unexpected need or emergency, but your credit history is preventing you from being able to go to the bank and walk out with the money you need? Frustrating, I know, but it happens to people everyday. But, there may be a solution to help you in these situations and it is called, unsecured personal loans online. Here's what I mean. Unsecured personal loans have convenient features that are perfect for those who need cash immediately. Compared to other types of loan, the application process in this type of loan runs faster because there tends to be fewer requirements to meet and less paperwork. This type of loan...

No one in their right mind wants government by mass mind. No one wants majority rule and if someone does, they have no idea how it might work. There is no doubt in my mind there are minds in America today, far superior to those who privately crafted governments, state and national, centuries ago, when wisdom was respected and fashionable. There are few if any political parties that believe the old U.S. Constitution is not in need of upgrade to suit the times. While the original was drafted by elitist, self righteous property and slave owners, the replacement could easily be crafted by high school and college students, professional think tanks, concerned citizens, non citizen residents, political...

You're young and strong and have the financial means to build your own house. You have a truckload full of tools and some experience with a hammer, so you think, "hey, I'm going to build my own house and be my own Contractor." Admirable if not enviable, but if you plan to use that experience in the attempt to one day getting your own contractor's license...you can pretty much forget it. Yes, it may take you ten to twelve months to build your dream house, and you may have done some, most, or even all of the work yourself. But a house built does not a contractor make. The basic requirement to qualify for a California contractor's license is four years of experience at the journeyman level. In order...

There are many people who need money and only few have the resource to find it. Reasons for the need of money may come from family emergencies or the need to expand a business or maybe to start one. For people who cannot fond a resource, they usually resort to loans in the bank or any lending organizations. When planning to have a loan in a bank or a lending organization, you will usually need to sign a loan agreement or contract. What is a loan agreement or contract? A loan agreement or contract is a written document that the lender and the debtor sign that binds their agreement in the issues that comes with a loan. The contract will protect both the lender and debtor should any of the two parties...

> It is the buyer’s right to seek an agent, and it is in their best interest to do so. For Sale by Owner When a potential buyer sees a For Sale by Owner property he or she should contact their realtor before contacting the For Sale by Owner. And when the buyer makes an offer on the For Sale by Owner Property he or she needs representation on the sale. The buyer always needs representation for many reasons. Home Inspections Most buyers do not know to ask for home inspections, what they cost, or who to call to do one. If there is work to be done on an inspection report, a buyer should negotiate, and a REALTOR has skill and experience at this. New Home Sites New home site buyers need to hire a...

Many professionals are barred from forming limited liability companies or basic corporations for their practices. Instead, their only option is often to form a professional corporation. When it comes to business entities, there are many forms a business can choose from. For certain professions, however, states restrict the choices because of a public policy. This policy boils down to the idea that professionals should not be able to escape personal liability if they fail to perform properly. For instance, a doctor or lawyer should not be able to hide behind a corporation if they fail to provide competent services. In many states, the only business entity available to a professional is a...

General Structure of a Family Limited Partnership (FLP) It has become increasingly important for people with assets to understand what the FLP is and why the use of FLP's have become so widespread. A Family Limited Partnership is a Limited Partnership who's Limited Partners are family members. The term "Family Limited Partnership" has no technical reference or definition in the Internal Revenue Code. There are two basic reasons for this widespread use. 1) The FLP's popularity is a result of the originator or donor's ability to transfer assets down to his descendents at a lower transfer tax cost than would be otherwise incurred with a direct transfer of the assets to descendants. 2) The donor...

New entrepreneurs can wrestle with the question, "limited liability company vs S corporation." But the confusion and hand-wringing is unnecessary The Answer is Always "LLC" If someone really, truly has a choice between a limited liability company and an S corporation, or Subchapter S corporation, the business can and should be operated as an LLC. Here's why: A Subchapter S corporation isn't actually a real corporation. Rather, an S corporation is a tax accounting classification that's available to a variety of entities, including regular corporations, limited liability companies, and several other possibilities, too. This reality--the fact that an S corporation is really a tax accounting...

After I create my LLC, what do I do now? Many create this special kind of legal entity for their business. But once formed, they have no idea what to do next when it comes to governance and operations. The Limited Liability Company Agreement is essential for many reasons but one practical reason is it gives the owners and operators a user manual for how to operate. The LLC Agreement is a written agreement signed by the business entity and its Members. The agreement first evidences the ownership and sets forth what each Member's rights and responsibilities are. However, the written agreement also serves another very important purpose. A well written Agreement should include a set of rules for how the...

1. UBI JUS IBI REMEDIUM (i) Meaning Jus means legal authority to do or to demand something and remedium means the right of action. So it means there is no wrong without a remedy. (ii) Importance of Maxim iub Jus Ibi Remedium: The law of tort is said to be a development of the maxim ubi-jus-ibi Remedium. This maxim led the chancellor to intervene in the administration of justice in order to give a relief where the common law gave none relief by common law inadequate and to help the litigant by offering facilities in evidence and the procedure which the ordinary courts did not secure. (iii) Conditions (i) If a party has destroyed, lost or waived his right to an equitable remedy by his own act this...

Sec 42 of Companies (Auditing & Accounting) Act 2003 & Article 41 of 8th EU Directive sets out the requirements for certain company types to establish an audit committee. These provisions have not yet been signed into law, however the Department of Enterprise Trade & Employment have indicated that draft regulations adopting the provisions of both the 2003 Act and 8th Directive, with some amendments, will be published by the end of July 2009 and signed into law before the end of 2009. What companies are required to establish an Audit Committee? The requirement to establish an audit committee applies to all public limited companies, qualifying large private companies, relevant undertakings and public...

For entrepreneurs who are starting new ventures, Limited Liability Companies or LLCs are among their most popular choices of business types. If you've ever looked up the names of companies who offer products and services you like, you might find that some of them have company names ending in "LLC". Basically, an LLC is a type of company. It's one of the options available to you if you've ever thought about starting your own business. But before you register your business this way, you need to learn more about LLCs to see if they're the right type of company for you. Let us start with a simple explanation of LLC. The acronym stands for "Limited Liability Company". This means that the owners of the...

Every contractor who does residential work knows about a home owner's 3-day right to cancel. But what you may not know is how vicious this innocuous little form can be. Here's a short quiz to test your understanding. Answers are below. True or false? 1. The 3-day right to cancel is a federal notice and isn't required in most states. 2. There no harm in skipping this form. It's safe to leave it out of your contracts. 3. If you decide to include the notice in your contract, one copy is enough. 4. The 3-day right to cancel is required only on major home improvement jobs. 5. The 3-day right to cancel is required only if you extend credit to the owner. First, something that should be obvious: Don't start...

Email programs make an email signature that's mechanically placed at the conclusion of your electronic mail. It generally gives your name, title, business address and supplementary personal or business related information. The latest legal buzz over email signatures is whether those signatures produce a binding legal contract when you're negotiating terms with another person or company by electronic mail. In the United States, federal and state law allow for the enforceability of electronic signatures. For transactions affecting interstate commerce, a federal statute called the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN), 15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq. protects such dealings. Under...

It is surprising how valuable lessons can be learned from one's computer letter archives; which often seems easy to dismiss as a heap of unwanted files. I was pleasantly surprised with this one, and I thought it needed to be shared. If only to remind us that we must constantly and consistently be true to our words. My case in point is a letter which I wrote several years ago; which I have "rediscovered" quite recently. The following is my actual letter to an office apprentice who found it convenient to terminate her term before it was completed. The name given below is fictitious, to protect her true identity. Dear Carmen, This will acknowledge receipt of your 13 May 04 letter, where you graciously...

The international business community is closer now than ever before. This presents numerous opportunities for companies to pick from the crème of employees from the world over. Political and geographical boundaries hold little resistance if an employee has the right qualifications and experience and a company offer great opportunities for growth and expansion. For a company that wants to have the best employees it needs to consider building an international recruitment department. The basic requirement is to understand how important this department is to the company and to make focused attempts to make it successful. Too often international recruitment departments make halfhearted attempts and this...

The case of Castellani SpA v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) (Case T-149/06) [2007], concerned an opposition of a European Community trade mark. On the 25th of September 2001, the applicant filed an application to register a Community Trade Mark. The application was made to the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM), and was carried out under Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 (on the Community Trade Mark). The applicant sought registration for the figurative mark 'CASTELLANI'. On the 4th of September 2002, a company called Markant filed a notice of opposition to registration of the trade mark on the grounds of...

It is a sad fact that not a lot of companies conduct necessary training programs for their employees. And for those few companies that actually do, their training productivity needs to be improved. Usually, companies conduct some training sessions for their new employees to familiarize the latter with their corporate procedures, policies and culture. This may be done by an older employee who shows a new employee around an office or workplace. Some companies, particularly in highly competitive industries, conduct employee orientation that may take weeks and even months. Within the duration of this training, the trainee is taught the company's products, processes and competition. Generally, these...

Confidentiality, Non-Disclosure and Non-Circumvention Agreement can be defined, as a contract entered between the producer of a motion picture and script writer, wherein, the producer is prevented from disclosing or sharing the creative ideas of the script writer with the third party. This agreement is signed during the early stage of the script submission or when the writer provides ideas and storyline concepts to the studio or producer for the new movie. Why does writer require such Agreement? When a producer plans new movie production, he authorizes the script writer to submit ideas and concept of the storyline for the movie. As the writer is a creative person, he/she come out with new story line...

If you are a licensed B1 contractor in California, you probably know all about Cal B&P 7159. It's caused more than a little grief for more than a few California contractors, some of them now former California contractors. Cal B&P 7159 is Sacramento's effort to rewrite every contract for home improvement, remodeling and repair work throughout the state, adding about eight pages to even the shortest agreement. If there was an award for legislative ineptitude, California would be among the prime contenders. Their $billion budget deficits put California in a class by itself. But this legislature that can't shoot straight has no trouble targeting home improvement contractors. Cal B&P 7159 is...

All states tip the playing field in favor of property owners who contract for residential work. Nearly every state requires very specific notices and disclosures in residential construction contracts. Even the slightest defect in an agreement can have consequences - fines, revocation of a license, charges for attorney fees, no right to collect or even jail time. All of these penalties fall on the contractor. The property owner gets a free ride. Penalties for a using a defective contract are different in every state. Some states, such as Hawaii, simply make the contract unenforceable. The contractor collects nothing. Other states give the contractor the right to collect some part of what's owed...

Every construction contractor and subcontractor has heard the term flow-down. A few probably feel they were washed away by flow-down. I don't think that's necessary and will suggest a better way. Flow-down is what general contractors do in subcontracts. They incorporate into a subcontract all the terms of the prime contract - usually by stapling the prime contract to the subcontract. That saves a lot of typing. It also offers a (false) sense of security to general contractors. In theory, flow-down obligates the sub to do everything for the sub's portion of the work that the general contractor has to do under the contract. So if the owner has a legitimate complaint about a sub's work, and if the...

A distance contract is an agreement for the provision of goods and services made between a supplier on the one hand and a consumer on the other under an organized distance sales scheme. The supplier and consumer do not meet face to face under distance selling contracts before the contract is concluded, and therefore consumers cannot actually see the specific goods or services to be provided. Under distance selling contracts, the supplier uses a means of distance communication such as via the internet at all stages in the formation of the contract. Other means of distance communications include e-mail, mail order, post and telephone sales. The Distance Selling Directive binding on all European Union...

  A promissory letter is a paper which contains the signature and name by 2 parties or more, who’re in a trade and negotiations circumstances. In general, this file presents when an individual intends to get a sum of funds from the other individual, given that the individual has stated he/she will give back the whole-sum of funds to the lender, at the précised time and date, in addition to any percentage of the principal amount and further conditions assured in the agreement. All phrases wrote down in this paper ought to be agreed ahead by all the promissory letter’s members prior to signatures is being signed on the paper. People who are not involved in the contract do not have the right to...

Many home improvement contractors prefer to work under time and material (cost-plus) contracts. And for good reason. Surprises are common when remodeling or repairing an existing dwelling. With a cost-plus contract, a contractor doesn't have to absorb the loss if there's a surprise once work gets started. But there's a problem. Six states require that home improvement contracts show a total cost for the work in dollars and cents: California -- Business and Professions Code - 7159(d)(5). Illinois -- Compiled Statutes Title 815, - 513/15 Massachusetts -- General Laws 142A, - 2(a)(5) Nevada (residential pools only) -- Administrative Code - 624.6958-2(f) Pennsylvania -- Statutes Title 73, - 517.7(a)(8...

Commercial law is also known as a business law. This law is used to govern commercial and business transactions. The law covers activities such as merchant shipping and bills of exchange. Corporate contracts are often regulated by commercial law. There has been a steady increase of interest in regulating this particular law. The law is governed by the United States Congress. There have been efforts made in the past to unify the body of commercial law in the U.S. This law is important to control exactly how commerce is conducted. Safety and privacy laws are also included in order to protect employees and customers. An example of this law includes the Occupational Safety and Health Act (located in the...

Introduction A contract is usually discharged when both parties have performed all of their obligations under the agreement and thus both parties have fulfilled what they promised to do at the very outset of the contract. There is a distinction to be drawn between the discharge of a valid contract and the ways in which invalid contracts come to and end. This article assumes that a commercial contract has been properly formed and one of the parties wishes to terminate the contractual relationship. Bring a Contract to an End There are four ways in which a contract may be discharged. 1. Discharge by performance Discharge by performance is where both parties to a contract have performed all their...

If there's a load limit on construction contracts, Maryland must be getting close. The legislators in Annapolis require 21 distinct notices and disclosures in custom home building contracts. As a class, buyers of custom homes in Maryland must be among the best protected anywhere. Omitting any of these disclosures carries heavy consequences. More on that later. If you're a custom home builder in Maryland, check your contract against this list of required notices. · A draw (payment) schedule · The names of the primary subcontractors · Notice on change orders · Statement of warranty coverage (in bold) · Disclosure on payment of subs & suppliers · Waiver of lien notice · Mechanics' lien laws...

Mitigation of damage arises in a number of contexts. Claimants to legal proceedings have a positive duty to avoid suffering loss when a legal wrong has been suffered be them. Mitigation is a powerful set of legal principles that entitle a defendant to argue that they are obliged to pay lesser sums in a claim for damages. What should or should not have been mitigated by reasonable action in a particular case is a question relying on the facts of the case. Whether the law imposes upon the claimant the obligation to mitigate on those facts in the first place, that is, has the duty arisen, is a question of law. Background The measure of compensation that a claimant is entitled to recover is the loss...

Is your spouse cheating on you? Do you observe unexpected change in your partner's behavior? Is your partner spending more time at workplace? Have you noticed any change in their routine at home? Most of the people will agree that these are the classic signs of a cheating spouse. However, you cannot claim that a partner is cheating on you based on these instances alone. Same happened in the case of John and Cathy. John noticed sudden changes in the behavior of Cathy and started spying on her. But, Cathy was actually given new responsibilities and roles at work place, and this required overtime and frequent business trips. If John asked her, she could have explained everything. But a small mistake by...

A contract is simply a binding promise between parties which a court will enforce if not carried out. Contracts are essential for modern life. Without them commerce could not happen as people could not rely on the promises of another if anybody could just pull out of their commitments at any time. So how are contracts formed? Well there are several elements to make a valid contract. 1. There needs to be an offer from one party to another. An example of an offer would be "I will paint your house for $500". The offer here obviously being to pain the house for $500. 2. The offer must be accepted by the other party. This is key for the creation of the contract. Without a valid acceptance then there can...

For contracts to exist there are four major elements which must be satisfied. 1. There must be an offer 2. There must be an acceptance of an offer 3. There must be valuable consideration passing between the parties of the contract 4. There must be an intention between the parties to create a legally binding agreement which will be backed up and enforced by the courts of the land. This article will be looking at the first element of the creation of a contract, the offer, what it is and how this affects the contract and then look at what a counter offer is and how this affects an offer. The definition of an offer is fairly straightforward: "I will sell you my car for $4,000" "I will be your personal...

Catering contracts are legal agreements entered by the consumer and caterer to supply food for a specified period or a particular event. Catering contracts facilitates food services at sporting events, airlines, and university canteens, office canteens and in many social gatherings. Some well-known and innovative catering professionals handle catering contracts. This ensures better quality food, as many times chefs understand the cutting edge of the consumers taste. Catering contracts are cost effective and save a lot of time when arranging events. The professional caterer's plan and schedule arrangements as per requirements. As the burden of running the event successfully is wholly dependent on the...

Contracts are an essential part of the construction industry. Since construction is an index of any nation's progress, it is necessary that every citizen must be equipped with knowledge of at least the basics of construction contracts. A construction contract can be termed as an agreement entered into by two parties, under the terms of which one party agrees to perform a specific job, in this case a construction job, for which the other party agrees to pay. Construction contracts come with additional terms and conditions which form an integral part of the entire contract. For a construction contract to be deemed competent, both the parties must be legally capable of playing their part in right...

Are you fed up with the drinking habit of your spouse? Has your spouse increased alcoholic consumption of late? Do you feel that your marriage is getting affected due to it? If your answer is "Yes", you need to be proactive to save your marriage. Taking too much of alcohol is a sure sign that something wrong is happening with the person concerned. There are a few points that need to be mentioned here. Communication breakdown with the spouse is one of the reasons why one tends to drink too much alcohol. Some people have tendency of not sharing their sorrows with their spouse, owing to which they start feeling lonely. Eventually, such feelings lead to frustration and increased alcohol consumption soon...

When you're in the process of selling (or purchasing) a house, you will most likely, encounter several kinds of documents: all with different names and with different uses and functions. Two of the most misunderstood documents are the warranty deed and the quit claim deed. Many think that these two forms are alike, but they are not. A warranty deed is a document which the seller presents to you and is used in majority of all sales transactions. The warranty deed simply states that the seller owns the property being sold and that it is free from any sort of liens. By presenting a warranty deed, the buyer is assured that the holder of the title has the legal right to transfer ownership of the unit and...

In the current credit crisis, banks find more and more of their customers unable to pay. Recently, more and more banks and credit issuers are selling delinquent accounts to third-party debt purchasers. As a result of these sales, the number of credit-card lawsuits has increased substantially. To give you an idea of how much debt credit issuers are selling these days: In 1991, $2 billion of consumer debt was sold to third-party purchasers; in 2006, it was $110 billion. These parties purchase the debt for less than it is worth because the credit company wants to get some of the money back. Then, the purchaser attempts to collect what it can, using the resources it has. Usually, a lawsuit is the last...

Translation is an imperfect art. The fundamental compatibility of languages is such that there is no possible way to create a translation of a document from one language to another. The reason for this is simple: each language was constructed independently of every other one and thus will often times have more than one meaning for an individual word or have multiple words expressing what is in another language, a single concept. This makes translation a difficult process. It is a balance between realism and efficiency of conveying meaning and maintaining accuracy of the original document's text. With global interaction becoming more of a necessity for the modern era, however, professional document...

A Lease means an assignment of the right to ownership and use of merchandise for a period of time in return for some mutually agreed on remuneration or recompense. A sale, whether it is a sale on agreement, or a sale or return, or retention or creation of a collateral interest, is not labeled as a 'lease.' Whether it is a real estate property that is to be leased or an automobile or any other kind of property, it must be done within the terms of a legal and binding contract to avoid misunderstanding, loss and breach of trust. A lease contract is an officially authorized document or record that certifies a lease transaction between the individual renting the property and the leaseholder. A...

A legal contract can take many different types of forms. Not all legal contracts are written. Some legal contracts can be a simple matter of a verbal promise of something in exchange for something else. Statutes differ, but as a general rule, any contract involving remunerations of $500 or more requires documentation in order to be valid. Verbal contracts are made on the basis of ethics and tradition. Written or printed (or word-processed) legal contracts can be quite simple or extremely complex. In its simplest form, a legal contract can be a sentence or two, with two or more parties signing the document. The contract constitutes a legal basis upon which any party can sue the other in case of a...

Every small business struggles with tracking their time. As a web development shop, we've been constantly evolving and improving our time tracking methodologies since we started eight years ago. Here are some tips we have learned along the way. 1. Group your daily tasks by availability and type of work If you know you are going to have three solid hours to get things done, try to work on a lot of similar tasks. Mentally shifting gears is a productivity killer and will hinder your efforts to track time. It is much easier to keep track of your hours if you can work uninterrupted and on fewer tasks. The best time for this is in the morning, when your mind is fresh and your day hasn't yet been hijacked...

What is a State Disability Insurance? Also known as SDI, it is a partial wage for workers. This is mandated by the State and is funded by the deductions from the employee's payroll. SDI offers short-term benefits that are affordable to eligible workers who are going through a loss of wages because they cannot work. Their reasons for their not being able to work can be non-work related illnesses or they are injured. They can also be pregnant or have just given birth. Employees are covered by the state disability insurance. But there are some employees that are exempted from these. Examples are the railroad employees. In fact, the non-profit agencies' employees claim religious exemptions. There are...

It has been a habit of business owners to always write pay checks for their employers directly from the checkbook of the business account. It is no longer being practiced by a lot of businesses, especially those who know the stress of carrying out such activity directly from the business's account. There are also others who go to the length of opening a different account for the purpose of using it for their employee's payroll in order to lessen the length and bulk of work done in calculating the taxes of employees. Even with all these steps taken, most employees still want something more from the business; they want proof that they actually did earn a particular or given amount and that certain...

Harvard Business Review recently published the result and analysis of an eight-month research project that involved interviewing dozens of executives and collecting data from more than 20 global companies to study the war for talent recruitment and retention. Leading business thinkers Douglas Ready, Linda Hill and Jay Conger spill it off on an article titled "Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets." This new research shows that attracting and retaining the best talents/employees in the emerging markets involves four elements: brand, opportunity, purpose and culture. A strong lure of brand attracts talents because a desirable affiliation and a reputation for excellence may lead to personal...

If you have a business it is important to hire employees, for you can't do everything alone. You need help so that you can do your part as an owner and the people you hire can do their part as your employees. The important thing when you hire someone is their salary, you should give your employees the right wage amount and the benefits they are entitled to have. When you make a payroll you should see to it that the amounts and the calculations is right and that you have subtracted what is needed to subtract and add what you needed to add. Since today we are in the computer era and most people know how to use a computer and some have advance knowledge on them then many software programs are developed...

You can always calculate payroll over various methods, but using the payroll check template is mostly preferred. It is used as guide over employees' salaries and wage reductions. It is used to issue payroll checks to workers. Such software is simply Microsoft Excel based and acquiring a check template over the internet is readily available for easy usage. It is a customized template and built with specific requirements such the employee's daily schedule with the corresponding pay for the number of hours served. It pre-defines the attributes of the check like how the check is taxed and blocked with numerous factors as well. A payroll check template is presented by a batch of checks or an...

What is workers' compensation insurance? Workers' compensation insurance covers your employees' medical and disability expenses related to work-related illness and on-the-job injuries. Employers' liability coverage, which is normally included on a workers' comp policy, protects your company by paying legal fees and any awarded settlements should an employee sue you, claiming that an illness or injury was caused by your company's negligence or failure to provide a safe workplace. How do I know if I need workers' comp insurance? Workers' compensation insurance is required by law in most states for companies that have W2 employees, and in some states for 1099 contractors. Regardless of state law...

It may be well-reasoned, online employee scheduling software can save a business an enormous amount of money because it decreases the amount of time the manager spends putting together the schedule. Also one of the features of online employee scheduling software is that it assures the amount of staff required for a shift is precise. Many managers are also finding their team members greatly prefer online employee scheduling software over other scheduling solutions: that is once they become accustomed to using it. That said there as well are all types of benefits for you as manager as well as the employee when employing the use of an online employee scheduling solution. The following content examines...