Business Litigation and Dispute Resolution Category Archives — Page 8 of 10 — Kang Haggerty News Published By Kang Haggerty LLC

Legal Intelligencer: How RICO Plays a Role in the World of Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo

January 25, 2018 | Edward T. Kang

In the January 25, 2018 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Edward Kang, Managing Member of Kang Haggerty, writes on How RICO Plays a Role in the World of Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo.

Overcoming Obstacles

Who in civil litigation does not love a good RICO claim? Its boundaries are seemingly endless, and in the case of Harvey Weinstein—perhaps one of the most vilified defendants on the planet right now—there is the possibility of catastrophic implications, as if being the face of an entire movement (#MeToo) is not bad enough.

Civil claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. Sections 1961-1968 (RICO Act), are highly desirable for plaintiffs and their attorneys because, if successful, they provide for treble damages, plus attorney fees and costs of litigation. Very few plaintiffs succeed on a RICO claim, however, so the decision to file one should not be made lightly. Many plaintiffs fail during the pleadings stage, and their claims are dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6). For defendants, like Weinstein, the possible implications of RICO can be disastrous. This potential implication is why defendants of civil RICO claims are eager to settle if the claim survives a motion to dismiss and shows a strong likelihood of surviving a motion for summary judgment. For example, in 2016, Trump University did just that—it settled a civil RICO suit for $25 million, which paled compared to its potential exposure of $170 million.

Background

The RICO Act was passed in 1970 as part of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 to combat large organized crime operations led by the American Mafia and their growing infiltration of legitimate businesses and organizations. Although the RICO Act was drafted to bring down gangsters, it is certainly not limited to that purpose and has evolved into a mechanism to confront business fraud and corruption over the last half-century. This is evidenced by the recent high-profile civil RICO lawsuit filed against Harvey Weinstein.

Legal Intelligencer: A Primer on International Chamber of Commerce Arbitration for Litigators

January 5, 2018 | Edward T. Kang

In the January 5, 2018 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Edward Kang, Managing Member of Kang Haggerty, writes A Primer on International Chamber of Commerce Arbitration for Litigators.

Arbitration, whether compulsory or voluntary, is commonplace these days as a less expensive and more efficient resolution to litigation than trial. Litigators in Pennsylvania are familiar with the Court of Common Pleas Compulsory Arbitration Program for cases with an amount in controversy of $50,000 or less. For cases with a larger amount in controversy, parties will often agree to arbitrate with a company offering a private arbitrator, such as AAA, JAMS and ADR Options.

In cases involving international disputes, the arbitration venues commonly found in contract include, the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), Swiss Chamber’s Arbitration Institution (SCAI), Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), German Institution of Arbitration (DIS), Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC), Vienna International Arbitration Center (VIAC), International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), and the International Court of Arbitration for the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

The number of international arbitrations has been increasing due largely to the growing number of courts in foreign countries recognizing and enforcing foreign arbitral awards. An ICC arbitral award, for instance, can now be enforced in China, where its courts refused to recognize and enforce foreign arbitral awards against its citizens on many occasions. It is becoming increasingly likely for practitioners to face a dispute over a contract providing for arbitration before one of these international forums. This is true even with smaller cases involving an amount in controversy under $50,000.

Legal Intelligencer: What Rights Do I Have as a Limited Partner Against a General Partner?

November 15, 2017 | Edward T. Kang

ETK-full-body-200x300-1 In the November 9, 2017 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Edward T. Kang, managing member of the firm, writes on limited partnerships and the rights afforded to the limited partners when the general partner deviates from its duty of care.

Limited partnerships offer an attractive option over the general partnership form–namely, the benefits of a partnership arrangement, but with limited liability like that enjoyed by the owners of a corporation or limited liability company. With that limited liability, however, also comes limited input into the management and operation of the company. The general partner(s) manage the company, while limited partners typically have no right to manage or otherwise direct the affairs of the partnership. That means, absent a specific agreement between the partners and the partnership, a limited partner is treated like a shareholder of a public corporation–that is, a limited partner’s right is limited to voting and distribution and must trust that the general partner will manage and operate the partnership in the best interest of the partnership.

But what rights do limited partners have, especially when the general partner deviates from its duty of care or duty of loyalty owed to the partnership? Does a limited partner have the right to bring a direct action against another partner or the partnership itself? In a corporation setting, typically, a corporate officer/director owes fiduciary duties not to shareholders/owners, but to the entity itself. And if a dispute occurs with officers or directors, a shareholder must usually file a derivative action on behalf of the company to address a breach of fiduciary duty by its officers and directors.

Legal Intelligencer: Through the Language Barrier: Examining a Witness Through Interpreters

October 23, 2017 | Edward T. Kang

In the October 19, 2017 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Edward T. Kang, managing member of the firm, writes on the significant impact interpreters can have on a case.

The jury was thoroughly confused when a witness testified through an interpreter that he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a ladder in a construction case I tried a few years ago. What reasonable person would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a ladder? The “ladder,” however, was really a staircase—a distinction that was obviously important to the case. The delineation between interpreting and translating—in other words, between explaining the meaning and translating words verbatim—is vital when it comes to the use of interpreters during witness examinations.

The American legal system is wrought with a specialized lexicon and complexities that do not exist in the English language. Though an interpreter is not allowed to explain the legal procedure or give advice to a witness, they are your conduit to the witness and the mouthpiece of the witness for the judge or jury. An interpreter has the power, whether consciously or unknowingly, to skew the words of the witness as they choose your words. One question or answer, rephrased improperly, can completely change the outcome of a case.

Real Estate Buyer Beware of Bulk Sales – Or You’ll be Paying for It

October 12, 2017 | Kang Haggerty LLC

What is a bulk sale clearance certificate, and how is a bulk sale clearance certificate related to a Pennsylvania real estate transaction? In Pennsylvania, a bulk sale clearance certificate must be obtained in all transactions involving the sale of fifty-one or more percent of the assets of a business, including real estate. Because it is common for property owners to create single purpose entities to own the real estate, bulk sale clearance certificates are required in many real estate transactions, since the real estate represents the sole asset (i.e., 100%) of the assets owned by such SPE. A bulk sale clearance certificate from the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue verifies that a particular entity satisfied all tax obligations due to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, including taxes, interest, penalties, fees, charges and any other liabilities up to and including the date of transfer.

Moreover, under 69 P.S. § 529, every corporation, joint-stock association, limited partnership or company organized under the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or any other state that engages in business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which sells in bulk fifty-one percent or more of any stock of goods, wares or merchandise of any kind, fixtures, machinery, equipment, buildings, or real estate, shall give the Department of Revenue ten days’ notice of the sale, prior to the completion of the transfer of such property.

To provide proper notice and comport with Pennsylvania law, the seller must file form REV-181, the Application for Tax Clearance Certificate, with the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry ten days before the closing of the sale. A copy of the agreement of sale and preliminary settlement statement should be included with the Application for Tax Clearance Certificate. (Note, however, that the Department of Revenue often requests re-submission post-closing so that all closing information and interim tax returns through the date of closing may be submitted). In addition, all such entities must file all state tax reports with the Department of Revenue to the date of the proposed closing on the transfer of property and pay all taxes and unemployment compensation contributions due to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through the date of closing. If all state tax reports have been filed and if all state taxes and unemployment compensation contributions are paid up to the date of the proposed transfer, the State issues a clearance certificate to the seller, which is then provided to the buyer.

Pre-Act 170 Pennsylvania Limited Partnerships Not Protected by Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing

September 5, 2017 | Kang Haggerty LLC

In an opinion handed down on August 22^ndof this year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that, unlike other contracts formed under Pennsylvania law, limited partnership agreements formed under the pre-Act 170 version of the Pennsylvania Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act, do not contain the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

The Pennsylvania legislature amended the state’s Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act in late 2016 as a provision of Act 170, which altered the formation and operation of corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, and other business forms. As part of its revisions to the PRULPA, Act 170 provided that a limited partnership agreement could not change or do away with the contractual obligation of both limited and general partners to discharge their duties under the agreement in accordance with the contractual obligation of good faith and fair dealing.

The case, Hanaway v. The Parkesburg Group, LP, involved a dispute among members of a limited partnership (Parkesburg) that had been formed to invest in and develop several parcels of real estate. The plaintiffs, who were among Parkesburg’s limited partners, sued the corporation’s general partner, alleging that he sold Parkesburg’s assets to a new partnership he had formed, so that the new partnership could develop the real estate in question without the plaintiffs.

Gregory H. Mathews Named to 2018 Best Lawyers in America List

August 31, 2017 | Kang Haggerty LLC

Gregory H. Mathews, Esquire Kang Haggerty LLC is pleased to announce that Gregory H. Mathews, Of Counsel, has been selected for inclusion in the 2018 edition of The Best Lawyers in America one of the most respected peer-review publications in the profession.

Mathews is named to the list for his distinguished contributions to the practice area of commercial litigation. Commercial litigation involves any type of dispute that can arise in the business context, including breach of contract cases, SEC and NASD claims, class actions, business torts, civil RICO claims, breach of fiduciary duty allegations, and shareholder issues. Successful commercial litigators, such as Mathews, are able to assess the merits of a dispute and scale either a prosecution or defense that fits the legal and business needs of their clients.

Best Lawyers was founded in 1983 and is published in 70 countries and all 50 states. Its methodology employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. The 24th edition of The Best Lawyers in America highlights the top 5% of practicing attorneys in the United States, based on more than 7.4 million evaluations, recognizing attorneys in 140 practice areas.

Docs and the Ties That Bind Them

August 24, 2017 | Kang Haggerty LLC

Restrictive covenants are contractual clauses that limit an employee’s post-employment activities for a specified length of time and geographic area. Their enforceability varies by state and by profession. For example, restrictive covenants are unenforceable in the legal profession but are enforceable in the medical profession. The American Medical Association, however, discourages restrictive covenants between physicians. Yet it deems them ethical unless they are excessive in geographic scope or duration, or fail to reasonably accommodate patients’ choice of physician.

The determination of whether a restrictive covenant is reasonable is a factual one that is assessed on a case-by-case basis: courts weigh the competing interests of the employee versus the employer, and typically the burden is on the employer to demonstrate that the restrictive covenant protects the employer’s interests without posing an undue hardship on the employee.

In Pennsylvania, restrictive covenants are enforceable if they are incident to an employment relationship between the parties, the restrictions imposed by the covenant are reasonably necessary for the protection of the employer, and the restrictions imposed are reasonably limited in duration and geographic extent. Hess v. Gebhard & Co. Inc., 808 A.2d 912 (Pa. 2002).

Legal Intelligencer: Henry Donner and David Dean on Practitioners’ Guide to Navigating New Mechanics’ Lien Law Amendments

August 23, 2017 | Henry J. Donner

In the August 21, 2017 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Henry Donner, Of Counsel at Kang Haggerty writes on the Practitioners’ Guide to Navigating New Mechanics’ Lien Law Amendments.

By: Henry Donner Construction-300x180-1

Pennsylvania’s Mechanics Lien Law of 1963 was amended in late 2014 to require the commonwealth’s Department of General Services to create an internet-based State Construction Notices Directory. As required by the law, the directory went live on Dec. 31, 2016, providing a standardized, statewide, internet-based system for construction notices. This statutory scheme imposes new requirements on project owners, contractors, and subcontractors, compliance with which can drastically affect those parties’ rights under the Mechanics Lien Law. Practitioners representing any of the traditional parties in a construction matter should be sure to familiarize themselves with these new provisions, and advise their clients accordingly.

Legal Intelligencer: Henry Donner and David Dean on Practitioners’ Guide to Navigating New Mechanics’ Lien Law Amendments

August 23, 2017 | Kang Haggerty LLC

In the August 21, 2017 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Henry Donner, Of Counsel at Kang Haggerty, and David Dean, an associate of the firm, write on the Practitioners’ Guide to Navigating New Mechanics’ Lien Law Amendments.

By: Henry Donner and David Dean

Pennsylvania’s Mechanics Lien Law of 1963 was amended in late 2014 to require the commonwealth’s Department of General Services to create an internet-based State Construction Notices Directory. As required by the law, the directory went live on Dec. 31, 2016, providing a standardized, statewide, internet-based system for construction notices. This statutory scheme imposes new requirements on project owners, contractors, and subcontractors, compliance with which can drastically affect those parties’ rights under the Mechanics Lien Law. Practitioners representing any of the traditional parties in a construction matter should be sure to familiarize themselves with these new provisions, and advise their clients accordingly.