Sooner or later, most businesses get to know a good business law attorney. Hopefully sooner, since building an iron-clad agreement from the start of a relationship almost always prevents expensive and nasty disputes down the road.
Here are just a few kinds of business disputes attorneys help clients settle or, even better, avoid in the first place.
Breach of contract
In a common and simple business contract, one party agrees to deliver a product or service at a specified time and at a specified quality. In exchange, that party gets paid. If one party doesn’t deliver or if the other party doesn’t pay, breach of contract litigation may follow. The goal of a suit is usually to secure an acceptable “remedy” for the breach.
Accounting fraud
Unintentionally misrepresenting accounts can still be grounds for malpractice lawsuits. But fraud involves intentional deception meant to conceal a misdeed, often embezzlement. In accounting malpractice, misrepresentations usually conceal the real numbers as well as the wrongdoing itself.
To show someone committed accounting fraud against you, you must prove they made claims, and those claims were both false and material (germane). They also had to cause you to rely on them, causing real damage to you.
Business buyouts
When a business partner leaves the partnership, voluntarily or not, that person’s share of the business is typically bought by somebody. Ordinarily, the partner(s) remaining in the business want to “buy out” the departing partner.
A buyout agreement, also known as a buy-sell agreement, determine the conditions of leaving, how their share’s value will be determined, who can purchase their shares and so on. It’s better to create a buyout agreement at the beginning of the partnership than at the end.
Real estate
A strong contract at the start of a landlord-tenant relationship is better than litigating disagreements later. Nonetheless, lawsuits can happen even after you’ve thought ahead.
For example, the provisions of a lease can always be negotiated or disputed. Rent and rent increases typically reflect market conditions and location and the costs of maintenance, repairs, utilities, taxes and insurance. Either the landlord or tenant can be made responsible for these costs.
Does the tenant have the right to sublet or leave the rental agreement? If another kind of business might be more successful in the space, such arrangements might serve the interests of both tenant and landlord. Likewise, if a significant “build-out,” or change to the property, could make the business more successful, the landlord might agree to the change. Who will pay for it and how?
