Legal Blog of Attorney Greg Curry

Interesting case from New York County Civil Court (a kind of small claims court). I don't have access to the court filings (none of them were e-filed), just a short summary from the New York Law Journal (pay wall). But based on that short article, this appears to be what happened: dealer/jeweler Choraria sells Rolex watches. In 2007, the subject watch was stolen from him. At some point between 2007 and 2017, another dealer/jeweler, Jeffrey Bouvier, bought the watch (from somebody). I assume Bouvier didn't know the watch had been stolen, and we have no idea how many times it passed hands before it was eventually sold to Bouvier. Thus, Bouvier would be a "good faith" purchaser. It turns out the watch was damaged. So, Bouvier innocently enough sends the watch off to Rolex to be repaired. Rolex runs a search of the watch's serial number and learns it had been reported stolen back in 2007. Choraria says the watch belongs to him because it had been stolen. Bouvie...

Informative article from Bloomberg about Wall Street's inevitable move towards automation. It's widely accepted that "low-skill" jobs will be the easiest to automate, such as many fast food jobs. But what about fancy Wall Street traders with their Harvard MBA's and all? It appears they aren't safe, either. This isn't exactly news. The majority of stock trading today is done by computer algorithms. And it has long seemed to me that, if any job were ripe to be replaced by robots, it would be stock traders, money managers, and similar jobs. Some quotes from the article: Yet in interviews, about a dozen Wall Street executives and consultants responsible for deploying technologies -- and steeped in their capabilities -- were more bearish on humans. Machines will take over task after task, they said, and banks simply won’t need nearly as many people. ... It’s time for senior managers to stop sugarcoating, said Simon Moss, who has been advising bank...

In December, I blogged  about the minimum wage hikes starting on December 31, 2017, as all areas across New York State move towards a $15.00/hour minimum wage over the next few years. And as of January 1, 2018, minimum wages went up in 18 states and 20 cities  across the country. For most businesses, and especially small businesses, their greatest cost is labor--paying workers. So if state and local governments force business owners to pay their workers more, the businesses can either (1) raise prices (and risk losing customers/sales); (2) cut back workers' hours (which could hurt productivity and reduce revenue); or (3) simply get rid of people and make the remaining workers do more. Smart people on both sides of the issue disagree about the effect minimum wage hikes will have on jobs. Supporters  say there has been no real impact on jobs in areas that have raised minimum wages. But  critics  say that the "fight for 15" will end up hurting the very people i...

For most employers, the cost of labor is the biggest expense in producing their goods or services. Over the next few years, the minimum wage for non-government workers on Long Island, in Westchester County, and in New York City will be rising to $15.00/hour. The increase will take longer in counties north of Westchester. As labor costs rise, and margins get squeezed, do employers cut employees, cut hours, or raise prices on their goods or services (and possibly lose customers)? Or even go out of business? The table below sets out the minimum wage increases for most employees and is taken from New York's Department of Labor website (because I can't improve on it): Upcoming Minimum Wage Increases The Minimum Wage rates are scheduled to increase each year on 12/31 until they reach $15.00 per hour. Employers must post a Minimum Wage Information poster in their establishment. Location 12/31/16 12/31/17 12/31/18 12/31/19 ...

Came across the following for a job opening for a bartender (I won't disclose the name of the company): STUFF OUR ATTORNEYS MAKE US WRITE: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a Team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this position, the Team member will regularly be required to: Work days, nights, and/or weekends as required. Work in environments with both hot and cold temperatures such as freezers and around cooking equipment. Work in noisy, fast paced environment with distracting conditions. Read and write handwritten notes. Lift and carry up to 30 pounds. Move about facility and stand for long periods of time. Walk or stand 100% of shift. Reach, bend, stoop, mop, sweep and wipe frequently. The above statements are intended to describe...

A recent case from an appeals court involved two heavyweight (i.e., "expensive") law firms, White & Case and Arnold & Porter, fighting over the statute of limitations of a malpractice lawsuit. (The plaintiff originally used another firm.)  In the case,  EB Brands Holdings sued its accountants for malpractice for, among other things, over-stating asset accounts (accounts receivable and inventories), which EB claims harmed and mislead its Board of Directors in making decisions. The agreement said that any lawsuits against the accountants had to be brought within two years of the subject audit report. The lawsuit  sought damages of $100 million. EB first brought suit in New York County, but the lawsuit was dismissed "without prejudice"--meaning EB could've fixed the problems in the complaint and re-filed it. Instead, EB brought a new lawsuit in Westchester County and abandoned its New York County case. But by then the two-year statute of limitation...

It's a fact of the business world, with both startup and established businesses, that from time to time you're going to encounter legal issues that are scary and potentially expensive. A lot of these situations involve contracts--either you have to sue someone, or someone has sued you, for breach of contract. When confronted with these situations, you do need a lawyer. Because if the other side has a lawyer, and you try to handle the legal stuff yourself, YOU WILL LOSE. The law is tricky, and procedural rules are tricky, and the side that's "lawyered up" will push around and bully someone who doesn't have a lawyer. But, too often, when small business owners are faced with legal challenges, they just give up because hiring a lawyer and fighting would be too expensive. What brought this to mind was that I caught an older episode  of Shark Tank from 2012. A Lee Dahlberg came up with an idea for a business--putting carved, polished, rocks on bands that you w...