Articles Posted in Business Law

Owners of commercial buildings located in Philadelphia in excess of 50,000 square feet are now required to measure energy and water usage and report the results into the EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager annually. Bill No. 120428A titled “Energy Conservation” went into effect last month on June 13. Under this new ordinance, the owner of…

Pennsylvania has just passed legislation that allows, if certain conditions are met, the tax free transfer of a family owned business to a decedent’s heirs. The idea behind this exemption is in these tight economic times to keep businesses in the family. This financial burden comes at a critical juncture as the business is now…

The 2014 Pennsylvania property tax appeal deadline for Philadelphia and the surrounding four counties is fast approaching. The deadlines are as follows: August 1: Buck, Chester, Delaware and MontgomeryOctober 7: PhiladelphiaWith the Pennsylvania State Tax Equalization Board releasing the new Common Level Ratio (CLR) on July 1, this leaves a very short time period to…

I was reading the Philadelphia Inquirer this weekend and came across an interesting article in the business section. As a result, I decided to take a break from the typical commercial litigation or real estate post and ask you this: When you die, what happens to all of the pictures you posted on Facebook or…

For the second time in the last year a judge has precluded expert testimony regarding bath faith claims asserted against insurance companies. The most recent case out of the Western District of Pennsylvania involved a motor vehicle accident where the insurance company offered $13,000 on a policy with a $300,000 limit. In response to the…

On May 29, 2013, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided an interesting case regarding how an initial offer letter to a prospective employee can potentially impact a restrictive covenant in an employee’s employment agreement. Before discussing this case, we need a very brief summary regarding what courts look to when deciding whether to enforce a restrictive…

Last month the New Jersey Legislature introduced Assembly Bill 3970 that if passed will invalidate any restrictive covenant in an employment contract if the affected employee was eligible to receive unemployment compensation benefits. The reasoning behind this rule is that an employee who lost his job through no fault of his own (and thus be…

Yesterday, on May 15, 2013, a new regulation went into effect under 336(e) of the Internal Revenue Code that was designed to minimize an individual’s tax burden in a M&A transaction. Essentially, the Internal Revenue Service has provided a new option for parties to treat the transaction as either a sale of assets or a…

Companies today that routinely perform criminal background checks as part of their hiring process run the very real danger of running afoul of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and other federal and state statutes. Generally speaking, an employer may conduct a criminal background check only with the consent of the job applicant. Upon receiving…

Companies today are increasingly allowing employees to use a company issued smartphone or iPad for personal use. Companies actually invested money and polled employees and found that employees hated having to carry around a business and personal mobile device. While it may have seemed like an easy concession to appease employees, there are hidden dangers…