Business Dispute | Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C.

Business Disputes Are Twice as Ugly When It’s a Family Business

Jay Butchko — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 11:00:03 +0000

Business ventures necessarily involve risk. By engaging in business activities, you are accepting that things may not go according to plan, and you and your business partners will have to quickly make decisions that will result in the least amount of financial losses. It works best if you and your business partners can detach yourselves emotionally from the financial decisions. Act in the company’s interest like it is your own money, but don’t take the losses personally because they are not your personal debts; granted, it is easiest to do this if you have an LLC business structure. Meanwhile, no one can push your buttons like your family, whether it is about money or anything else. With family businesses, the successes are twice as sweet, but the disputes are twice as bitter. A Washington, D.C. business dispute lawyer can help you resolve disputes with your business partners, even if they are your family members.

Feuding Sons of Baltimore Orioles Owner Drop Lawsuits Against Each Other

The feud between John and Louis Angelos, the sons of Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, has been a frequent subject in local news headlines in recent years. Peter Angelos, now 93 years old, has been at least a partial owner of the Orioles since 1993, but since 2017, he has been too ill to be actively involved in the team’s management. Therefore, his two sons and their mother Georgia have been more actively involved in the team’s operations. Eventually, a rift occurred between Louis on one side and John and Georgia on the other, eventually resulting in lawsuits by each brother against the other.

Over the course of the years-long legal battle, these are some of the allegations that have emerged:

Louis accused John and Georgia of using tens of million dollars of their personal wealth to buy additional shares of the team.
Louis accused John of plotting to sell the team to the highest bidder, even if that meant moving the Orioles out of Baltimore.
John accused Louis of emotionally and abusing their father Peter by isolating him from the rest of the family.

In February 2023, John and Louis agreed to drop all of their lawsuits against each other. It appears that the brothers reached a settlement outside of court, but the details of the settlement were private, and news sources did not have any information about them.

Being involved in a court battle with your own sibling is one of life’s most unpleasant experiences, but legal disputes are a common occurrence in business. With the help of a business dispute lawyer, it is usually possible to reach an agreement with your family member turned business partner, before a judge has to rule in favor of one of you and against the other.

Contact Us About Family Business Disputes

A Washington, D.C. business dispute attorney can help you settle legal disputes that have arisen within your family business, with or without going to court. Contact Tobin, O’Connor, and Ewing in Washington, D.C. or call 202-362-5900.

Source:

thebaltimorebanner.com/sports/orioles-mlb/angelos-lawsuit-orioles-GENV4D4OK5BQPJFMK5NUMSWEMM/

What Is A Receivership, And Why Do Businesses Use Them?

Jay Butchko — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 10:00:59 +0000

Not every DUI conviction results in jail time, but almost all defendants who plead guilty to drunk driving or get a guilty verdict at trial get their driver’s licenses suspended. In many DUI cases, once you get your driver’s license back, the court requires you to use an ignition interlock device, which is a breathalyzer attached to your steering wheel that stops the car from turning on if your blood alcohol content is above the legal limit. A receivership is like an ignition interlock device for your business. The business still belongs to you, and you are entitled to your share of the profits from it, but a court-appointed trustee is the one who has the right to make financial transactions on behalf of the business. Receiverships sometimes get involved with businesses to save them from the brink of bankruptcy, and sometimes the business is already on its way out, and the receiver just makes the process of dissolution less costly and less ugly than it would otherwise be. If things have gotten bad enough for your company that there is talk of receivership, contact a Washington DC business dispute lawyer.

Corporate Restructuring

A corporate restructuring occurs when a company is experiencing severe financial distress, and outside experts come in to save it from bankruptcy and make it profitable again. This usually involves appointing a receiver. If the problems all relate to one creditor, then the creditor may choose the receiver, but it cannot be someone who has a pre-existing relationship with the creditor or with the business undergoing restructuring. If the business owes money to multiple creditors, the court chooses the receiver, but the court is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the receivership.

Business Dissolution

Sometimes a receivership is sufficient to help a business avoid bankruptcy, but sometimes the only option is dissolution of the business, with or without a bankruptcy filing. If things have gotten so bad between the business partners that they cannot work together without constant conflict, then bringing in a receiver is often the fastest and least expensive way to dissolve the business and settle its debts.

When Business Partners Can’t Trust Each Other

If the business partners are being dishonest with each other or openly going against each other’s decisions, a receivership is an effective way of bringing in a neutral party to accomplish the tasks at hand. Depending on the specifics, the end goal can be to return the business to profitability, to dissolve the business entirely, or to buy out the ownership share of one of the owners. In any case, no one resorts to receivership when everything is going well with the business. If the problems in your business partnership are so serious that you are discussing receivership, you should also work with your own business dispute lawyer.

Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. About Receivership and Other Business Emergencies

A Washington, D.C. business dispute lawyer can help you if your business venture is plagued with unpaid debts and conflict among business partners. Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. for help.

Source:

investopedia.com/terms/r/receivership.asp

What Businesspeople Should Know About Breach of Contract Lawsuits

Jay Butchko — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 13:20:59 +0000

Ask a student in a college of business what led them to choose their field of study, and they will probably tell you about the exciting world of business and entrepreneurship that awaits them. They have probably heard successful entrepreneurs talk about closing a business deal that led to long-term financial stability for everyone involved. The deal may have been made in a conference room, a restaurant, or even a hotel bar, and it was sealed with a handshake, a gentlemen’s agreement. What old businessmen nostalgic for their deal-making days don’t tell you is that most handshake deals end up evaporating into thin air before the projects they entail come to fruition. Those same old businessmen, if you ask them, probably also have lots of stories about would-be business partners who never followed through on their promises. In some cases, people file lawsuits related to business agreements that disintegrated, but you only have a case if you have documents proving that the agreement existed in the first place. Business dispute lawsuits, including those related to breach of contract, succeed or fail on the strength of the documents involved.

What Is Breach of Contract?

Breach of contract is when one party to a contract does not do what they promised, in signing the contract, to do, and does not abide by its terms. “Contract” in this context, means “written agreement,” and “breach” means “break.” The following are some situations that might lead to a breach of contract lawsuit.

An employer does not pay an employee the salary promised in the employment contract
A vendor does not deliver the merchandise that they promised in a supply contract
An employer does not provide the employee with the materials the employee needs to do their job, such as not providing a car for a delivery driver if the contract specified that one would be provided

It is possible to sue for breach of contract when the contract was made orally and not written down, but this is much harder to prove, and the statute of limitations for breach of an oral contract is one year.

How to Prove Breach of Contract

The good news is that breach of contract lawsuits have a long statute of limitations; you can file a breach of contract lawsuit up to 12 years after the breach took place. To win the lawsuit, though, you must prove that the person actually promised to do the things they did not do. Therefore, the contract must state, explicitly and in detail, all the obligations of each party. The best way to make sure that your contract does not have any loopholes is to have a lawyer draft it, or to draft it yourself and then have a lawyer review it before you sign it.

Let Us Help You Today

The best way to protect your rights in business is to put everything in writing. Having a business law attorney review your business agreements can help you avoid ambiguity and misunderstandings with your clients, employees, and anyone else with whom you conduct business. Contact the Washington DC business dispute attorneys at the office of Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. for professional assistance.

https://www.tobinoconnor.com/partnership-and-shareholder-disputes-in-a-washington-dc-business/

Partnership and Shareholder Disputes in a Washington DC Business

Jay Butchko — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 10:00:35 +0000

Business disputes are a relatively common situation, no matter whether you have a partnership or corporation. When you have multiple people trying to run a company together, there is a risk of conflicts within the business as well. Disputes between partners or shareholders are common and typically require the expertise of a skilled Washington DC business litigation attorney.

It’s not uncommon for owners and managers to clash when there is a discussion on how to grow the company or what steps to take next. Healthy debate and discussion can be good. However, if you are at a serious impasse and there is no way you can solve the conflict at hand, then you may need to consider litigation to resolve it.

Common Types of Partnership and Shareholder Disputes

Disputes between partners are shareholders are not limited to only one type of industry, they can affect every type of business. Disputes can be over a variety of things, like contracts or customers. Time spent on dealing with internal conflicts is time spent away from your business and that can have detrimental consequences.

Some of the more common types of shareholder and partnership disputes include:

Buy-sell agreements: When company assets are being sold or when it’s time to buy new ones, partners or shareholders may disagree over the buy-sell agreement terms.
Management Deadlocks: This is where company management can’t move forward on something without the need for litigation to resolve the deadlock.
Breach of Contract: If there is a breach of contract, it may require an attorney to assist and help resolve the dispute through litigation. One side might allege the other side breached the contract while the other says there was no breach or that the initial party was actually the one who breached the contract.
Regulation Violations: If there is a situation where a shareholder or partner acts in an inappropriate manner that violates company bylaws, then you may need to use litigation to resolve pending issues.
Succession Planning: Succession planning discussions are a common source of disputes between business owners. It can present a series of complicated questions and may result in a deadlock that can only be resolved through litigation.
Compensation for Executives: Compensation for important management positions can also be another source of disagreement between partners and shareholders.

How to Resolve Partnership and Shareholder Disputes

When a disagreement arises, it’s important to try and resolve it right away. There will be situations where a solution is not easily reached, and that is when an attorney’s involvement becomes important.

Choosing the right Washington DC business litigation firm is an important decision. You want a firm who has experience handling these types of disputes. The right business litigation attorney can help resolve the case without too much expense and time. While you may want to draw the line in the sand and stand your ground, a lengthy litigation battle is not good for your business. Contact the team at Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. at 202-362-5900 to schedule a consultation.