Your Business Deserves To Thrive
We live in a world of referrals, and it is all about getting the right people connected with the right people. At times, our clients need help that we cannot provide. In truth, if we are being a great service provider, we know the limits of our ability and we want to make sure those clients are taken care of.…
I am going to discuss one of the most common questions I get when I speak to audiences with newer businesses. Should I be an LLC, should I be a corporation, and is it okay to be a sole proprietorship? It really depends on your situation, so we really want to look at your circumstances. I get clients in all…
I want to discuss a very important issue, which is copyright law. You need to understand this and you need to sit down and talk to your attorney to make sure you understand it. A lot of businesses run afoul of it all of the time. There are misunderstandings. Some people think that just because you attribute a quote to…
In our previous post, Does Texas Hold a Partner Liable for a Partnership Debt, we discussed the Texas Supreme Court’s holding in American Star Energy and Minerals Corporation v. Stowers, [1] that a creditor cannot sue individual partners to satisfy a partnership debt until a judgment is passed against the partnership and goes unsatisfied for 90 days. There is a continuation of…
In American Star Energy and Minerals Corporation v. Stowers, [1] four partners formed a general partnership called S & J Investments (“S&J”) to invest in oil and gas properties. S & J contracted with American Star Energy and Minerals Corporation (“American”) to operate these properties. Later, American sued S & J for breach of contract, which resulted in a final judgment…
You might have seen in our previous blog series on general partnership, where we talked about what general partnership is and why it is vital for business owners to know about it. In essence, we wrote that, despite the advent of limited liability companies (LLCs), business owners frequently form a general partnership, oftentimes without even realizing it. Generally, partners in…
Branscome v. Schoneweis In Branscome v. Schoneweis, Schoneweis and Woodrum, who were brothers-in-law, were associated with the operation of a live stockyard called Tallula Cattle Company (“Tallula”). [1] Schoneweis was the owner since he provided the initial working capital and Woodrum was the manager who was entitled to an equal share of commissions on the sale of all cattle of…
Cox Enterprises, Inc. v. Filip In Cox Enterprises, Inc. v. Filip, Filip was the owner of Trans Texas Properties and Elliott was not. [1] One of its employees filled out a credit application to obtain newspaper advertising services for the business and falsely listed Elliott as an owner. [2] The employee had no authority to make such representation and Elliott…
This blog will discuss the challenges of Partnership by Estoppel. Partner refers to a variety of business relationships such as co-owners, collaborators, coworkers, business associates, and even suppliers and customers, etc. We explained in our previous blog on general partnership, it is not the label, but the intent to do what in law creates a partnership (agreement to share profits,…
Partners in a general partnership owe a fiduciary duty to the partnership, just like in the context of LLCs. Partners must act as an ordinarily prudent person, refraining from competing with the partnership, and generally act in good faith. Moreover, they must put the best interests of the partnership ahead of their own. So, in the farming partnership case from…