Starting a business online is becoming very popular. People like the relative freedom to locate their business in a convenient place while reaching a worldwide audience. There are also opportunities for reducing your overhead by not having a physical customer-facing storefront.
However, if you are considering starting an online business, you need to be careful not to cut too many corners, as this could get you into trouble. In particular, running afoul of online business laws can be expensive, so it’s still worthwhile to work with a small business attorney for your online business. Here are some of the laws that your online business needs to be aware of.
Sales Taxes
If your business is selling merchandise (and, in some cases, services), you will need to collect sales tax. How much sales tax? That depends on the local laws of where your customers are. Most US states require that online businesses collect sales tax for sales; however, the specific thresholds that trigger the requirement differ. For most states, you must accumulate $100,000 in total sales before you are required to collect sales tax, but often the requirements are different if you are selling to customers in the same state.
If you don’t know what the sales taxes are for your online business, you might end up with a hefty, unexpected tax bill and could face criminal charges.
Secure Payments
Online businesses are required to make sure that their transactions are sufficiently secure to protect customers’ payment information. The industry standard for this is using a payment gateway to provide for secure payment. These are included in most e-commerce platforms, and you don’t need to know too much detail unless you are trying to build your own e-commerce payment gateway.
Data breaches can be very costly for your business, leading to a major fine. In addition, you may be held liable in civil lawsuits if it turns out your negligence contributed to the data breach.
Privacy Protection
It’s not just payment information that you need to protect. Customers have a reasonable expectation that you are going to protect any and all information that they give to your website, either intentionally or unknowingly as you collect data about their visit.
You need to provide customers with information about the data you collect from them and how you use that data. You will also need to provide options for opting out of some types of data collection. Exactly what form the disclosures and opt-out forms take can depend on where you’re doing business, where your customers are, the information you’re collecting, and the type of business you have. Anything that might be considered a medical business, for example, must meet very strict privacy requirements.
Age Restrictions
In addition to privacy protection for all customers, you must be aware of limitations on collecting information from children. In the US, online businesses are banned from collecting personal information from children aged 13 and under.
If you are going to collect personal information from customers, you need to have an age field that either prevents children from filling out personal information forms or ensures that the data from those forms will not be collected. Otherwise, your business might face stiff penalties.
Home Business Restrictions
We mentioned that many online businesses reduce overhead by not having a physical customer-facing location. Often, people will run these businesses out of their homes. However, it’s important to be aware of laws restricting businesses in residential areas. There may be limitations about how much of the house can be given over to the business, how many people or delivery trucks you can have coming and going from the house, and other possible restrictions.
Failure to comply with these regulations may lead to fines and criminal penalties, with the potential of getting your home business shut down.
Marketing Restrictions
Many people think that the way to market their product is to make amazing claims about what it is and what it can do. While doing this may help you move more product, it can also get you into trouble.
Making false claims about your product can lead to heavy fines from numerous government agencies and potentially expose you to civil lawsuits as well. This is especially true if your product falls under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Terms and Conditions
Many online businesses will want to have strict legal contracts that define their relationship to their customers. This is true whenever you are engaging in a relationship for any sort of subscription service, long-term commitment, or expensive service or merchandise.
However, every business should have a sort of informal contract with customers, which they describe in their terms and conditions. This describes what responsibility you take (or don’t take) for customers who visit your website or purchase your merchandise. It also stipulates things like your return policies and what warranties you offer for services and merchandise (if any).
If you fail to make these conditions clear, customers and website visitors may allege that you are failing to meet implied warranties or common law duties of care, leading to potentially expensive lawsuits. You might also be liable for fines and penalties, depending on local laws.
Business Formation Documents
Just because your business doesn’t have a physical location, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have business formation documents. In particular, if you want to protect your personal property with a structure like a limited liability company (LLC) or some type of corporation, you need documents drawn up to that effect. These will need to be filed with local authorities. Sometimes, these documents might need to be filed in any state where you are doing business, or, at least, enough business to qualify for sales tax.
Get Help with Online Business Laws
Although starting an online business can be simpler and easier than starting a physical store location or other in-person business, there are still many legal tangles and requirements that you have to be aware of if you want to avoid expensive legal problems. The best way to make sure your business is compliant with local, state, and federal business laws is to consult with a small business attorney.
Let Elizabeth Lewis handle the legal complexities of your online business. Since 2010, she has helped many businesses in Denver to understand the complex legal dimensions of their business. Elizabeth is dedicated to relationships. She wants to develop a long-lasting relationship with your business so that if any legal issues arise, you will know who to contact. She is focused on the needs of small businesses, which are very different from those of larger businesses. With her results-oriented approach, she has helped many small businesses get through their difficult early stages, and she is ready to help your business, too.
To learn how Elizabeth can help your business, please contact the Law Office of E.C. Lewis today for a consultation. We serve clients in Denver and throughout Colorado.
Federal Injunction Currently Suspending Corporate Transparency Act Reporting Requirements
On December 3, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction on enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). This was overturned on December 23 and filings were resumed with a later date for compliance. And yet again, this was overturned resulting in another stay. Where is it now? In the hands of the Supreme Court. So, if you haven’t filed yet, keep your eyes and ears open to see what happens in the highest court in the land because if you’re a business that was initially required to file a beneficial ownership information (BOI) report based on the terms of this law, the legal battle will impact your filing requirements.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued the following statement on the BOI Report filing page on their website: “Please note that beneficial ownership information reporting requirements have been affected by a recent federal court order. The Department of the Treasury is appealing that order. In the meantime, reporting companies are not currently required to file a BOIR and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so while the applicable order remains in force. However, reporting companies may still opt to file a BOIR.” If you are a legal junky, there is more information available at https://www.fincen.gov/boi that goes through all of the court cases that are currently pending throughout the country in regard to the CTA.
If you own a business that has been impacted by this injunction, it’s important to pay attention as the appeals process plays out. While it may take several months – or potentially longer – for this process to resolve, it’s possible that the Supreme Court may overturn the injunction. Depending on the resolution of this injunction, reporting requirements and all associated deadlines may change at a moment’s notice. Timely response to new requirements may be necessary to avoid potential penalties for noncompliance.
What Businesses are Impacted by the Corporate Transparency Act?
Corporations, LLCs and other business entities that were required to file a document with a Secretary of State or a similar office at their time of establishment were required to file a BOI report under the terms of the Corporate Transparency Act unless the business qualifies for an exemption. While there are several different exemptions delineated by the original law, it’s important to understand that most small businesses are not considered to be exempt. Businesses covered under this law won’t need to file until the appeal on the injunction is resolved.
How Should My Business Proceed While this Case is Pending?
It’s important to be aware of the implications of this injunction and pay attention to when it is resolved to know whether you will need to file and how soon the deadline will be. Keep in mind that you’re still able to file the BOI report for your business while the injunction is in place and in some situations, it may make sense to just file the report now.
If you don’t have a problem making the ownership of your company known to the government, then go ahead and file the BOI report now to avoid the risk of costly fines if the injunction is lifted and you fail to file in time afterwards. But if you need to keep the identity of the ownership of your company private, you should hold off on filing until the injunction is resolved and any changes to the law due to the new presidential administration and Supreme Court rulings are finalized.
Elizabeth Lewis Can Help Ensure You’re Compliant with All Laws Impacting Your Business
The BOI reporting injunction isn’t the only legal matter impacting your business. There have been several other changes to Colorado laws impacting businesses in recent years, and it’s important to work with an experienced small business attorney who can ensure you remain compliant. If you haven’t had your company documents, contracts and employment agreements reviewed by a small business attorney recently, it may be time to check in with a lawyer and make sure your business is still compliant with all current laws.
Elizabeth Lewis is a small business attorney providing comprehensive legal services for businesses in Denver and throughout Colorado, and she can help you remain compliant with all state and federal laws. Elizabeth is closely monitoring the latest developments with the Corporate Transparency Act injunction and will keep your business informed as the case progresses. This ensures you’ll remain compliant in the event that filing requirements are reinstated. Elizabeth can also review all your contracts and business documents to ensure they’re adhering to the most recent changes in Colorado law. This will provide you with peace of mind that you’re in compliance and won’t incur costly fines that could easily be avoided.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation. The Law Office of E.C. Lewis serves small and medium-sized businesses in Denver and throughout Colorado.
The success of your business depends on the talent and hard work of your employees. However, working with employees can also represent a legal minefield. There are many situations where you can get into legal disputes with your employees, which can create an unhealthy working environment. Employment law disputes may be expensive, too – many small businesses may not have enough revenue and reserves to survive these types of disputes.
Due to the serious consequences associated with these types of disputes, it’s best to consult a lawyer beforehand to design contracts and procedures that will minimize the risk of trouble and put your business in a favorable position should an employment law dispute arise.
Discrimination
Discrimination disputes occur when an employee alleges mistreatment because they belong to a protected class, including:
Race
Gender
Sexual orientation
Disability
Age
Religion
Employers should understand and comply with federal and state anti-discrimination laws to avoid even the perception that they are discriminating against employees in these categories. This is one of the few situations where you might get into an employment dispute with someone who isn’t even an employee yet. It’s important to review your hiring practices and establish robust objective hiring criteria that you always adhere to and can cite if a potential employee claims discrimination.
It’s also important to monitor discourse in the workplace. If you permit the free use of sexist and racist language, these can make employees feel discriminated against whenever things don’t go their way and provide evidence of a discriminatory workplace in the event of a dispute.
Harassment
Harassment is when a person is subjected to hostile, insulting, or discriminatory treatment because of a protected category.
Sexual harassment is the most familiar type of harassment. It occurs when a person is subject to sexual comments, unwanted touch, or an expectation that they will provide sexual favors in exchange for promotions, raises, or other favorable treatment in the workplace.
However, people can claim harassment on the basis of other protected categories, so it’s important to control the workplace environment so that everyone feels safe, protected, and welcome.
It’s a good idea to establish a way for employees to bring up their concerns without going to a direct supervisor, who may potentially be the source of harassment.
Salary Disputes
As much as people might love their jobs and love working for you, everyone wants to get paid a fair salary for their labor. Getting paid is the main reason why people work in the first place, so it’s not a surprise that salary disputes are common.
People might dispute whether their salary conforms to federal, state, or municipal minimum wage laws. You will have to show that either their position isn’t covered by those laws or show that their salary actually does conform to the requirement.
People might also claim that they’re not being paid overtime properly. This is one of the most common wage disputes, and it comes up regularly. Make sure you know when your employees are entitled to overtime and be prepared to pay it when appropriate. When you discover that you’ve made a mistake and didn’t pay overtime when you should have, credit it to your employees before they start a dispute.
Employees might also allege that you haven’t calculated their salary properly. Listen to their complaint and check your math. This might be as simple as not understanding how your payroll software works – if you’re a small business owner, you’ve got a lot on your plate and mistakes happen. If it is an error on your part, admit the mistake and pay what’s owed.
Whenever there’s been a mistake in wages, check to see whether you might also owe your employees additional compensation such as interest to get compliant in the eyes of the law.
In addition to wages, people might dispute whether they are getting the benefits you promised. Make sure comprehensive education about benefits is part of your onboarding process. If people have questions, answer them in a non-confrontational environment.
Wrongful Termination
When you fire an employee, you need to make sure that you are complying with federal, state, and local laws. In particular, you need to make sure that you clearly document the reasons for termination so that you can show that an employee was fired for clear reasons that were made plain to them and not because they belong to a protected class.
One common allegation in wrongful termination disputes is that termination is in retaliation because a person is a whistleblower. If a person alleged fraud, unsafe conditions, or a discriminatory workplace, bringing their concerns to an outside authority, you must act very cautiously before you terminate them.
Noncompete and Nondisclosure Agreements
Noncompete agreements are intended to protect you from losing valuable expertise and knowledge when employees leave your company to go work for a competitor. These agreements have become very popular, but they are also highly contentious. Courts have given different verdicts on what terms are enforceable in noncompete contracts. Upcoming rule changes might make these agreements even harder to enforce.
A similar type of contract is a nondisclosure agreement, often called an NDA. These are also intended to protect your company’s secrets and are generally more enforceable.
In either case, it’s recommended that you work with a small business lawyer when drafting contracts to make sure they will function as intended.
Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a well-intentioned but complicated piece of legislation that allows a lot of opportunities for misunderstanding. It’s very common for employers and employees to have different interpretations of what the law does and does not require of each party. As a result, it’s common for parties to allege a violation by the other party.
Work with a lawyer to understand the law and develop a clear brief for your employees so they understand the law, too. This will help head off any disputes.
An Employment Law Attorney Can Help You Avoid Disputes
Colorado employment law attorney Elizabeth Lewis understands that it’s much better for your business to avoid disputes than to try to resolve them once they arise. Since 2007, Elizabeth has been using her results-oriented approach to help small and medium-sized businesses succeed. This includes a diverse array of legal services, including employment law.
Elizabeth can help you and your employees understand the law so that you can avoid disputes. Once disputes arise, she can help you resolve them without having to resort to an expensive courtroom battle.
To learn how Elizabeth can help your business, please contact the Law Office of E. C. Lewis in Denver today.
Small businesses struggle to balance their revenue and expenses. When you’re running on a narrow profit margin, the sudden addition of fines and penalties can sink your business. When these penalties come up, you may not have the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars you are being asked to pay, especially when you are given a short period to make the payment.
It’s important to avoid small business fines and penalties, but how do you do it? Here’s some advice for keeping your business on the right side of the law and avoiding major fines and penalties.
Research Your Requirements
Before starting a business, you should research the requirements your business will need to meet to avoid fines and penalties. Ignorance of the law will not protect you from meeting its requirements. Only understanding what regulations affect your business will help you comply and avoid penalties.
Some of these requirements are going to be general. Any business that plans to operate in a certain area will have general requirements related to taxes, incorporation, and reporting its beneficial owners. However, there are also specific requirements based on the industry you will be in. Try to understand these issues as best you can.
You don’t have to do all this research yourself. The Small Business Association (SBA), your local Chamber of Commerce, and even city and state officials can help you understand the regulations that will apply to your business and how to meet them.
Consult a Lawyer
When it comes to important business regulations, don’t trust your own research exclusively. Also know that the people you talk to in various places might give you incomplete or inaccurate information. If you want to make sure you really understand all the requirements your business must comply with, talk to a small business lawyer.
An attorney who is specifically trained in small business law will be your best resource for identifying requirements and achieving compliance.
It’s also a good idea to have an attorney available for consultation as your business grows and changes, as this can lead to changing requirements.
Get the Appropriate Licenses
Although some people get fines and penalties because they don’t know the law, many other small business owners know that they are operating their business without the appropriate licenses for their industry.
We understand: the licenses for your business seem overly expensive. It’s tempting to just do without. However, the cost of getting the proper licenses is typically much less than the penalties you will face for not being licensed.
There are also business benefits to being licensed. It will allow you to get the proper insurance for your business without paying exorbitant rates. It will give you access to better-paying clients who are looking for properly licensed professionals. Plus, it protects you from liability in some situations.
Not to mention the fact that you won’t always be looking over your shoulder and wondering which client, employee, or competitor might be considering reporting you as an unlicensed professional.
Pay Your Taxes
This might seem like an obvious piece of advice, but tax infractions are among the most common reasons why businesses face fines and penalties. In part, it’s because the tax payment requirements for businesses can be a little different from individual taxes. Many businesses are expected to pay estimated taxes throughout the year, and failing to pay these on schedule can lead to fines.
There are also additional taxes you might have to pay for payroll and other situations. Make sure you know the taxes you have to file and the schedule for payment, then follow it to avoid fines and penalties.
Set HR Up Right from the Start
One place where small businesses can get into trouble is when they start hiring employees. Like getting professional licenses, some small businesses look at the legal requirements for having employees and think they would rather avoid those requirements, such as registration and getting workers’ compensation.
Some small businesses try to skirt these requirements by treating employees as contractors, but this will lead to trouble in the future if employees can’t meet all the tests to be considered contractors. Again, it’s expensive and complicated at first, but it’s better than risking the penalties you might suffer otherwise. Take the responsibility of setting up your HR department right away, even if it’s just you doing it. This will make it easier to add new employees in the future and can improve the profitability of your business in the long run.
Track Major Business Changes
As your business changes, so will your legal requirements. Keep a running log of the changes your business is going through and talk to a lawyer about them on a regular basis to make sure you’re staying compliant.
How often is regularly? During your initial consultation, your lawyer will likely flag key events that might require changes within 30 days or so. Otherwise, a quarterly or even semi-annual consultation should be sufficient.
Get Help from a Small Business Lawyer in Denver
If you are starting or running a small business and are worried about the potential for fines and penalties, let Denver small business lawyer Elizabeth Lewis help. She’s been helping small businesses to establish themselves and grow since 2007. Elizabeth is dedicated to the success of her clients and is prepared to give you the personal attention you need to truly be successful. Elizabeth has been working exclusively with small and medium-sized businesses and understands how their needs differ from those of larger entities. She is focused on results and knows what it takes to help her clients achieve their goals.
For help avoiding fines and penalties in your business, please contact the Law Office of E.C. Lewis today. We serve clients in Denver and throughout Colorado.
When you are starting a business, your odds of success will be much higher if you have an actual plan. However, sometimes recommendations for a business plan – like the ones offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) – seem to be bloated with unnecessary materials. Small business planning doesn’t have to be complicated at first. You can start simply, then add elements later on as your business grows.
We’ll talk about some of the essential elements you need in your business plan and make references to other aspects that you might need now or later.
Company Description
The first essential element of your business plan is a company description. You need to know what you are hoping to accomplish, with a sense of your general values and goals. Have a sense of your desired size and what steps you might take to achieve it. In addition, have a sense of what your organization principles are likely to be as you start to add employees. If you have more than one person in your organization, it’s worthwhile noting what structure your decision-making will follow.
Products or Services
You need to know how your business will generate revenue. This typically means providing goods and/or services for money. Often, this is where your business plan started: you had an idea of what type of product or service you felt you wanted to provide. It’s not a bad idea to have a sense of the scope of products or services you want to provide, whether you will be a specialized operation or a generalized one.
Market Analysis
Before you start your business, you need to know what the market looks like. This includes industry-specific factors such as demand for your particular products or services as well as the level of competition for providing those products or services. It also includes general business factors such as interest rates, labor costs, supply costs, and other factors that will affect your ability to be profitable.
Marketing and Sales Plan
Once you have a sense of what the market is like for your products or services, you need to figure out how you will break into the market. This means marketing. You will likely want to start with a sense of what is your unique value proposition (UVP), also known as a unique selling proposition (USP). The UVP is a description of why someone should choose your business over competitors. The UVP could be something simple like, “Our store is closer,” or “Our prices are lower.” It could also be something complicated like, “We use LASS to prevent SLAM attacks.”
Once you have a sense of what your UVP is, plan how you are going to market your product or service. With a simple UVP, this might be as easy as putting a “Grand Opening” sign on your neighborhood store, with perhaps some support on local social media like Nextdoor.
For more complex UVPs, you might need to educate your potential customers. Educate them about the pain points you are addressing, explain why current solutions are inadequate, and create a need for your solution even before creating awareness of your business.
Financial Plan
Your financial plan should include information about where your money is coming from and where it’s going. Do you have money set aside? Are you going to need external backers? What start-up expenses can you expect? How quickly can you ramp up revenue from sales? How much will marketing cost?
Be realistic in your financial plan. In fact, be pessimistic. Lower your estimates for revenue and raise your estimates for expenses. See how viable that makes your business before you consider whether this is a step you want to take.
If you need to secure outside investment, all the “unnecessary” materials from the SBA’s business plan template start to become essential. For example, your Executive Summary becomes your elevator pitch for securing meetings with potential backers. Organizational plans also become critical. Investors are more likely to put money in a business that has a formal structure, especially a corporation that provides dividends for their investment.
Risk Analysis
In your financial plan, you looked at the risk that you might not generate enough revenue to cover your expenses, but small business planning should look at more than this. You should look at external risks, such as liability related to your industry.
About 90% of businesses will face a lawsuit over the course of their life, and in many cases these lawsuits will target the business assets. If this is a risk in your industry, you should set up a structure that protects your personal assets from business liability, such as a limited liability company (LLC) or a corporation.
You should also consider internal risks, such as the possibility of losing ownership of your personal intellectual property (IP). This is another reason to set up formal start-up paperwork which defines ownership of different business assets, including IP.
Robust Small Business Planning for Success
If you want to give your small business the best chance of success, then you want to make sure your business plan doesn’t just cover the essentials but is thorough and well-considered. A small business lawyer can help you consider all the aspects that can make a difference between the likely success and failure of your business.
Since 2007, Elizabeth Lewis has been helping small businesses in the Denver area and across Colorado to get established and grow into large, successful institutions. She knows how to build a strong foundation for your business, including taking all the important legal steps such as filing foundation paperwork, protecting IP, and writing strong contracts that can protect your small business from abuse by established players in the market. Elizabeth takes a personal interest in your business and is ready to help you navigate the complex legal landscape that can be challenging for many small businesses.
To learn how Elizabeth can help you launch your business, please contact us today. The Law Office of E.C. Lewis serves clients in Denver and the surrounding area.
8 Common Contract Disputes Impacting Small Businesses
You might think that your business is so small and inoffensive that you won’t have contract disputes. You will live up to the terms of any contracts you have, and you will judiciously choose business partners who are also likely to live up to the terms of their contracts.
Here are some of the common contract disputes where a business contract lawyer can help.
Timing Disputes
A contract often stipulates that one party will deliver something by a certain time. Depending on the language of the contract, this can lead to considerable dispute. For example, is the delivery deadline by start of business, end of business, or midnight on the date specified? Does it count as “delivered” if the supplier turned merchandise over to the shipper, but the product hasn’t yet arrived at the buyer’s property? If the contract allows for “reasonable” delay because of “unforeseen circumstances,” what circumstances apply and what delay is reasonable?
Resolving these disputes can be difficult, especially when you’re trying to maintain an otherwise profitable professional relationship between businesses. Having clear terms in your contract can help mitigate any disputes before they happen.
Disputes about Pricing, Fees, and Compensation
As with timing, there is often language about pricing in a contract. However, circumstances often lead to disputes about pricing, fees, and other compensation. One party might submit an invoice that is significantly different from the initial estimate. The second party objects and may point to language in the contract that they took to mean that the price would be as quoted and was not merely an “estimate” subject to change. That may resolve the dispute, or it may cause further disagreements about the language of the contract.
This may also happen with employment contracts. Employees may think that they were hired with one particular compensation package, but when they get the actual package – which might be days or weeks after their official first day – they find that it wasn’t as advertised. Depending on how much of the compensation package is described in the employment contract, it may be hard to resolve the dispute to everyone’s satisfaction.
Disputes about Responsibilities
The other side of compensation is responsibility. What is each party expected to do in order to earn their compensation? Employee duties may not be well-defined in their contract or job description, and they might balk at being asked to take on duties other than what they initially agreed to. Resolving the dispute to both parties’ satisfaction may not be easy.
This problem can also arise between suppliers and their clients. For example, a supplier might agree to deliver a certain number of Christmas trees, and when they arrive, the client is shocked to find that the trees don’t have stands. The client assumed the trees would come with stands, while the supplier assumed the trees would not have stands. The contract didn’t specify, and both parties felt they were getting a good deal because they had different ideas about what was to be delivered. This may seem like an absurd example, but it actually happens all the time, especially when business owners write their own contracts.
Durability of Contract
How long is a contract supposed to last? Who has the power to dissolve the contract? What happens when the contract is dissolved?
These aspects of the contract should be defined within its terms, but all too often there is misunderstanding or disagreement about what they mean. All too often, people skip over these parts of the contract because they assume that they won’t want to dissolve the contract early. They only discover the serious penalties that come with dissolving the contract when they try to get out of it.
Definition Disputes
Often, contract disputes arise over the definition of terms used in the contract. Several of the disputes we’ve talked about could be considered definition disputes. Some timing disputes can be described as disputes about the definition of the delivery date. In the Christmas tree dispute, the supplier defined “Christmas tree” as not including the stand, but the client defined it as including the stand.
Definition problems can arise in many contexts. In software development, scrum teams may deliver “minimum viable product” that meets their internal “definition of done,” but the buyer may not feel that software is either viable or done. In manufacturing, the final product may not be what a buyer expected, which they would say is a contract violation because the product is SNAD (significantly not as described). Definitions don’t always have to be written, either. A prototype can be seen as a physical definition of the promised product, and if the product doesn’t match the prototype, the buyer may object.
Lease Disputes
A lease is a common contract that can lead to significant disputes between the lessor and the lessee. There are many aspects of the lease that may be poorly written or difficult to understand, leading to disputes. Common areas of dispute include who is responsible for maintenance, how common areas are going to be maintained, terms of renewing or ending the lease, and the right to increase rent.
Many landlords put very unfavorable terms in their commercial leases, and it’s up to potential lessees to carefully evaluate the lease before they become a tenant.
Non-Compete and Non-Disclosure Agreements
Often, non-compete and non-disclosure agreements are the cost of doing business. In order to work with a certain company, you have to agree not to work with their competitors and not reveal certain information. However, the terms of these contracts can be difficult to understand and enforce. For example, parties might disagree about what constitutes a “competitor.” A signatory to an NDA might discuss information that they think is not covered by the agreement, but the other party might believe is sensitive.
Warranty Disputes
When you sell a product or service, there are often implied warranties, some of which are governed by state, local, and federal laws. In addition, you may provide an explicit warranty of your product. When a consumer buys your product and thinks it has failed, they may come to you seeking remedy under the terms of the warranty.
You might agree with them, and provide them their remedy, but there are several aspects of the process that can be contentious. First, the customer might not like the remedy, which may be a prorated refund or a discount on a replacement. Second, you might think that the customer treated the product in a way that voids the warranty, which they might dispute. Often, there are disputes about the terms of a “lifetime” warranty, which typically only runs for the specified lifetime of the product, not, as some assume, the lifetime of the owner.
Get the Help of a Small Business Lawyer
If you’ve read the examples above, you probably thought “That problem could have been avoided with a well-written contract.” You’re right. Many contract disputes are preventable. Often, they arise when business owners either write or sign contracts without the help of a lawyer.
Since 2007, business contract lawyer Elizabeth Lewis has helped many small businesses write good contracts and deal successfully with contract disputes. She knows the perils that come with many of the common contracts. She can help you write contracts that will protect your business and preserve good relationships with your business partners. She can review contracts offered by others to help you avoid any onerous terms that will be destructive to your business. She also offers a wide range of other legal services to protect your business, from drafting business formation documents to securing your intellectual property.
To get Elizabeth’s help with business contract law, please contact us today. The Law Office of E. C. Lewis serves clients in Denver and the surrounding areas.
