“As-Is” Real Estate Sale May Not Protect Misrepresentation Claim
Deceptive Sales Practices Wisconsin’s primary misrepresentation statute, Wis. Stat. § 100.18(1) prohibits companies and individuals from making misrepresentations in the sale of homes, products, and services. To recover under the statute, a person or firm must generally show three things: That the company or individual made a misrepresentation to the public with the intent of…
Class Actions Filed Against Prominent German Car Manufacturers Over Emissions
Class Action Against Volkswagen On February 22, 2016, a proposed class action lawsuit was filed in a California federal district court against Volkswagen AG (“VW”), alleging, among other things, that VW improperly modified or compromised its American diesel vehicles in order to pass government emissions tests. According to one report filed by the Wall Street…
Why Shareholder Buyout Agreements Are Essential
Like so many marriages, many Wisconsin corporations are often formed in haste by idealistic optimists. They proceed with the corporate charter, the corporate bylaws, the initial election of corporate officers, the securing of appropriate facilities, and the like. What could ever go wrong? The answer, of course, is “Plenty.” One of the founding members of…
How to Protect Your Interests against Hostile Takeovers
Due to the hard work of corporate management and solid effort by employees, a publicly held company sometimes creates a level of inherent value that is not yet reflected in the price of the company’s shares on the open market. In such situations, the company can become the target of outsiders who seek to gain…
7 Tips for Improving the Effectiveness of Your Annual Shareholder Meeting
Corporate officers and directors sometimes view the annual shareholder meeting as the bane of their existence. Indeed, because so many annual meetings are so poorly planned, they can be costly not only in terms of the resources expended, but in the amount of productive time lost. It, of course, need not be that way. With…
How to Avoid Common Startup Pitfalls
A “startup” is a company in the first stage of operations, often initially bankrolled by its entrepreneurial founders. The goal is to capitalize on a product or service for which the founders believe there is demand. “Startup is a state of mind,” to quote an article in Forbes, in which co-founders have traded stability for…
Tips for Starting a Franchise
Franchises in the U.S. date back to the mid-19th Century, when Isaac Singer, inventor of the sewing machine, created franchises as a means to distribute his product over a larger area. Today franchises make up a large percentage of American businesses. They are a popular way to get started, offering built-in access to established brand…
Don’t Allow Personal Relationships to Cloud Business Decisions
Friendship is priceless and makes life worth living, but business is business and should remain so, even in cases in which business dealings involve friends. Handshake agreements can be broken further down the line. When embarking on a business venture with partners, you need a contract, even if your business partners are your friends. Several…
Guarding Yourself against Employees’ Illegal Activity
No matter how well you screen your employees before hiring, it is impossible to predict with total accuracy or to control completely what their actions will be. Since many “middleman” positions have been eliminated in business, and employees have less supervision and more free reign in their actions. It is a sad fact of life…