Articles Posted in NEWS AND COMMENTARY

In San Diego, there are many franchise opportunities. For example, in San Diego, 7-11 stores and Little Caesers Pizza are franchises. Always check with the local Better Business Bureau and retain experienced and competent legal counsel to assist you with this business venture. Our law firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP invites you to e mail our firm with any questions and our firm does not endorse or recommend any specific franchise opportunities.

It is the nature of a franchise that, in exchange for getting to hitch its wagon to the franchisor, the franchisee agrees to give up some of the control over how the business will operate. There still should be room for putting a personal stamp on the business, but the franchise business model is not for someone who would have difficulty giving up the decision-making power that comes with starting a business. Owners of a “Mom and Pop” do not need permission for their store’s color schemes, but the franchisee probably will.

As set out in the franchise agreement, the franchisor will usually have the final say about the specific goods and services that may be sold, site approval for the business location, design or appearance standards, as well as authority over an array of operational matters such as hours of operation, signs, employee uniforms, and even bookkeeping procedures. On the larger scale, the franchisor also may limit the franchisee’s business to a specific territory.

In San Diego, there are many franchise opportunities. Oggi’s is a local San Diego franchise. Our law firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP does not recommend or endorse any franchise. Before signing a contract or making any agreements, it is necessary to retain an experienced attorney in the area of business law. Please feel free to e mail or call our office. AT&T has information regarding small business start up as well.

Launching a business is a little like walking a tightrope, with any long-term rewards coming only after overcoming some risk. Being well-informed and realistic from the outset is essential. One of the first considerations is the legal form that the business should take. An option that has the potential for achieving a good balance between risk and reward is the franchise.

A franchise is a relationship between the owner of a trademark or trade name (franchisor) and an individual or entity (franchisee) who contracts to use that legally protected identification in a business. The details of the relationship are controlled by a franchise agreement, but most franchises share some common characteristics. Typically, the franchisee sells goods or services that are either supplied by the franchisor or at least must meet standards set by the franchisor. In simple terms, the franchisor provides the ingredients that come from the proven experience of an established line of businesses, while the franchisee provides the elbow grease and all of the other intangibles that are needed if a fledgling business is to get off the ground and prosper.

In San Diego, we have one federal court which handles bankruptcy and several state courts which handle civil suits such as the one below in the San Diego Superior Court. Our law firm on Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP would be pleased to offer you a complimentary consultation on estate planning or family law. Please feel free to e mail or call us. The below is used for illustration purposes only as are all of the blog postings.

Four years after Edward opened a credit card account with one of the major credit card companies, he married Linda. Linda became an authorized user of the card, but she was not, as the credit card company would later claim, a co-applicant for the card. Some years later, without telling Linda, Edward filed for bankruptcy. The credit card company took Edward’s name off of the account and notified Linda that she was responsible for the balance on the account, which amounted to many thousands of dollars. After she learned about Edward’s secretive bankruptcy, Linda left Edward. But when she tried to buy a condominium on her own, she could not qualify for a mortgage because of the big credit card debt that showed up on her credit record.

Linda’s efforts to free herself from the effects of Edward’s overspending began by getting copies of her credit reports from all three major credit reporting agencies. These reports confirmed her worst fears, showing her as being legally responsible for the credit card balance. Linda notified the reporting agencies that she disputed the fact that she was obligated on the account, and the agencies informed the credit card company of Linda’s position.

In San Diego there are many different types of business entities. Our firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP recommends using a licensed and professional CPA and you can feel free to e mail our call us if you need a referral to a competent professional at no charge.

The Internal Revenue Service introduced Schedule C-EZ, a simplified expense form, for use by small businesses preparing Form 1040. The IRS recently announced that it will expand the number of small businesses eligible to use the form by 15%, or about 500,000 businesses, beginning with tax year 2004.

The greater availability of Schedule C-EZ will be accomplished by doubling the business expense threshold for businesses that can use the form from $2,500 to $5,000. This change could save as much as five million hours of paperwork for small business taxpayers.

In San Diego, almost every business and residence has at least one computer and many of these are connected to the internet. The FTC has information about identity theft. Our law firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP can suggest strategies and techniques [including shredding documents] to prevent this occuring however this is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States according to the Department of Justice. Please feel free to call or e mail our law firm as our legal strategies and techniques can be adapted for many critical issues.

Computers have their own unique set of threats to the security of your identity, but there is good advice for the wary here, too. Update virus protection software regularly. Do not download files or click on hyperlinks coming from strangers. Use a secure browser and a firewall program, especially if you use a high-speed Internet connection. Avoid storing financial information on a laptop but, if you must, use a strong, random password, do not use an automatic log-in feature, and always log off when you are finished.

In San Diego, identity theft is a rising crime with more and more victims every year. Below are some strategies and techniques which can be implemented to minimize your being a victim however there are no guarantees. You can obtain a free credit report and see for yourself what is on your credit report. Our law firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP is pleased to provide additional strategies which we have implemented for other clients. Our firm is not a credit reporting service nor do we endorse or support any services however many of our clients have been victims and have consulted with us regarding this. We would be pleased to consult with you as well and please feel free to e mail or call.

* Unless you initiated the contact or you know to a certainty whom you are communicating with, do not give out personal information over the telephone, through the mail, or over the Internet. Before sharing information with an organization, use a website or telephone directory to check on its legitimacy. For companies in San Diego, we recommend researching their company with the Better Business Bureau.

* Remove your regular mail as promptly as possible from your mailbox before a would-be identity thief beats you to it. For outgoing mail, put it into a collection box rather than leaving it to be picked up from your mailbox. Let the Postal Service hold your mail if you are going to be away. You can obtain more tips from the Postal Service as well.

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes. Many strategies are being recommended includings shredders which can be found at Staples, Office Depot and Fellowes. Our office of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP does not recommend or endorse any of these companies and this information is placed for reference only. Please e mail or fax us with any questions you may have on protecting your identity with legal strategies and techniques.

Whether we like it or not, identity thieves are resourceful. Their methods are as varied as the ways in which consumers need to use some form of identification to initiate and complete transactions. It can all be confusing and intimidating, but consumers need not feel helpless against the expanding threat of identity theft. For most of the tactics used by the bad guys, there are countermeasures for consumers. These measures cannot completely insure that a consumer’s identity is safe, but the odds of becoming a victim decline with each protective step taken. What follows is a nonexhaustive collection of safeguards you can put in place to lower the chances that a stranger will do you harm, even as he adds the insult of pretending to be you. These credit bureaus include TransUnion, Equifax and Experian,

* Obtain, review, and insure the accuracy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus. These reports have information on where you work and live, your credit accounts, how you pay your bills, and whether you have been sued or arrested or have filed for bankruptcy.

Federal law in the United States preempts State law such as in California. Our firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP would be pleased to offer you a complimentary consultation and, if we cannot assist you, we will refer you to the San Diego County Bar Association Laywer Referral Service. Please feel free to e mail or call.

In 1978, Congress amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include a more specific prohibition on pregnancy-related discrimination. Ever since then, it has been unlawful for employers having 15 or more employees to discriminate on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions.

The most clear-cut forms of pregnancy discrimination occur when an employer refuses to hire an applicant because she is pregnant or fires an existing employee because she becomes pregnant. But there are more subtle, but no less prohibited, forms of pregnancy discrimination, such as in the areas of accrual and crediting of seniority, compensation, leave from work, health insurance, and other fringe benefits. Although pregnancy is in many ways a unique condition, a rule of thumb for employers is that they may not treat pregnant employees adversely as compared with employees having comparable temporary medical conditions.

Our law firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP is committed to handicap access. At our office location at the Clock Tower in San Diego, California, there are clearly designated handicapped parking spaces and elevator access from the street level to our office. Our office is also accessible by wheel chair and we have many clients who are physically disabled.

In its role as enforcer of the Fair Housing Act (FHA), the U.S. Department of Justice sued the developer of, and architects for, two apartment complexes. The government won an injunction against any further construction and occupancy of the apartment buildings.

Among the detailed requirements in the FHA for accessibility for the disabled is a requirement that “common areas” for multifamily dwellings be readily accessible to and usable by handicapped persons. In the case under consideration, the focus was on the landing area shared by two ground-floor apartments in each complex. The front door for each of the apartments was located there, but it was not handicapped accessible because the landing could only be reached by descending stairs. The apartments also had a rear entrance from the apartments’ patios that was handicapped accessible, but it was located farther from the parking lot.

In San Diego, we have several Jewish congregations. These include Temple Emanu-El, Beth Jacob Congregation and many others. Our firm of Law Office of Scott C. Soady, A Professional Corporation, LLP does not endorse or sponsor any of these religious organizations and is non discriminatory in all of our practices. The below example is used for illustrative purposes only.

Two small Jewish congregations leased second-floor space in a bank building in the business district of a small town. Under the town’s zoning ordinance, churches and synagogues were allowed in only one of the town’s eight zoning districts. Unfortunately for the congregations, their location was not in that district. When the town tried to direct the congregations out of the business district and into the one district where synagogues were allowed, the worshipers objected. They maintained that there was no suitable location in that district and that such a move was not practical or convenient for the many members who had to walk to services.

When the dispute eventually reached federal court, the congregations ultimately prevailed on a claim brought under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Essentially, that law prohibits a governmental entity from implementing a land-use regulation in a manner that treats a religious assembly or institution less favorably than a nonreligious assembly or institution. The town’s ordinance ran afoul of the RLUIPA because it permitted private clubs, social clubs, and lodges in the same business district in which it banned churches and synagogues.