A corporation is a legal fiction because it can enter contracts and conduct business on its own behalf even though the corporation needs people to act for it. The purpose of the fiction is to limit the liability of the corporation’s shareholders, whether they are individuals or other companies. Roberts’ Fish Farm v. Spencer, 153…
Continue reading ›The Defend Trade Secrets Act and similar state statutes create a civil cause of action for misappropriating another’s trade secrets. 18 USC § 1836 (“An owner of a trade secret that is misappropriated may bring a civil action under this subsection if the trade secret is related to a product or service used in, or…
Continue reading ›It is of great importance that businesses protect their trade secrets because disclosure to competitors can have significant negative impact. Disclosure many even be ruinous. The Miami business litigation attorneys of the Mavrick Law Firm represent businesses and their owners in breach of contract litigation and related claims of fraud, non-compete agreement litigation, trade secret…
Continue reading ›A business purchaser often requires the seller to sign a non-compete provision as part of the sale. Purchasers usually require non-compete provisions to prevent the business seller from starting a new rival business that deprives the purchaser of the value of the assert he or she purchased. The same logic applies to the business’s employees.…
Continue reading ›A business that is unsure about its contractual rights may be able to assert a claim for declaratory judgment. Under Florida Statute § 86.011, courts may “render declaratory judgments on the existence, or nonexistence: (1) of any immunity, power, privilege or right; (2) of any fact upon which the existence of nonexistence of such immunity,…
Continue reading ›Under Florida law, employees have a duty of loyalty to their employers. The breadth of the duty of loyalty depends on whether the employee qualifies as a fiduciary under the law. High level employees, such as corporate officers and directors, hold a strict fiduciary duty of loyalty to a corporation. The fiduciary duty of loyalty…
Continue reading ›A constructive trust can be a useful remedy in certain business disputes in Florida. If property is wrongfully taken from a business, the remedy of constructive trust can make the person holding the property the “constructive trustee” for the property. Constructive trust is an equitable remedy “with the dual objectives of restoring property to its…
Continue reading ›The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) generally requires employers to pay employees an overtime rate of 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for hours worked in excess of forty hours per week. The FLSA sets out a number of exemptions to the overtime pay requirement for certain types of employees. Some of the most common…
Continue reading ›According to the Florida Uniform Trade Secrets Act (FUTSA), business information must be secret to qualify as a trade secret. FUTSA defines trade secrets as “information . . . that [d]erives independent economic value from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic…
Continue reading ›Businesses often rely on restrictive covenants to protect their sensitive business information and to protect themselves from unfair competition. Businesses often require employees to sign non-compete agreements and employee confidentiality agreements to accomplish these goals. Businesses also often include similar provisions when they purchase all or part of another business. A purchaser will include…
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