Articles Tagged with New Jersey Business Attorneys

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New Jersey business law protects economic relationships, whether or not there is a contract in place.  However, a party suing for tortious interference must have competent evidence to prove every element of the claim.  A New Jersey appeals court recently issued an opinion exploring what is necessary to establish tortious interference, and providing a cautionary tale to anyonecourthouse-303370__340-300x192 thinking about filing a lawsuit for tortious interference without competent evidence.

Background: A Meeting of the Eyes Goes South

In 2002, Dr. Corey Notis was a young ophthalmologist who opened a surgical practice in Union, New Jersey.  Allegedly he entered into an informal agreement with Alan Greenberg and Innovation Optics, Inc., in which they would refer him patients in need of ophthalmologic surgery.  Greenberg was a licensed optician who owned an optical store. Greenberg thereafter introduced Notis to two other ophthalmologists who then also referred their patients who needed ophthalmologic surgery to Notis.

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New Jersey business law enforces both oral and written contracts for the delivery of goods and services.  However, in the case of Pantos USA, Inc. v. MindsInSync, Inc., when disputes arise, a New Jersey appeals court once again emphasized that evidence is king.NJ_State_House-300x200

Background

In 2018, Pantos USA, Inc., provided “freight forwarding, logistics and warehousing services” to MindsInSync, Inc., Choice Select Home Textiles, In., Ideas From the Ground Up, Inc., and 101 Home Textile Creations, Inc.  When they did not pay, Pantos sued them in the Law Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey.  The defendants denied that there was a written contract, and claimed that Pantos’s services were unsatisfactory.

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New Jersey Business Law and Liquidated Damages

Business parties draft contracts to give them a measure of certainty in their future relationship.  However, it is not a secret that contracts are frequently breached, so parties often want a degree of certainty about what able-account-300x214will happen in the event of a future breach.  This gives rise to greater likelihood that the contract will be performed, and hopefully limits litigation costs if there is a breach.  However, New Jersey business law, and indeed contract law generally, prohibits penalties in contracts.  Thus, damages for breach of contract must reflect actual damages to put the innocent party in as good a place as it would have been had the breach not happened, rather than a greater amount to penalize a breaching party.

But when drafting a contract for a business relationship which will be performed in the future, it is often impossible to know what the amount of damages will be.  Too many things are unknown, such as whether the relationship will be profitable and if so how profitable; and how much time will remain on the contract when a breach occurred, and thus how long the damages will accrue.   For this reason New Jersey contract law allows for liquidated damages.  Liquidated damages are an estimate of actual damages included in a contract to give more certainty about what will happen in the event of a breach.  But liquidated damages must be a good faith estimate of actual damages in order to be valid and enforced.

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New Jersey business law gives owners the ability to choose between different forms of entities to meet their particular concerns.  The choice is important and has long lasting effects.  Below is ansmall-business-300x215 overview of the basic types of business entities allowed by New Jersey business law.

‍General Partnership

A general partnership is an entity where two or more people own a single business and have not formed any other form of business entity.  The partners own the business and are personally responsible for the business’s debts and obligations, so if the business goes out of business they partners must still pay the business’s debts.  A partnership may be “de facto,” where the partners are acting together but have taken no steps to formalize their relationship; or it may be “de jure,” where they have formalized their relationship and how the business will be run.  There is no income tax at the entity level in a general partnership, meaning there is more revenue to be distributed as profit to the owners.  While a de facto partnership will exist without a partnership agreement, it is important to have a well written partnership agreement to ensure the smooth operation of the business and to avoid disputes between the owners.

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It is always wise to have the terms governing the owners’ of a business’s relations and the management of the business spelled out in writing, whether this be a shareholder agreement for a corporation, a partnership agreement for a partnership, or an operating agreement for aoffice-2009693__340-300x200 limited liability company (“LLC”).  Since limited liability companies offer both the shield from personal liability of a corporation and the single taxation structure of a partnership, these are often the preferred structure for small businesses.

Adoption of Operating Agreements Under the New Jersey Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act

The New Jersey Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act defines an operating agreement thus:

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A frequent problem in New Jersey employment law occurs when a business offers someone a job without a contract, that person then quits their current employment, the business rescinds the offer, and the employee is left without a job.  There is no contract, so the employee cannot sue for breach of contract.  What can she do?  In an important New Jersey employment law decision, the State Supreme Court ruled in the case of Goldfarb v. Solimine that the employeesignature-3113182__340-300x200 has a viable claim for promissory estoppel and may recover “reliance damages” from the prospective employer based on what she would have made had she not quit in reliance on the promise and stayed at her prior job.  Promissory estoppel is a legal doctrine which provides that a party should be responsible for the consequences when a promisee relied on its promise and suffers damages when the promisor fails to perform.

Background

David Solimine offered Jed Goldfarb a job managing his family’s investment portfolio.  Goldfarb would receive an annual salary of $250,000-$275,000, plus ten to twenty percent of profits made because of his efforts or advice.  Neither the offer nor a contract were ever put in writing.  However, Goldfarb left his current job as a financial analyst (where he had made between $308,000 and $466,000 per year) in reliance on Solomine’s promise of employment.  After Goldfarb quit, Solimine withdrew the offer and Goldfarb found himself unemployed.

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In New Jersey, sale of a business is governed by the contract negotiated by the parties.  But what if the contract is unclear, or the parties don’t agree on what theContract-pen-thumb-300x225-80678-300x225 terms of an oral contract are?  In the case of Lee v. Lee, involving the sale of a restaurant and liquor license in Bergen County, the Appellate Division examined several bedrock principles of New Jersey business law, including oral contracts, the duty of good faith and fair dealing, and how parties are required to deal with each other.  The opinion offers good guidance for the behavior of the parties in  the sale of a business in New Jersey.

Background

Mikyung Lee and Seoung Ju Bang orally agreed with Jung Lee to sell them a restaurant he owned in Fort Lee, together with its liquor license.  The purchase price was $892,000, with a $50,000 initial deposit, and then another $50,000 when the contract was signed, with the remainder to be paid over time.  The buyers paid the first deposit, but before a contact was signed, Jung Lee said he needed the second $50,000 deposit.  Believing him to be acting in good faith, they gave him the second deposit.  He promised to send a written contract with the terms they agreed on, which included having Lee’s company, Plan J. Inc., a part of the transfer because it held the liquor license.

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It is interesting that the trend in New Jersey employment law is to enforce arbitration agreements in employment contracts, while at the same time finding them unenforceable in consumer and commercial contracts.  However, the law is the same: whatever the area, arbitration agreements are interpreted and enforced – or not enforceable – under New Jersey contract law.  It’s therefore worth looking at two recent opinions in these areas to see what can be learned.

The Knight Case:  Consumer Contracts and Consumer Fraud

In the first, a published opinion in case of Knight v. Vivint Solar Developer, LLC, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey stuck down an arbitration agreement which the defendants tried to enforce in a consumer fraud lawsuit over the sale of solar panels.  After Knight sued, Vivint filed a motion to courthouse-1223280__340-300x200dismiss her complaint and enforce an arbitration agreement which required the parties to arbitrate their disputes.

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As a result of the Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, the federal government has passed several pieces of legislation in an attempt to provide relief to struggling businesses.  One of these Acts is the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (also known as the “CARES Act”).  However, since this legislation was signed empty-officeinto law, the CARES Act has been subject to various interpretations, pitfalls, and continuously-evolving government guidance.

The CARES Act created and allocated approximately $350 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP).  However, those funds were almost immediately depleted by millions of businesses seeking assistance and the government thereafter allocated an additional $175 billion to the PPP.

The PPP provides loans to struggling businesses in the amount of two and a half times the small business’s average monthly payroll costs.  Thus, if the average monthly payroll is $50,000, the business might be eligible for up to $125,000 in PPP loans.  While the PPP is considered a loan program, the funds may be largely (or entirely) forgiven as long as the business uses the funds for approved expenses which are appropriately documented. However, like most aspects of the CARES Act and the PPP, there has been a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the specific requirements for loan forgiveness.  The SBA (the United States Small Business Administration) alone has posted supplemental rules and guidance on the matter more than ten times in two months.  Thus, as a result, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act was passed on June 5, 2020 amending the CARES Act. This new law has important ramifications for New Jersey small businesses.

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As a result of the Novel Coronavirus (“COVID-19”), the federal government has passed significant legislation in an attempt to provide relief to businesses small-business-300x215struggling with economic hardships as a result of widespread closures and stay-at-home orders.  One major part of these governmental actions includes the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (also known as the “CARES Act”) on April 2, 2020.

The CARES Act provides for approximately $2 trillion in aid through expanded unemployment assistance, individual relief checks, tax credits, loans, and grants to businesses which were closed or significantly effected by COVID-19, and funding to hospitals and health care facilities. Of this, approximately $350 billion was allocated to the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP).   When that money was almost immediately sought by the millions of businesses seeking assistance, an additional $175 billion was additionally allocated.

The PPP limited its funding to each company to two and a half times the company’s average monthly payroll costs.  While the PPP is considered a loan program, the funds may largely (or entirely) be forgiven as long as the company uses the funds for approved expenses. The details of exactly which expenses would be considered approved and how these funds could be used has been the subject of much uncertainty over the past several weeks.  Indeed, the SBA (Small Business Administration) has posted additional rules and guidance on the matter more than 10 times in two months.

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