Do you own a vacation home? If so and you rent it to third parties, you may be confused about the federal income tax rules that apply. Confusion is especially common if you changed your usage pattern during the pandemic. It may have caused your property to be classified as a personal residence — rather than […]

With autumn coming up in a couple months, it’s time to think about “harvesting” capital gains or losses from sales of securities. In addition, unfavourable tax law changes proposed in President Biden’s American Families Plan (AFP) may create an added sense of urgency for some taxpayers. (See “Proposed Tax Law Changes” at right.) The Basics When […]

If you’re a plaintiff, winning a judgment at the end of a lawsuit is a victory. But don’t pat yourself on the back just yet. The next step is called executing the judgment — in other words, getting the money — and it can be the hardest part of the process. A court order may specify that the […]

Lost profits are the central focus when calculating damages in cases involving infringement or other violation of intellectual property, such as copyrights. A four-part test to prove lost profits was laid out in the landmark case of Panduit Corp. v Stahlin Bros. Fibre Works. Meeting these four parts let the plaintiff prove that it would have sold […]

The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) reports “unprecedented increases in unemployment insurance (UI) claims amid the pandemic and related surges in fraudulent filing in states’ systems by sophisticated criminal rings.” This has caused widespread problems for states, employers and employees alike. Innocent employees have had claims filed in their names, employers are winding […]

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) provide an alternate route for start-ups to access public markets instead of traditional initial public offerings (IPOs). Roughly 200 SPACs debuted in 2020, drumming up close to $64 billion in funds. In fact, in 2020, there was as much capital raised through SPAC offerings as in the prior 10 years. That […]

If you own or manage a company, it is important to understand that the data maintained in your computer system is subject to discovery in a lawsuit or legal action. This article addresses some the issues you should know about to help protect yourself and your company against future liability for not adequately maintaining records of […]

Sometimes, regardless of how careful you are or how careless an injured victim was, you can still be held liable for damages. It’s a legal doctrine called strict liability. And the principle can be applied in product liability cases. In general, strict liability applies to inherently dangerous activities, such as keeping wild animals near small children […]

Wedding season typically peaks in late summer and early fall, according to wedding website TheKnot.com. This year, that peak may be even more noticeable due to pent-up demand for wedding festivities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, because of health concerns and restrictions on in-person events across the country, many people postponed their nuptials — […]