Ayala files lawsuit against American Express and a contractor for damages caused by recalling a processed payment for services already delivered to the contractor-defendant. In the lawsuit, Ayala alleges that American Express, without any verification, or due diligence of any kind, took the side of the contractor-defendant and recalled a payment already approved for Ayala’s client. As stated by Attorney Maura, “we are proud to…
The COVID-19 crisis has had some important repercussions in the immigration world. Travel bans, applications for visas halted, hearings suspended, immigrants stranded. Below you can find some of the recent updates from some of the most important government agencies related to immigration. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) One of the major rules implemented by this administration was the Public Charge Rule. The Rule…
Unfortunately the Coronavirus has invaded every aspect of our lives and turned it around drastically in a matter of days. In this environment, it is important to make decisions based on facts rather than speculation. What is a virus? A virus is a microscopical biological entity that reproduces inside cells of a living host. Once they infect the cells of the host, it reproduces at…
In this part IV of the “how can I protect my small business from lawsuits” articles, I focus on insurance. How can having insurance protect me from lawsuits? It may not, but at least the insurance could pay for the lawsuit—sometimes. When any of the things mentioned in Part I, II, or III of my recommendations to protect your business from lawsuits do not work,…
Ayala obtained a $202,921 judgment in a lawsuit filed in Circuit Court in Broward County Florida, against a so called real estate “investment advisor” who defrauded Ayala’s Client. The lawsuit alleged that “[Defendants] . . . held themselves out to be experienced real estate investors and investment advisers able to purchase foreclosures properties at auction, and sell them at large profits.” Under the guise of…
In this part III of the “how can I protect my small business from lawsuits” articles, I focus on layering. What do I mean by layering? You can have, for example, a Limited Liability Company (LLC) and you, the human, be the owner of 100% of it. That type of ownership structure will give you the least protection possible. The law treats this type of…
By Eduardo A. Maura. Out of the many things I tell small business owners, when they ask me how to protect their businesses, separation is high in my list of recommendations. But what do I mean by separation? What I mean is, separate your business from yourself or your family or your other businesses. It is quite common that small business owners are the managers…
By Eduardo A. Maura. I’ve represented dozens of small businesses throughout the years. The main concern or question I am asked is still: How do I protect my business from lawsuits? The first thing that comes to mind is compliance. It is extremely important that businesses comply with all laws, regulations, and codes. Oftentimes, during litigation, litigants will use any violations of the law, ordinance,…
Ayala defeated the Defendant Corona Seeds’ Motion for Summary Judgement (MSJ). An MSJ is a request to the court in which the party moving argues that there are no factual issues in dispute, and the judge, rather than the jury, should decide the case in its favor. In the case, Ayala’s clients, two Peruvian growers, allege that they were sold defective seeds from the defendant…
There is a myriad of issues that can make an otherwise great contractual relationship go wrong. In this article we discuss the three most important ones we’ve found throughout the years: Lack of, or insufficient paper evidence of the contract: Believe it or not, one of the main problems is that we can’t find the actual contract. Whether it is finding signed version, all the…
