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Behind the Veil
June 14, 2017Until modern times the investors in a company were personally liable for its debts and other liabilities. The enactment of laws allowing investors in a company to limit their liability to the amount invested is reckoned by many economists as among the greatest of human innovations, unleashing huge investment in new enterprises. After all, who […]
Read AllHome Grown Estate Planning
May 10, 2017Home Grown Estate Planning Not long after I started my law practice an older lady found her way to my door. She had three grown children and her husband was gone. After she was widowed she worried about what would happen to her Portland home when she passed away. The home was her only asset. […]
Read AllBoilerplate
March 26, 2017In the 19th century, advertisers sometimes supplied copy to newspapers in curved steel plates, ready to be placed in the rotary printers of that day. This prepared text became known as “boilerplate”, after curved plates used to make boilers, and the term applies today to standard language in contracts. Many clients belittle boilerplate, but if […]
Read AllA Freezer Warehouse for Portland
January 18, 2017Here’s a piece I wrote for the Portland Press Herald. It appeared January 18, 2017. The Port of Portland has been offered a generational opportunity: a modern freezer warehouse, accessible by sea, rail, air and highway, available to every food producer in the region, and built with private capital. But there’s a hitch: The proposed […]
Read AllDamaged, Part Two – Damages Recoverable in a Personal Injury Lawsuit
January 12, 2017Last month I described the elements of an injury case: duty, breach of the duty, damages, and a sufficiently direct link between the damages and the breach. This column will focus on what kinds of damages a claimant can recover. The great majority of injury cases can be tried either to a judge alone or […]
Read AllWill Contests
December 22, 2016Contesting a Will A will contest – a court action to disqualify a will – is a little like a murder trial: the most important witness is dead. Because the author of a will is not around to defend it, the law has a strong bias in favor of giving effect to a will. A […]
Read AllDamaged – A personal injury action requires that four elements be present
December 13, 2016Every few months I get a call from someone who, due to another’s carelessness, had a very close call and was almost badly hurt. “I could have been killed”, they tell me, and, and I’m getting the call because they want to sue. A personal injury action requires that four elements be present: A duty […]
Read AllSecurity – A client loaned an employee $15,000 to buy a truck.
October 7, 2016A client loaned an employee $15,000 to buy a truck. The guy paid a few thousand. Then he quit the job. He quit paying the loan too. We’re suing him. Client says to me “The loan was for a truck, so we can grab the truck, right?” The loan was on a handshake. The only […]
Read AllLiar, Liar
August 16, 2016Pop quiz: In 2001 Martha Stewart’s stock broker told her to dump her shares of ImClone Systems, a high flying stock. He said the Food and Drug Administration was about to release bad news about a new ImClone drug, and the company owners were dumping their shares. Stewart told her broker to sell her shares, […]
Read AllLiar Liar
Pop quiz: In 2001 Martha Stewart’s stock broker told her to dump her shares of ImClone Systems, a high flying stock. He said the Food and Drug Administration was about to release bad news about a new ImClone drug, and the company owners were dumping their shares. Stewart told her broker to sell her shares, […]
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