BLT: November 2018

     

    Articles

    Business & Corporate

    An Unconstitutional Mandate? California’s Gender-Based Board Law and Its Uncertain Legal Future

    Jayne Juvan, Chaz Weber

    In response to increasing public attention on the small percentage of women serving on corporate boards, the California Assembly passed Senate Bill 826 (the Act). The Act requires that all public companies headquartered in California have at least one female director and, beginning in 2021, a percentage of female directors based on the size of its board. Although championed by the National Association of Women Business Owners and other activists, the Act will face legal challenges to its implementation, and its overall impact may be muted.

    Business & Corporate

    Interest Dilution and Damages as Contribution-Default Remedies in Failing LLCs and Partnerships

    Bradley T. Borden, Thomas E. Rutledge

    Contribution-default remedies appear in most operating agreements and partnership agreements. Recent cases illustrate the legal repercussions of drafting contribution-default remedies for LLC or limited partnership ventures that fail. Such repercussions may differ from those in ventures that have positive, increasing value, and exploration of the nuances of interest-dilution provisions is necessary.

    Insurance & Financial Services

    No One Left Standing: Hagy v. Demers & Adams, LLC and Post-Spokeo Standing under the FDCPA

    John L. Brown, Ron Edwards

    This case note explores the interplay between statutory damages for procedural violations by creditors and the principles of Article III standing. There is an inherent tension between the “injury-in-fact” requirement for standing and statutory damages for mere procedural violations (without further harm to the petitioner) as awarded by statutes such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

    Business & Corporate

    Bilingual Counsel Have the Upper Hand in Foreign Language Proceedings

    Rebecca Aragon, Charles Santoro

    Counsel must be prepared to address the challenges presented in depositions and trials involving non-English-speaking witnesses. For example, bilingual counsel will be able to make credibility assessments that nonbilingual counsel cannot. Bilingual counsel will also be able to argue for or against an interpreter’s translations of a non-English-speaking witness that a nonbilingual counsel is unprepared to challenge.

    Business & Corporate

    Analysis of Cost Behavior When Calculating Damages Part 1: Understanding Costs

    Elizabeth A. Eccher, Jeffrey H. Kinrich, James H. Rosberg

    This two-part series of articles has been abridged and adapted from the chapter “Analysis of Cost Behavior,” by Elizabeth A. Eccher, Jeffrey H. Kinrich, and James H. Rosberg, in the book Lost Profits Damages: Principles, Methods, and Applications, edited by Everett P. Harry III and Jeffrey H. Kinrich (Valuation Products and Services, 2017). In Part One of this series, we discuss concepts relevant to calculating avoided costs, a key step in calculating lost profits.

    Business & Corporate

    Analysis of Cost Behavior When Calculating Damages Part 2: Analyzing Avoided Costs

    Elizabeth A. Eccher, Jeffrey H. Kinrich, James H. Rosberg

    This two-part series of articles has been abridged and adapted from the chapter “Analysis of Cost Behavior,” by Elizabeth A. Eccher, Jeffrey H. Kinrich, and James H. Rosberg, in the book Lost Profits Damages: Principles, Methods, and Applications, edited by Everett P. Harry III and Jeffrey H. Kinrich (Valuation Products and Services, 2017). In this article, we illustrate the use of these concepts in determining avoided costs.

    Business & Corporate

    Human Rights Protections in International Supply Chains—Protecting Workers and Managing Company Risk

    The Working Group to Draft Human Rights Protections in International Supply Contracts, ABA Business Law Section, David V. Snyder, Susan A. Maslow

    In cooperation with other groups in the ABA Business Law Section and the wider American Bar Association, the ABA Business Law Section formed the Working Group to Draft Human Rights Protections in International Supply Contracts (“Working Group”). This is part of a larger effort to achieve widespread implementation of the ABA Model Business and Supplier Principles on Labor Trafficking and Child Labor as well as other human rights protections.

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