So you have stopped the Foreclosure by filing Bankruptcy. Now What?

Written by on 03/07/2013 , bankruptcy, Debt, foreclosure
bankruptforeclose

Filing a bankruptcy case is the first step in stopping a foreclosure on your home and the imposition of the “automatic stay” on collection activity stops the mortgage lender dead in their tracks, but for how long? Not long enough unless you do what the Bankruptcy Code requires. Make your post petition mortgage payments on time. Once you have filed a bankruptcy case, each and every mortgage payment that is due following the date of the filing must be paid when it is due. These are called “post petition” mortgage payments. The Bankruptcy Code requires that a mortgage lender (and 

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Attention Employers. Conducting Employee Background Checks? Get It Right, Or Else.

Written by on 02/04/2013 , employment law, Gogel and Gogel
background check guy

Most employers know the value of background checks in employment decisions. If a prospective employee will handle cash, a checkbook, or have fiduciary responsibilities for example, it is inconceivable that a business would make a hiring decision without a background check. These checks typically include a review of credit reports and criminal record database searches. A pre employment background check in an acceptable screening tool but it must be undertaken utilizing the correct forms and with the appropriate disclosures to the potential employee. The necessary disclosure forms changed at the beginning of this year with the requirement to use a 

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Protect Your Ideas and Your Business. A Trademark Primer

Written by on 01/18/2013 , business law, Gogel and Gogel
protect-your-trademark-from-infringement-pop_7090

Fans of the ABC television show “Shark Tank” have often heard the following dialog between a potential investor and the business owner pitching the value of their business: “Is there anything proprietary about this product?” To which the business owner replies, “not yet”, and this is followed by the inevitable comment, “well what keeps your competitors from stealing this idea?” Usually, an investment is not forthcoming because the investor points out that there is not any value in something that is not protected. It is only a television show, true, but the participants are making real world investment decisions, and are all 

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Fair Use or Misuse? A Copyright Primer

Written by on 01/15/2013 , Arts & Entertainment
Arts and Entertainment Law

Last month a very well know singer with a popular new song learned what happens when someone says you used their intellectual property even if the claim is that you used two seconds of material that is subject to a copyright. Eddie Holman, a singer who had a top ten hit in 1970 with the song “Hey There Lonely Girl”, filed a lawsuit against Alicia Keys alleging that her song “Girl Is On Fire” contains a sample of the music from “Hey There Lonely Girl”.  According to reports, the use of the sample only came to his attention when a 

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The Alphabet Soup of Employment Regulators, A New Years Guide for Employers

Written by on 01/08/2013 , employment law
success-alphabet-soup1

Many federal and state agencies employers have never heard of are in the employment regulation space recently, expanding their jurisdiction. EEOC, NLRB, CFRB; what are all these things and why should you care if you are an employer?  Here is cryptography guide. Does your attendance policy require a doctor’s note identifying the nature of the absence? The Eight Hundred Pound Gorilla of Employment Regulations. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC A key ruling from the EEOC in 2012 held that requiring a doctor’s note identifying the nature of the absence from work violates the Americans with Disability Act that prohibits 

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