Moore Legal Group :
Bank of America Plaza
414 Union Street, Suite 905
Nashville, Tennessee 37219

Phone :
(615) 346-2213 (voice)
(615) 379-2311 (facsimile)
 

 
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Answers to Your Business Law Questions

After reading these FAQ's, feel free to contact us with your further legal questions. No matter what your situation, you have rights, and we're here to help you protect them.                         

 
 

YOUR BUSINESS RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: ONLY WITH LEGAL COUNSEL CAN YOU KNOW FOR SURE.

FACT #1: There are a number of different ways you can form a business. If you are doing business as a sole owner and do not specify otherwise you will be deemed to be doing business as a sole proprietorship. If you are doing business with one or more other people you will be deemed to be doing business as a partnership. However, you can also create a legal entity to do business through. The most common entities are "C" Corporations, "S" Corporations, Limited Liability Companies (LLC's), and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP's).

 

FACT #2: When doing business as a sole proprietorship you are personally liable for all liabilities and obligations of the business. When doing business as a partnership you are joint and severally liable for all liabilities and obligations of the business. When doing business through a legal entity, liability for the obligations of the business is generally limited to the assets of the entity.

 

FACT #3: When drafting business contracts you can generally contract for any lawful activity. Such an agreement can be verbal, or in writing, but must contain enough specifics of the agreement to show the court what the terms of the agreement were and that both parties understood and assented to those terms. Thus it is best to put the agreement in writing.

 

FACT #4: You do not need a written contract for an employee in Tennessee, but having a poorly drafted agreement can actually unnecessarily subject you to liability. Unless an employer makes an agreement to the contrary, all employees in Tennessee have an ""at-will"" status. This means that either the employer or the employee may terminate the relationship at any time, without notice. An employer may terminate an employee "at-will" for no reason, or for a good reason. An employer may not terminate an employee "at-will" for a discriminatory reason if the employee belonging to a legally protected class that the employer may be sued for discriminating against.



 

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FACT #5: Despite all attempts to the contrary, agreements will sometimes be broken. Occasionally the reasons for breaching an agreement are legitimate excuses. Legally some legitimate excuses also constitute a defense, and some don't.
If your business is sued, it becomes an unwilling participant in costly and often inescapable legal proceedings. Even if the suit is groundless, the business will typically be running up legal fees (answering the complaint, responding to discovery requests, attending depositions, and having its attorney attend court appearances) before the court looks at the relative merits of the plaintiff's claims. Some businesses actually end up in bankruptcy just from the process of defending a lawsuit. If you are not doing business as a legal entity, your personal assets are also at risk.

 

FACT #6: If there are debts owed to your business, there are other options than seeking to collect the debt yourself or turning the matter over to a collection agency, Collection agencies are an unnecessary step in collecting your debts.

You can hire an attorney to seek collection. Many times collection agencies are eventually forced to turn collections over to their attorneys to obtain a judgment. With Moore Legal Group, you can eliminate the middleman and have an aggressive attorney who will take the steps necessary to obtain the money owed to you. But just because we are attorneys does not mean we will immediately attempt to litigate the debt, we will first seek more informal attempts to collect. However, litigation is available if those attempts are not productive.

 


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