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Indiana Civil & Business Lawyer 

A solo lawyer writing about consumer, probate and business related legal issues with an emphasis on Indiana. Such is the general outline but mostly it allows for me to express views on practicing law and legal issues from an Indiana solo attorney's viewpoint.
Post Frequency: 14.7/day Last Entry: March 01, 2010 at 17:59:00 Recent Entries: 796
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What Is Your Intellectual Property Worth?
Posted on May 16, 2009If you go through my trade secrets archive (see the label below), you will find that I often ask what is the value of the trade secret to your business. Then I ran across The economics of innovation: The business case for design: Easiest way to value your intellectual property which is about valuing all of a business' intellectual property...
Indiana Legislation - Teacher Discipline Statute
Posted on May 16, 2009Governor gives teachers more legal protectionTeachers don't feel comfortable disciplining students because of possible lawsuits, Daniels and Zoeller said. Teachers would essentially be given the same qualified immunity status as state police or government officials, they said...
Non-compete News - Massachusetts Upholds Non-Competition Agreement
Posted on May 15, 2009News from Reuters - HP hits snag in plan to hire executive from EMCBOSTON (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co's (HPQ.N) plans to hire a top executive away from rival EMC Corp (EMC.N) hit a legal snag on Monday when a Massachusetts court issued an order temporarily barring him from starting his new job...
Trade Secrets: Hilton Looking at Criminal Charges?
Posted on May 14, 2009More news on the Hilton case I wrote about in Ying and Yang of Protecting Trade Secrets. This comes from The Wall Street Journal Law Blog.In Trade Secrets Flap, Might Criminal Charges Be Heading Hilton?s Way?The latest big case involving allegations of corporate espionage involves Hilton Hotels and Starwood Hotels...
SBA News
Posted on May 14, 2009Some thoughts from Business Opportunities Weblog that deserve consideration.Our Future With Our New PresidentMany wonder exactly how qualified Mills is to run the SBA given she is a venture capitalist. Well let?s see?she was a partner/director of Solera Capital a venture capital firm, a Harvard business school graduate and president of private equity business firm MMP Group...
This Week's Trade Secrets Litigation Case - Marvell Semiconductor
Posted on May 11, 2009What can I say? Silence is golden? Loose lips sink law suits as well as ships? Lawyers Say Embarrassing Voice Mail of Marvell GC May Have Been Edited | ABA Journal - Law News NowLawyers for Marvell Semiconductor say the tape should be tossed because it may have been edited, the Recorder reports...
Update on the Thomas/RIAA Case
Posted on May 11, 2009RIAA Fails to Settle Thomas File-Sharing Case; Retrial Date Set | Digital Media Wire"What they wanted to do, my client did not want to do," Toder told Wired; Thomas has previously stated she would not settle the case.Thomas was initially found guilty of copyright infringement and ordered to pay a $220,000 fine for sharing 24 songs on Kazaa...
Trade Secrets Litigation News
Posted on May 05, 2009Lockheed Seeking Nearly $700 Million in Trial Against L-3 CommunicationsA big, big trade secrets trial is set to begin in Atlanta federal court this week, reports the Fulton County Daily Report. Lockheed Martin, the largest defense contractor in the world, is seeking $689 million in compensatory and punitive damages from America's sixth-largest defense contractor, L-3 Communications, and its subsidiary L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to Lockheed's line of marine patrol, antisubmarine aircraft...
Small Business Owners - Mistakes to Avoid
Posted on May 03, 2009I agree with Rush on Business that Avoid These 11 Common Mistakes of Small Business Owners deserves republishing but I would add one: "On the Texas Small Business Law Blog there is an helpful post on the common mistakes made by small business owners...
Senate Defeats Measure to Allow Bankruptcy Judges to Change Mortgage Terms - washingtonpost.com
Posted on May 01, 2009Senate Defeats Measure to Allow Bankruptcy Judges to Change Mortgage Terms - washingtonpost.com: "Supporters argued the measure would keep 1.7 million borrowers in their homes, but it ultimately foundered in the face of fierce financial industry and Republican opposition...
Trade Secret Example; Bourbon
Posted on April 30, 2009Bourbon Steps Out of Its Overalls comes from The Washington Post but it does give a quick example of a trade secret:I visited Brown-Forman's cooperage on the outskirts of Louisville, right near Churchill Downs, where the 135th Kentucky Derby will be run this weekend...
Fair Debt Collection Practices Case - Seventh Circuit
Posted on April 30, 2009Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog picks up on a Wisconsin FDCPA case that may have legs - for those whose debts are bought/assigned by a collection agency.Summary Judgment Stands for Consumer Class Alleging Unfair Debt Collection Practices, Seventh Circuit Rules AFNI next argued that it is entitled to collect fees as Cingular's assignee, since customers signed contracts with Cingular agreeing to pay fees charged by a third party...
Bankruptcy News
Posted on April 30, 2009I wish this site had an RSS feed (which is really rather odd) but still it seems a worth add to the bookmarks for bankruptcy news. Which is all it is - a page with links to other sites with information on bankruptcy. It has even caught the news on the Chrysler bankruptcy.
Patents, Trademarks and Hamburgers: Steak n Shake Settles With Burger King
Posted on April 30, 2009Steak n Shake, Burger King settle lawsuit: "Steak n Shake Co. has changing the name of its miniature Steakburgers to settle a trademark-infringement lawsuit brought by Miami-based Burger King Corp.The Indianapolis-based chain was slapped with a lawsuit last month after it unveiled slider-style hamburgers called Steakburger Shots, a moniker Burger King said was 'confusingly similar' to its trademarked BK Burger Shots, BK Breakfast Shots and BK Chicken Shots...
Protecting Your Trade Secrets from Poaching Employees
Posted on April 29, 2009I ran across Protecting your employees: how to stop poaching a while back and, although the focus is English, I see good advice here for any employers:The best place to start is with an appropriate risk assessment, focused on identifying two things:* Identify which staff or teams are the most likely to be tempted to remove information or attempt to take customers when they leave...
Stupid Lawyers
Posted on April 29, 2009Thanks to Google Alerts I got to read this forum exchange: drafting documents yourself. valid?. My subject line says what I took away from this short exchange.I have written before on here about using online or computerized legal forms. They area fact of life that lawyers needs to start acknowledging and get our heads out of the sand...
Thinking of Franchising?
Posted on April 28, 2009Take a look at A Complete Description to Franchising (Parts 1, 2 and 3) for a primer on the business side a nd then read Rugh Nigut's Franchise Research is Not Difficult.Franchising is a wonderful business tool. Like all tools they can be misused.Talk to a lawyer with franchising experience before signing any franchising agreement...
Update on Realnetworks Trial - Trade Secrets
Posted on April 28, 2009How trade secrets get dealt with in trial.First Day of DVD Trial Features Closed-Door Testimony - Digits - WSJTech geeks hoping for juicy details from a closely watched trial involving RealNetworks are likely to find Friday?s proceedings a bit disappointing...
Third parties interfering with contracts - a primer
Posted on April 27, 2009Recognizing a Litigious Reality serves as a good reminder of things businesses should not do and applies more widely than its original audience of accountants.Intentional interference with contractual relations is a business tort that is especially prevalent in the field of intellectual property...
One Idea About Alternative Fee Agreements
Posted on April 27, 2009From WhichDraft.com Alternative Fee Agreements Presentation at IACCM Americas Conference Touted by Supply ExcellenceJustin noted that: To capture some of that spend and have better legal representation, Jason recommends negotiating ?incentives that motivate people to do better?...
Why Should You Not to Do Your Own Will
Posted on April 25, 2009I suggest reading all of Tim Kalamaros's post Pro se or "do it yourself" wills on his "Teklaw" blog. Here is the first on his list reasons not to write your own Will.1-- Even if the will is drawn up correctly, do I know how to publish and witness it correctly under the law of the place where it will be signed? Do I know who is a proper witness under the law and who is not?Let me chime in and say that a Will is probably the least expensive and one of the most important legal documents you can have but there are some rules that must be followed...
Indiana Consumer Law: Are We Seeing a Trend to a Pro-Consumer Law?
Posted on April 25, 2009It may be so. I am speculating whether or not it has to do with our recession.This came in yesterday from The Indiana Lawyer, COA invites high court to revisit Indiana lawIn a case involving the purchase of a home, Indiana Court of Appeals judges today disagreed as to whether the home sellers should be granted summary judgment in a fraud suit...
Limited Liability Companies: Treating the LLC as Subchapter S Corp
Posted on April 24, 2009San Diego Small Business Law Blog has a good post on this subject - S-Corporation Election For Your Limited Liabiliy Company (LLC)?o why would you make the election to treat your LLC as an S-Corp? If you find the flexibility and ease of corporate governance for LLCs attractive, yet find that the tax advantages of S-Corps applies to your company, you can go ahead and combine the two...
Ying and Yang of Protecting Trade Secrets
Posted on April 24, 2009Let us once again talk about departing employees and protecting your business' trade secrets. let me say about the first example that I am taking the allegations as being true just for the purposes of discussion.If the allegations are true, then I think Starwood has a problem showing that it properly protected its trade secrets...
COBRA News
Posted on April 23, 2009Employers and employees should give workforce.com's COBRA Worries Cash-Poor Businesses: Firms Must Pay Now, Wait for Reimbursement a read. Here are the highlights.It is part of the recently approved federal stimulus bill?the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act?that offers eligible terminated employees a 65 percent discount on COBRA coverage...
Fun With Restaurant Reviews and Trademarks
Posted on April 23, 2009I find trademarks as too much fun and here is another example from The New York Times of what I find interest Lawyers Enter Twitter TempestMr. Rucinsky, a 30-year-old part-time art dealer who uses his middle name as his last name when he writes, sends silly blurbs on Twitter and writes inane blog postings that purport to reflect Ms...
Employment Law: Involuntary Servitude
Posted on April 22, 2009Iowa Law Blog caught an unusual employment law case out of New York in A Modern Case of Involutary Servitude. This one is so unusual that I am quoting it at length:Ten nurses from the Philippines were hired to work in nursing homes caring for chronically ill children dependent on ventilators...
Indiana Contracts - No Picking and Choosing
Posted on April 21, 2009From The Indiana Lawyer, Parties can t pick certain provisions to enforce reports on a recent contract case from The Indiana Court of Appeals. The Indiana Court of Appeals addressed an issue of first impression today regarding whether a person could seek to enforce rights under a vehicle purchasing agreement he didn't sign but then disavow other provisions set forth in the same document...
Now on Twitter
Posted on April 20, 2009I took the Twitter plunge this past Friday. If you want to add me, I am http://twitter.com/schasler
Garden Leave: A Live American Example
Posted on April 20, 2009From Virginia Non-Compete Law Blog's GARDEN-LEAVE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTSWant an example? In Bannister v. Bemis Co., Inc., (2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 3648, 8th Cir. Feb. 25, 2009) a Garden-Leave clause was examined by a federal court in Arkansas. Bannister served as director of product development for Bemis...
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Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How can i sue for a straw purchase?
Anyone can co-sign. A straw purchase would be if you has someone buy the car for...
How to tell if I have been subject to gender discrimination in hiring practices?
You didn't apply for the job. so that's a tough one. Seemingly your Bo...
Is it legal for a company to overwork their employees?
Well, he could 1. Get a new job. Sister, I understand ya, if he's anything ...
Can driving accident be cause for termination?
If your state is an at-will state, the company can fire you for any reason or fo...

Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How can i sue for a straw purchase?
Anyone can co-sign. A straw purchase would be if you has someone buy the car for...
How to tell if I have been subject to gender discrimination in hiring practices?
You didn't apply for the job. so that's a tough one. Seemingly your Bo...
Is it legal for a company to overwork their employees?
Well, he could 1. Get a new job. Sister, I understand ya, if he's anything ...
Can driving accident be cause for termination?
If your state is an at-will state, the company can fire you for any reason or fo...








