Who owns my website?

I’m having a new website developed for my business. What do I need to know before I sign a contract?

These days, every business needs a website. But if you have someone develop your business’s website, do you own it — or do they?

Traditional property concepts might lead  business owners to think they own something that they pay for, but that’s not always the case.

A website, including the domain name, code, and “look and feel,” is intellectual property (“IP”), or an “intangible” asset that adds value to your company. A business should own all of its valuable intellectual property rights.

If your business has a website, or will have a website, you should register your own domain name, rather than allowing your website developer to do so. Doing so may help avoid complications down the road regarding who owns the name. When registering, take advantage of the registrar’s automatic renewal services, or make a reminder in your calendar to renew your registration. If you fail to timely renew your domain name it will be available for anyone to purchase.

If you’re using a website developer, make sure to have a written agreement with them that identifies services they will perform, the website’s desired functionality, as well as the project’s timeline, budget and payment schedule. Most importantly, it should assign IP ownership to you, the client.

If the developer will have access to your company’s confidential information, make sure your agreement protects that information, or enter into a separate nondisclosure agreement.

What happens if your company wants to take complete ownership of the website and the code used to create it, but your developer reused code from the public domain or another website? Do you get to own the code or does the developer keep it? This is a great question that the agreement should address.

Typically, ownership rights are allocated between the parties and each party grants a license to the other party to use its assets — the developer will allow the company to use its code and the company will allow the developer to use the trademark, logo, and other content for the website. The cost of having the website developed should reflect payment terms, scope of work, and how extensively the developer assigns IP rights to the client company.

Mary Luros is a business law attorney with Hudson & Luros, LLP, in Napa, and can be reached at mary@hudsonluros.com or 418-5118. The information provided here is not intended as legal advice, nor does it form an attorney-client relationship with the author. The author makes no representations as to the reliability or accuracy of the above information. In a perfect world we wouldn’t need disclaimers — or attorneys.

Slip, trip, broke a hip?

If a customer is hurt at my business, can they sue me?  What if the accident has nothing to do with me, my business, or my employees?

People get injured at businesses frequently, for many different reasons. Sometimes the business is responsible for the injury, and sometimes it’s the customer’s fault.

Business owners aren’t always responsible for picking up every single thing that falls on the ground that a customer could trip on. Likewise, a business shouldn’t be responsible for a customer who trips on something that an ordinary person would expect and avoid.

On the other hand, if you own a business, you should do what you can to keep your property safe. You can’t spill a gallon of olive oil on your marble floors and leave it there for a couple of hours and hope that no one slips.

The law requires that people act reasonably, whether they are business owners or customers. The issue boils down to whether you as the owner of the business acted carefully, to the point that an accident is not likely to occur, and whether the customer acted with reasonable care to avoid having an accident.

To recover for an injury at your business, the customer must prove that you caused the danger, knew about it, or should have known about it. For example, if you or one of your employees spilled olive oil on the floor, or you knew that for whatever reason there was an oil slick on the marble, or if the oil spill was in a prominent place where there was no reason for you to not see it.

You should have a regular method for inspecting, cleaning and repairing your business. You could be liable for an injury caused by a longstanding hazard you knew about. This includes lighting — make sure your business is adequately lit and burned out light bulbs are replaced immediately.

Similarly, if you have objects on the ground that someone could trip on, is there a legitimate reason for them to be there? Could you move them somewhere safer, or could you put up some kind of partition around the objects?

If a customer has a few too many cocktails and falls off a barstool, you may think that has nothing to do with you and you shouldn’t be liable. But did your business serve the customer when they were obviously intoxicated?

Mary Luros practices business law with Hudson & Luros, LLP, and can be reached atmary@hudsonluros.com or 418-5118. This column is not intended as legal advice, nor does it form an attorney-client relationship with the author. The author makes no representations as to the reliability or accuracy of the above information. In a perfect world we wouldn’t need disclaimers — or attorneys.

Reimbursable Expenses

As an employer, do I have to reimburse my employees for all of their expenses? Can I have my employees sign something that says I don’t have to reimburse them?

California law requires employers to reimburse their employees for necessary expenses incurred in the course and scope of their employment. These expenses may include equipment, materials, air travel, hotels, meals and ground transportation.

Employees cannot waive their right to reimbursement, and such an agreement is unenforceable. What you should do is have a clear, written policy that explains how expense reimbursement works at your business.

Your policy should communicate that employees have a right to reimbursement for appropriate business expenses. Your policy can require that expenses over a certain amount are approved in advance, and you should certainly have a process for submitting expenses.

Your policy should also require that employees submit expense reports within a reasonable period of time after the expenses are incurred, and you should likewise process the report and reimburse the expenses in a timely fashion. You may require that employees support each reimbursement request with receipts or other verification.

Although it might seem obvious, your policy should inform employees that misrepresentations involving expense reimbursements will be grounds for discipline and/or termination.

Employees are entitled to reimbursement for up to four years from the date they incur the expense. Some companies choose to pay employees higher wages or salaries so that they don’t have to reimburse expenses separately. Whatever method you choose to use, make sure that you fully reimburse employees for all expenses actually and necessarily incurred.

If an employee is forced to sue an employer to enforce their right to have expenses reimbursed, litigation costs and attorney’s fees may be awarded as a “necessary expenditure” under the law. In other words, not only will you have to pay your employee the reasonable expenses they incurred on the job, but you might also pay their attorney.

It may sound harsh, but consider it one of the many costs of doing business. One of the most common mistakes employers make is to mischaracterize employees as independent contractors to avoid reimbursing business expenses. True independent contractors are self-employed, so they are responsible for their own expenses.

Whatever you do, do not misclassify your employees as independent contractors. It’s a serious violation of federal and state laws, and you would be liable for significant damages and penalties. The cost of misclassifying an employee will be way more than any reimbursable expense you may have to pay.

Mary Luros is a business law attorney with Hudson & Luros, LLP, in Napa, and can be reached atmary@hudsonluros.com or 418-5118. The information provided here is not intended as legal advice, nor does it form an attorney-client relationship with the author. The author makes no representations as to the reliability or accuracy of the above information. In a perfect world we wouldn’t need disclaimers — or attorneys.

Choco-awesome!

One of the best days of my life happened over the weekend.

How do you start off an awesome day?  I’ll tell you how I do.  Coffee and a muffin from Bouchon.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8103/8523101104_6dd507a420.jpg

What made it one of the best days of my life?  Here’s a hint…

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8365/8521987983_3b5cfa21e6.jpg

Can you figure it out yet?  How about now…

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8530/8521988131_d0169b5665.jpg

Okay no, I didn’t enroll myself into pastry school.  Well, sort of.  For my 30th b-day my wonderful in-laws sent me to a one-day cooking class at the Culinary Institute of America.  I chose “Chocolates and Confections,” since chocolate is one of those areas that you basically need to be a scientist to “get it.”  I can do cakes, I can do breads, I can do cookies, cake pops, and even french macaroons.  But chocolate?  Forget it.  Until now!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8093/8523102182_5d0feafe4c.jpg

The instructor for my course was none other than Chef Stephen Durfee, past Executive Pastry Chef at the French Laundry, James Beard award winner for “Outstanding Pastry Chef,” named one of the 10 best pastry chefs in America, etc.  Last month he competed as the chocolatier on “Team America” at the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie (which is basically the Olympics of pastry competitions).  He made a flipping bicycle out of chocolate (and was 4th in the world).  You can see him in the above picture, stirring blanched almonds, sugar, and butter into what would eventually become Almond Dragées.  A-MAZ-ing! You might think they’re like other almond candies, but that’s only true in the same way that Bentleys and Hondas are both cars.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8098/8521989203_70fe4ace6e.jpg

Pulling apart the almonds so they don’t stick together.  Rather important.  God bless silpats.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8530/8521989499_c57190873b.jpg

We learned all of the basic fundamentals of chocolate, including how to (correctly) temper chocolate, how to make ganache, and how to use molds.  Chef Durfee is seen above spreading ganache out to cool.  Apparently I’ve been going about ganaches all wrong–turns out it requires more than just microwaving a bowl of cream and chocolate bits until it’s melted.  You have to cool it.  And agitate it.  And love it.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8530/8523103200_bb6eb2f1f5.jpg

Here’s something interesting.  Truffles.  Chef said you could scoop them out of the ganache, but he prefers piping because it’s faster.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8519/8521990645_b6d4cfb6bb.jpg

Behold my mostly perfectly shaped truffles!  

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8088/8521990973_a7020c73a6.jpg

And for comparison, behold my neighbor’s sad poop-y ganache.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8530/8521992243_6928fa8a2c.jpg

A quick coat of cocoa powder for some of the truffles (after two baths of perfectly tempered chocolate, naturally).

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8104/8521992479_c41bce22c2.jpg

In addition to the milk and dark chocolate truffles, we also made coconut lime truffles.  Above, covered in toasted coconut.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8391/8523105954_482940ef54.jpg

What’s this?  Chocolate on your workstation?  No, no, don’t clean it with a rag…

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8526/8523106532_02b79cc902.jpg

Burn it off with freaking propane.  Yeah.  That’s how chocolate gets cleaned off of marble counters in commercial kitchens.  Kind of awesome.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8527/8521993589_3712dd15ee.jpg

Back to the almonds.  Added a bit of perfectly tempered chocolate and stirred like crazy.  Chocolate is a weird and delightful thing.  When you first add a bit of chocolate, it’s kind of shiny and soft.  But then it starts to stick to the nuts and it goes absolutely matte, like powder.  It’s science I tell you!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8096/8521994445_6940732f3a.jpg

See?  You just keep mixing and the chocolate totally changes.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8252/8521994607_6a5eef3b19.jpg

I guess if you are a pastry chef god amongst mere mortals, you have your name put on all your knives.  I pity the fool who tries to steal Chef’s knives.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8241/8523108112_3fa9779e86.jpg

Oh!  And we made peanut brittle!  It was SO ridiculously good!  There are several key things to know when making peanut brittle: 1) cook the peanuts raw in the sugar so that the sugar gets the flavor (instead of cooking the sugar and then adding the peanuts at the end); 2) add the baking soda carefully at the end–it will make the batch brown more, so make sure it’s not too brown when you take it off the stove.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8378/8523111580_089eac1f10.jpg

Pour it out onto one of those amazing silpats and spread it out.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8109/8523112042_fb11a61ece.jpg

But don’t just spread it out… When the brittle has cooled enough so that you can touch it, get your hands underneath it and gently pull and stretch it.  Doing that makes the brittle easier to eat and not so thick.  Mind blowing I tell you!  It’s science!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8105/8521994961_02a338cb4a.jpg

Here’s the start of something fabulous.  Above is the first layer of pecan butter crunch (toffee).  Super buttery and delish!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8248/8523109554_174eeae168.jpg

But obviously this is a chocolate class, so we’re going to cover it in chocolate and then flip the whole thing over and cover the other side in chocolate too.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8519/8521996585_545ebf7de5.jpg

See how the chocolate toffee on the silpat on the right is perfectly shiny and smooth?  And that smear of chocolate on the left looks like matte shit?  There’s a reason!  If you spread chocolate too many times, the back and forth motion will actually dull the finish of the chocolate.  It’s science!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8384/8523109294_74d8bb8298.jpg

We made a pretty good looking spread.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8248/8521997435_e83fb773e4.jpg

This is a picture from one of the students.  I was kind of mesmerized by her chocolate skills.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8105/8523112336_1bb9e6f8ce.jpg

And molding!  We learned how to make molded chocolates.  I made some last night with chocolate cream Bailey’s fillings and dark chocolate shells.  Kind of amazing.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8090/8523112932_9ea0215c80.jpg

Draining the inverted mold.  It’s a whole–dare I say it–science.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8516/8521999993_82b6d5425f.jpg

But there’s also some creativity involved.  These are two molds that the students were doing.  You put the decorations into the molds before you put the chocolate shell in.  Then when you pop the chocolate out of the shell it’s already decorated and smooth and beautiful.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8511/8523113742_16a63e404c.jpg

See what I mean?

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8239/8522000603_754f03d885.jpg

And I couldn’t help but take a picture of the super top-secret ingredient list for the chocolate kitchen. Some of it is a little “WTF.”

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8092/8521999545_8cca9f4edf.jpg

And how fun is this!  There were several classes going on the same time as ours and we each made each other lunch.  Well, we made dessert…obviously.  The other classes were “Asian Classics” and “CIA Favorites.”  It was one of the best buffets I’ve ever seen.  Everything was phenomenal and it went on for multiple tables.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8242/8523113406_b2a55fca20.jpg

One of the best fundamentals I learned was just how to temper chocolate.  I had no idea.  I feel like I have stepped up my pastry game considerably.  My class size was 7 people total, and I received an apron and a fabulous cookbook–kind of a fab deal.  I am definitely planning on taking another CIA At Home class–and you should too!

Detecting workers’ compensation fraud

I’m concerned about my employees potentially abusing our workers’ compensation insurance. What should I look out for?

Workers’ compensation is an employee insurance benefit that covers workplace injuries. Employers are required to carry workers’ compensation coverage for their employees. Unfortunately, of the

$10 billion in workers’ compensation claims filed in California annually, up to

30 percent of those claims may be fraudulent.

My recommendation is that you shouldn’t have employees you don’t trust, and you should strive to keep your employees happy. But beyond that, there certainly are things you can do to prevent fraudulent workers’ compensation claims.

It is illegal to make, or assist someone in making, a knowingly false or fraudulent material statement for the purpose of obtaining or denying workers’ compensation, or to discourage an injured worker from claiming benefits.

What does “comp fraud” look like? If you deny an employee’s vacation request, and the employee suddenly suffers a workplace accident with no witnesses, which coincidentally keeps them out of work during the same days they requested off, you may want to investigate the accident further.

If your employee competes in a volleyball tournament over the weekend and then sprains their wrist at work first thing Monday morning, this could be fraud. In fact, any accident that occurs first thing Monday morning is a little suspicious.

Disgruntled ex-employees are always a red flag. If you are going to terminate an employee, conduct an exit interview and ask whether they have had any on-the-job accidents or injuries.

Another red flag is if your employee has a preexisting condition, such as a bad back, and then claim they sprained their back at work.

Another fraud indicator is when the employee waits several weeks to report an injury. There’s no reason to delay reporting a workplace injury.

Not every suspicious claim is “comp fraud,” but one or more indicators might justify further investigation. Every injury should be immediately and thoroughly investigated. If you are concerned about fraud, communicate your suspicions to your carrier.

The two best things an employer can do is to maintain a safe work environment and ensure that employees understand how accidents at work should be handled. Have a clear and easy procedure for reporting accidents.

The Napa District Attorney’s office enforces workers’ compensation fraud prevention and prosecution. If you know of possible workers’ compensation abuse, please call their Workers’ Compensation Fraud Unit at 253-4059. In addition to criminal prosecution, the district attorney may bring a civil action to collect civil penalties for workers’ compensation fraud.

Mary Luros is a business law attorney with Hudson & Luros, LLP, in Napa, and can be reached at mary@hudsonluros.com or 418-5118. The information provided here is not intended as legal advice, nor does it form an attorney-client relationship with the author. The author makes no representations as to the reliability or accuracy of the above information. In a perfect world we wouldn’t need disclaimers — or attorneys.

Love at work

I have two employees who have clearly started a romantic relationship. I’m concerned about what will happen if the relationship sours, and I don’t support my employees flirting. What is the difference between innocent flirting and harassment?

This can be a difficult area for employers, as sexual harassment liability can mean the end of a business. A fine line separates a chasm of potential liability between voluntary, consensual romantic relationships and sexual harassment. That line may be crossed after one of them breaks things off and things get “messy.”

Some businesses impose rules restricting co-worker romances or address co-worker dating in their sexual harassment policies. While you have a legitimate interest in avoiding sexual harassment claims created by employee relationships, be careful to balance that interest against your employees’ privacy rights. If you’re going to attempt to jump into employees’ personal lives, you should have justification. Creating an overly restrictive “no dating co-workers” policy might infringe upon employees’ rights.

It might sound silly, but some businesses go so far as to have co-workers document that they are in a consensual personal relationship — a “love contract.” These contracts affirm that employees are in a personal, consensual, romantic relationship at work.

If you decide to use a “love contract,” it should state that neither employee feels compelled to continue the relationship to retain their employment or in exchange for an employment opportunity of some kind. Make sure the contract acknowledges your policy against discrimination, harassment and retaliation. Depending on the working relationship between the individuals, you may want to have a statement about preferential treatment.

Both federal and state law require employers to take preventative steps to make sure their businesses are free of harassment. The most important thing you can do is have a written harassment policy — and follow it.

Your harassment policy should be written in clear and understandable language, and should specify what conduct is prohibited. The policy should require employees to report harassment, and you should thoroughly and confidentially investigate all reports. The policy should also protect “whistleblowers” from retaliation.

Ensure that all of your employees know, understand and follow the rules. Every employee should have a copy of your current policy and should know whom to ask when they have questions.

If you are really concerned about harassment, one of the best things you can do is provide harassment training on an annual basis, and some business liability carriers even provide sexual harassment training materials. This kind of training helps everyone understand the difference between harassment and consensual relationships, and will reinforce your harassment policy.

Mary Luros is a business law attorney with Hudson & Luros, LLP, in Napa, and can be reached atmary@hudsonluros.com or 418-5118. The information provided here is not intended as legal advice, nor does it form an attorney-client relationship with the author. The author makes no representations as to the reliability or accuracy of the above information.

You break it, you bought it?

I have an employee who is constantly breaking things and routinely arrives late. Can I deduct the cost of the products from his wages? Can I deduct anything for being tardy?

You can’t typically deduct wages when employees break merchandise, but it depends on how the products are being broken. If an employee accidentally breaks something by no fault of their own, you cannot deduct that loss from their wages. Accidents happen in every business, and you are responsible for those losses as a business expense.

The general rule is that you can’t withhold wages or require an employee to reimburse you for cash shortages, breakages, or loss of equipment, unless the loss was caused by the employee’s willful act, dishonesty or gross negligence.

This rule applies in situations in which an employee accidentally drops something and it breaks, or if a customer walks out without paying their check. It would not apply if an employee intentionally threw a glass at a wall, for example, or took money from the register and lied about it.

Gross negligence occurs when an employee’s conduct falls far outside of the ordinary, to the point where they demonstrate a conscious indifference to the consequences of their actions. Courts, not employers, determine whether conduct rises to the level of gross negligence.

It’s challenging to differentiate simple negligence from gross negligence. Not paying attention while driving might be simple negligence, but at what point does it become gross negligence? If you’re driving over the speed limit? If you’re intoxicated? Blindfolded?

You can’t simply accuse an employee of being dishonest or negligent and then withhold wages. Actually, I wouldn’t recommend withholding wages for dishonesty or negligence without speaking to an employment lawyer.

California Labor Code Section 224 prohibits wage deductions that are not authorized by the employee in writing or allowed by law. Wage withholding is extremely risky. If you’re later found to be incorrect, your employee could recover the withheld wages plus waiting time penalties.

Employers can really only reduce wages when required by law, such as for income taxes or wage garnishments or with the employee’s written consent, such as deductions for insurance premiums or retirement contributions.

You may be able to deduct money from your employee’s paycheck for coming in late to work. The amount that you deduct cannot be more than the amount of wages they would have earned during the amount of time they were absent, except that if the loss of time is less than 30 minutes, you can deduct up to half an hour of wages.

Mary Luros is a business law attorney with Hudson & Luros, LLP, in Napa, and can be reached atmary@hudsonluros.com or 418-5118. The information provided here is not intended as legal advice, nor does it form an attorney-client relationship with the author. The author makes no representations as to the reliability or accuracy of the above information. In a perfect world we wouldn’t need disclaimers — or attorneys.

Recording Conversations

My business has been increasingly relying on phone-based customer service. Can I record my employees’ conversations to ensure they’re doing a good job?

Businesses record communications for many different reasons, including keeping tabs on employees and for quality control. Occasionally, a party to a conversation records it to prove that someone else is lying.

There are several different laws that govern the legality of recording conversations. The first is the federal wiretapping law, which prohibits the interception of a wire, oral, or electronic communication, unless one of the parties to the communication consents.

California’s Privacy Act is far more restrictive. It provides that anyone who secretly records an in-person or telephonic conversation without consent of all the parties to the communication is guilty of a crime. Violators may be punished by a fine of no more than $2,500, up to one year imprisonment, or both. The fine increases to $10,000 for subsequent offenses, and can include an additional one-year jail sentence. Victims can also seek civil penalties of the greater of $5,000 or three times the amount of actual damages for each recorded conversation.

To be liable under this law, you don’t even have to disclose the recording to a third person. Simply recording a conversation, even if never disclosed or used, is enough to give rise to the penalties described above.

If you are involved in a dispute, and think you have a smoking gun in the form of a recorded conversation, think again. In California, no evidence obtained as result of eavesdropping upon or recording a confidential communication is admissible in any judicial, administrative, or other proceeding.

Recording a conversation can also violate common law invasion of privacy laws.

The moral of the story is never record a conversation with someone in California without obtaining consent of each of the participants of the conversation.

An employee may consent expressly or impliedly, but I recommend you obtain express consent from your employees in writing before you record anything. The best approach is to formulate a clear policy regarding all forms of surveillance that you may use. Discuss that policy with your employees and have them sign off on the policy in writing.

The other half of the solution is to obtain consent from the customers who are calling your business. Some businesses simply use a prerecorded message to advise the caller that their call may be monitored. If the caller remains on the line, their consent is implied. You could also have your employer tell the customer that the call may be monitored, or have the customer consent to recording.

Mary Luros is a business law attorney with Hudson & Luros, LLP, in Napa, and can be reached atmary@hudsonluros.com or 418-5118. The information provided here is not intended as legal advice, nor does it form an attorney-client relationship with the author. The author makes no representations as to the reliability or accuracy of the above information. In a perfect world we wouldn’t need disclaimers — or attorneys.

Many happy returns?

I didn’t get what I wanted for the holidays. Are stores required to accept my return? What if the store doesn’t have a return or exchange policy?

Most retailers offer refunds, store credit or exchanges when a consumer wants to return an item.

However, California law does not require retailers to offer refunds or exchanges, as long as they post a conspicuous notice informing customers of their policy.

Written policies must be in a language that consumers can understand, so that it can be easily seen and comprehended. The policy must be in a visible place, such as by the entrance of a store, the cash register, or on the actual merchandise. Merely printing the policy on the receipt does not meet the notice requirement.

Sellers are not required by law to accept returned items that are defective, perishable goods like food or flowers, merchandise that cannot be resold for health reasons, and merchandise conspicuously marked “all sales final,” “as is,” or with similar language. Also, retailers need not accept returns for sales of customized goods that were received as ordered, or goods not returned with their original packaging.

California law also has specific provisions for certain kinds of goods, like automobiles. Some transactions that seem like the “sale of goods” might not be, like purchasing games, music, movies or books from online stores.

Policies may cover whether a cash refund or store credit is given, or whether an exchange is allowed for the full amount of the purchase price. Policies may explain the period of time allowed for returns or exchanges, what kind of merchandise is covered, and any other conditions that may apply. The policy might include a restocking fee, or a requirement that the product be returned in its original packaging.

Stores may keep records, share information to outside companies, and alter their return policies for customers who make frequent returns. This practice is allowable as long as it’s in the written policy and that policy meets the notice requirements.

If a store doesn’t have a posted policy, in most cases you are entitled to a full refund or equal exchange within seven days of purchase, with your receipt. Don’t forget that unless it’s sold “as is,” most consumer goods have an implied warranty that the item is fit for its purpose, which lasts for 60 days from purchase.

Stores may change their policy at will, including during the holidays. Always check the store’s policy before you buy something that you may need to return.

Mary Luros is a business law attorney with Hudson & Luros, LLP, in Napa, and can be reached at mary@hudsonluros.com or 418-5118. The information provided here is not intended as legal advice, nor does it form an attorney-client relationship with the author. The author makes no representations as to the reliability or accuracy of the above information. In a perfect world we wouldn’t need disclaimers — or attorneys.