How to Avoid a Filing Fee

When forming a subsidiary corporation, many lawyers rely on the exemption contained in Corporations Code Section 25102(f) or upon federal preemption via Corporations Code Section 25102.1(d). Both of these sections require the filing of a notice with...

Will DOC Employees be Reduced to Minimum Wage?

As noted in a post last Friday, employees at the Department of Corporations have returned to working on the first three Fridays of each month. This is good news for state employees because they will now get paid for those days. However, this good...

Happy New Year!

California began a new fiscal year on July 1 without a budget (again).   The California Constitution (Art. IV, Sec. 12(c)(3)) is very clear:  "The Legislature shall pass the budget bill by midnight on June 15, of each year."

It’s Gut AND Amend (GANDA) Time and Your Bar Card May be at Risk!

In recent blogs, I've attempted to explain the reasons for a phenomenon that we'll be seeing from now until August 31. Why August 31? We are in the second year of the biennium of the legislative session. Under the California Constitution (Art. IV,...

Will Your Next Construction Contractor be an LLC?

Speaking of professional services, the Beverly-Killea Limited Liability Company Act generally does not authorize domestic and foreign limited liability companies to engage in professional services. Consequently, a limited liability company cannot...

Bylaw Violation is also a Breach of Fiduciary Duty

Le v. Pham, 180 Cal. App. 4th 1201 (2010) dates all the way back to January of this year but is still worth noting. In this case, the Court of Appeal held that the shareholders in a professional corporation had a fiduciary duty to the other...

Sticking to the Subject

In a prior post, I wrote about "spot" bills.  So if a legislator thinks of a new idea, why can't he or she simply tack it on to an existing bill?

U.S. Supreme Court Decides Fate of Legislative Platypus

This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion concerning the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The Court held that the dual for-cause limitations on removal of PCAOB members contravene the U.S....

Dividends: Sale or No Sale?

When a corporation distributes its own securities to its existing shareholders, there is no sale - correct?  Well, maybe not. Corporations Code 25017(f) does exclude from the definition of "sale" any "stock dividend payable with respect to common...