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CEO, CFO And Manager Held Individually Liable For Employee Unpaid Wages Upon Corporation's Bankruptcy

If your company files bankruptcy or dissolves and in the process the company fails to pay its employees their wages, vacation and sick time, the Ninth Circuit says you - as the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer and the labor manager - can be held individually liable to pay those back wages.  Plus penalties.

Read that sentence again and don't skip over the word "individually."  Yep, you got that right.  Ouch.

In Boucher v. Shaw, the Ninth Circuit upheld individual liability for supervisors under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act despite two striking facts:  (1)  they were not individually liable under Nevada wage and hour laws; and, (2) the corporate employer (the Castaways Hotel and Casino) was in bankruptcy court in liquidation proceedings. 

In these conomic times, this case is an important reminder that executives are taking the risk of individual liability under the FLSA by failing to ensure that employees are paid upon dissolution or bankruptcy of a corporate employer.  This ruling applies in California since it's out of our Ninth Circuit and the law enforced by the court is a federal, not state, law.

Posted by J. Craig Williams on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 08:26 Comments (0) |

MIPTC Is Back And Being Archived Up By The Library of Congress

For nearly the last six months, MIPTC has been transitioning its law practice from WLF | The Williams Lindberg Law Firm, PC to Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, LLP.  WLF sold its practice back in February.  That move has necessitated focusing my complete attention on our clients during the transfer, but unfortunately not on this blog.  Regular readers have noticed and commented because the only posts I've been able to keep up with are the Lawyer2Lawyer podcasts.  The transition is virtually complete and I can now return to more regular blogging.

To start my return from this hiatus, I'd like to pass along some flattering news:  the United States Library of Congress has sought (and obtained) my permission to archive MIPTC as part of its archive regarding Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court.  Eventually, you will be able to find the archive of MIPTC and the other resources here as part of Minerva Web Archiving and Preservation Project.  It will take the LOC some time (MIPTC isn't there as of the date of this post), and I'm sure the government will move quickly to make the site available.  Right.  It will take about a year and a half, but when it gets finished, MIPTC will have a permanent place in history, if not in infamy.  Citations to the program are described here.

Welcome back, gentle reader.  More to come on a regular basis.  Thanks for staying with me.

Posted by J. Craig Williams on Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 08:15 Comments (0) |

Lawyer2Lawyer Enters The Great Debate Over Healthcare Reform

Debate continues over Health Care reform. Please join me and my fellow co-host Bob Ambrogi as we welcome Dr. David Orentlicher, professor and co-director of the Center for Law and Health at Indiana University Schools of Law and Medicine and Attorney Joel L. Michaels, the partner-in-charge of the Health Law Department in McDermott Will & Emery LLP's Washington, D.C. office, to discuss legal issues surrounding healthcare reform, its impact on businesses, hospitals, and individuals and the role of federal government in the marketplace of health care insurance.  Click on the icon below and give a listen!

Posted by J. Craig Williams on Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 07:20 Comments (0) |

Lawyer2Lawyer Internet Radio Rips Out Chinese Drywall Issues

Lawsuits are on the rise from Chinese drywall used to build homes especially in Southeastern states causing crippling effects on residents' property, as well as their health. Please join me as I welcome  Attorney Scott G. Wolfe, Jr. a construction litigator at Wolfe Law Group and Attorney John F. Mullen, Sr. from the firm, Nelson Levine de Luca & Horst, to look at both sides of Chinese drywall litigation, the effects of Chinese drywall, the mounting lawsuits and what the future holds for the affected residents.

Give a click on the icon below and give a listen.

Posted by J. Craig Williams on Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 14:54 Comments (0) |

Behind Lawyer2Lawyer: The Legal Talk Network Inside Video

Posted by J. Craig Williams on Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 07:26 Comments (0) |

Lawyer2Lawyer Internet Radio Examines Legal Issues In Michael Jackson's Will

With the passing of Michael Jackson, his will is being dissected and many questions remain on the future of his estate.  My co-host and fellow Law.com blogger Bob Ambrogi as he welcomes Attorney Lawrence H. Heller, an international tax and estate planning attorney at the firm Bryan Cave LLP and Professor Tom Featherston, the Mills Cox Professor of Law at Baylor Law School to discuss the fate of Michael Jackson's estate.  They will take a look at the handling of Jackson's estate, the role of the appointed executors and the importance of having a will.

Posted by J. Craig Williams on Wednesday, July 08, 2009 at 16:52 Comments (0) |

Lawyer2Lawyer Internet Radio Checks Out Lawyer Advertising On Craigslist

Solo and small-firm practitioners have discovered that Craigslist is a great source for generating business, but they are now challenged by a growing number of lawyer ads and individual state's advertising rules.  Please join me as I welcome Attorney Susan Beecher, a solo practitioner out of Kent, Washington and Attorney William Hornsby, counsel in the American Bar Association's Division for Legal Services, as we look at the upside and the legal ethics issues surrounding advertising on this and other free online advertising sites. 

Click on the link below and give a listen. 

Posted by J. Craig Williams on Wednesday, July 01, 2009 at 16:45 Comments (0) |

Lawyer2Lawyer Internet Radio Takes To The Air Over The Atlantic To Examine Air France Crash

On May 31, 2009, Air France flight 447, out of Rio de Janiero bound for Paris, vanished into thin air.  A frantic search for passengers and the black boxes, turned up with a number of bodies but no black boxes. Please join me and my co-host Bob Ambrogi as we invite Attorney Justin T. Green, partner with the firm Kreindler & Kreindler and Attorney John A. Greaves from the firm Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, PC, to discuss the crash, the litigation and jurisdiction issues and the quest for compensation for the victims' families.

Posted by J. Craig Williams on Friday, June 26, 2009 at 15:09 Comments (0) |