Business Law

Business Law

Reasons to Incorporate

  • Shields you from personal liability.
  • Potential tax advantages.

Steps to Incorporating (LLC or Incorporated Entity)

  • Know the steps.
  • Registered agent: Know what a registered agent is.

Procedural Law

  • What is procedural law?
  • How to file a lawsuit?
    • Do I sue?
    • Do I not sue?
    • File your complaint (know what a complaint is).
    • Serve your complaint (know how to serve a complaint).
    • Responsive stage.
    • Discovery (potentially significant for exam).
    • Trial.
    • Appellate process (review).

Importance of Procedure and SunBiz

  • Protects your business and personal assets.
  • SunBiz protects you personally from any assets that you have.
  • Knowing procedural law slows down litigation.
    • Keeps money on your side.
    • Money can be invested and grow until a court decision.

Project Implications

  • The project involves state court and federal court aspects.
  • Part 3 involves torts.
  • The project includes how to invest to win a grant.
    • Relates to slowing down lawsuits to invest money.

Evidence Presentation

  • Witness.
    • Direct examination.
    • Cross examination.
    • Redirect.
  • Objections (e.g., hearsay).

Jury Trials

  • Hung jury: When no unanimous decision is reached.
    • Results in a mistrial, and the process restarts.
  • Jury trials in Florida must be unanimous.
  • Voir dire: Jury selection process with questions and answers.

Direct Examination vs. Cross Examination

  • Direct Examination: Open-ended questions.
    • Example: "What is your name?"
  • Cross Examination: Controlling the witness, often with yes/no questions.
    • Example: "Isn't it true that your name is Jillian Castillo?"
  • Cross examination aims to restrict the witness's ability to speak.

Litigation Process

  1. Direct Examination
  2. Cross Examination
  3. Redirect Examination
  4. Plaintiff goes first.
  5. Defendant goes next.
  6. Plaintiff always has the last word.

Broad Fields of Law

  • Real estate law and probate law may not require litigation.
  • Tort cases, family cases, breach of contract cases, and most business lawsuits often involve litigation.
  • Discovery can be used to find information to help your case or hurt the opposition.

Case Example: Child Custody Battle

  • A mother lives with her daughter and maternal grandmother in Miami.
  • The father lives in Colombia and visits 2-3 times a year and the daughter spends summers with him.
  • When the child is 13, the mother dies.
  • The father wants to take the child back to Colombia to live with him, his new wife, and their two other children, but the grandmother wants the child to stay in Miami.
Key Points
  • Grandparents have zero rights in Florida.
  • The child is a US citizen.
  • There are 25 factors considered with the child's preference being low on the list.
  • Age of majority in Florida is 18.
  • The court did not talk to the 13 year old because children don't decide.

Child's Preference

  • In Florida, the preference of the child is one of 25 factors.
  • The child has to be of a certain age and maturity to be considered.
  • The speaker has never asked for the input of a 13-year-old.

Abuse Allegations

  • The discussion of, child's want to wants is for competent parents who aren't abusing their children.
  • You should contact the police if abuse is happening and there are agencies in the town that can help you.

Witness Count

  • Having 18 witnesses is not normal for a custody case.
  • Most of them were there to say the grandmother was a great lady.

Review of the Appellate Process

  • Important to understand the legal system and how to appeal of need be.
  • Same summary whether you are in state court or whether you are in federal court.
  • Think about a ticket. Even with something as easy as a ticket, you can even follow this structure.
    • A cop stops you filed a complaint, the ticket.
    • Cop serves you the ticket.
    • Respond to the ticket.
      • Pay the the ticket, guilty.
      • Dismiss the ticket.
      • Subpoena the police officer.
      • Go to trial, call witnesses.
      • Appeal
      • Going through all that to just pay a $150 ticket.

State Court System

  • Three-tiered system

    • There are 20 circuits in Florida.
    • There are 6 district courts of Florida.
    • If in Miami, the appeal goes to the Third District Court of Appeal.
    • The Supreme Court of Florida is in Tallahassee.
      • There are seven Supreme Court justices.

Federal Court System

  • Three divisions, geographically based: Southern, Middle, and Northern.

    • Miami is in the Southern District.

  • Appeal from the Southern District goes to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia.

  • United States Supreme Court in Washington DC.

    • Nine justices serve for life.

Appellate System as a Pyramid

  • Bottom: Circuit Courts (20 judicial circuits, 67 county courts).
    • Circuit and county courts: If suing for less than 50,00050,000, rerouted to county court.
  • Middle: Six District Courts of Appeal.
  • Top: Florida Supreme Court.
County vs. circuit courts
  • County Court is part of the judicial circuit.
  • If it over 50,00050,000, it moves to circuit courts or county courts as part of the judicial circuit.
  • Trial court or appellate, you arguing that the person applying the law in the trial court did it wrong.
Difference Between Trial and Appellate Courts
  • Appellate courts: No retrial; arguing that the lower court made an error (applied the wrong law or didn't allow evidence presentation).
  • Panel of judges (e.g., three in the district court of appeals).
  • If good at writing, you'd be a good appellate lawyer.
  • Trial lawyer: Goes to trial, calls witnesses, picks juries, presents evidence.
  • Trial is jury selection; appellate is a brief to the appellate court.

Different System View

  • Moving away from different sides, 6 district, supreme court.
  • The blue is the state court system.
  • US District Courts, Court of Appeals, Supreme Court is the federal system.

State to Federal Court Exception

  • Rare, but possible: If the US Supreme Court feels a case is of supreme importance and arises from a state court, they can choose to hear it.
    • Example: Gore versus Bush (election case).
  • US Supreme Court Justices: 9 justices, serve for life.
  • They chose 2 - 3% of the cases. Looking for things of significance to the country, resolve between states, so law is consistent.

Alternatives to Litigation (Alternate Dispute Resolution Methods)

  1. Talking: Best, cheapest way; try to resolve issues directly.
  2. Mediation: Mediator tries to bring sides of a lawsuit together, but, be there a positivity and negatives for each posture, the parties should move together.
    • Used before or during a lawsuit. Is required in 11th circuit.
  3. Arbitration: Panel of three people; can be binding or non-binding.
  4. Tribunals: Same as arbitration but within a union system.
  5. Private Judges: Cannot be used for criminal cases. Cases move quicker and it's a more even playing field.
    • Parties agree to use an individual to expedite the case through the system, often a retired judge or lawyer.
    • Avoids jury; appealing up a level in the courts.
  6. Collaborative Law: Only applies in family cases; attempts to divorce people in a friendly manner, using neutral experts (accountants, therapists).

Alternate resolutions questions

  • How the attorney will get paid for each one. If not, a large organization is in a courtroom or in a boardroom, or, it has to, be public to the public.
  • Mediation: I am an you have to hire someone or just show up.
  • Is it because they can direct me to the county process.

Case about settlements

  • The judge tells you have to volunteer or they get sent to the Thursday trial.
  • Know jurisdiction because that's where it started with it. Start where to file.
    *

Family Law

  • People can lose their businesses, lose their ability to make a living because of divorce.
  • Sign the prenuptial contract before getting married, especially when you have a business because they could lose half of that and what they worked for.

Legal Status and Obligations

  • No marriage: If you live with someone for 20 years and are not married, you owe that person nothing at all now here in United States.
  • Marriage: If married, you owe alimony and an equitable distribution.
  • If children are involved, whether married or not, there are child support obligations until 18 or graduation from high school.
What income.
  • Alimony is a payment but not a personal one.
    *

Child Support

  • Based on income and overnights, making sure both people make the amount of money or equal each other.
  • It is determined on gross income, not income after taxes or before 4 or one k.
  • All sources must be included as well. Easy to determine if a week to employee or a one or nine nine for the income.
  • There the has the amount for the overnight in children so if their kids stay there after year, it could be calculated from from there and can be included.
Questions
  • Income, is he, or just the over time and also if they have multiple income.
  • Cash value, what they receive on the case.

Consequences of Not Paying Child Support

  • Income withholding order (up to 55% of income).
  • Garnishing bank accounts.
  • Intercept tax refund.
  • Revoke US passport (if owing more than 2,5002,500).
  • Interfere with immigration claims.
  • Suspend driver's license, commercial licenses, etc.
  • Sell assets (vehicles, computers, jewelry).
  • Incarceration.
  • Truckers can go. Commercial licenses revoked so can they they be able to drive and work.
    *

Child's father

  • Who he is because what happened he moved to another country. He'll never pay. Also, I remember what it does not help at all.
  • Child did not do anything, and they are supposed to not to be there at whatever happened."