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California Default Judgment Bars Litigation in New Jersey
By Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq. of Hanlon Niemann & Wright, a Freehold, NJ Appellate Court Attorney When it comes to deciding the merits of a case, default judgments are final adjudications (a default judgement means one party in a lawsuit failed to answer the complaint). A court in one state does not generally have the power to void a judgement or attempt to re-litigate the same case decided in another state because it interferes with the jurisdiction of a specific state court. This concept of not being able to re-litigate issues or...
read moreCan I Be Sued for a Verbal Contract?
By Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq. of Hanlon Niemann & Wright, a Freehold, NJ Contract Attorney I recently read an article where a prospective customer called a website design company about their rates and services. The customer was asked his address and details about what he wanted them to do which was strange given there was nothing finalized. But, after a few days the company called saying the customer committed to their services and threatened to sue for violating a verbal contract. Oral agreements lack written proof. Everything is oral, so...
read moreIf there is a Spelling Mistake in a Contract, is it Still Legal?
By Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq. of Hanlon Niemann & Wright, a Freehold, NJ Contract Law Attorney What if you or I had the word “contractor” spelled wrong in a real estate contract? Say I put “conractor” in the contract. So there is a “t” missing. (Did you even notice the typo?). Does the mistake render the contract unenforceable? Generally speaking, as long as the intent of the word is clear, the fact that it is merely misspelled will not invalidate the term(s) of the contract in which the misspelling is found. These types of mistakes are...
read moreA Nice Slap Down Against a Franchisor in California: A Judge Tells U-Haul to: “Haul” Your Non-Compete Clauses Out of Your Contracts
By Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq. of Hanlon Niemann & Wright, a Freehold, NJ Franchise Law Attorney A California appellate court recently upheld a permanent injunction in Robinson v. U-Haul Company of California barring U-Haul from enforcing its non-compete covenants in California. U-Haul also was required to pay over $800,000 in attorney’s fees to its former dealer. U-Haul sued one of its independent dealers for breach of contract and unfair competition after the dealer’s contract with U-Haul was terminated and the dealer began renting out...
read moreMake Sure Your Contracts Limit the Forum Where You’ll Have to Potentially Litigate
By Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq. of Hanlon Niemann & Wright, a Freehold, NJ Contract & Business Law Attorney Obviously, when you are negotiating a deal, thinking about what happens if the contract falls apart is not as important as the established terms of the contract. But a good businessman or woman knows that no matter how great an agreement is for one or both parties, something can always happen that leads to the breakdown of the business relationship between the parties, and the parties’ grievances end up in court. To address that...
read moreIs it Legal to Have Employees Sign a Contract that Says They Can’t Leave the Company until a Certain Date?
By Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq. of Hanlon Niemann & Wright, a Freehold, NJ Business Contract Attorney Yes. It is acceptable to have an employment contract in the US that requires people to stay for a certain date. However, there are limitations. First, normally such contracts will have a certain time period, a certain salary, and certain benefits. Such contracts tend to spell out all sorts of things. Including how each party can end the agreement. An employee at our firm was told by her old company, they wanted to hire a person with a...
read moreFighting Unauthorized Use of a Credit Card
By Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq. of Hanlon Niemann & Wright, a Freehold, NJ Business and Contract Law Attorney If you or a loved one has gotten charges on his or her credit card that you do not recognize, you are not alone. Every day, many Americans look at their credit card statements and scratch their heads wondering when they made certain charges to their accounts. Some credit card companies are proactively watching your account and flagging suspicious charges, asking whether or not you actually incurred those charges and restrain...
read moreEven When You’re an Angry Franchisee Don’t Refuse to Pay the Franchise Fees
By Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq. of Hanlon Niemann & Wright, a Freehold, NJ Franchise Law Attorney If you have been a renter, at times you’ve likely been mistreated by a landlord due to delays in repairs, mechanical failures, etc. A typical reaction is to withhold rent. Failing to send a rent check is often a wrong approach legally and generally makes things worse. In a recent case the owners of a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise (watch out for Dunkin’ Donuts (DD) franchises for reasons I’ll gladly explain) franchise did not complete a required...
read moreYou Must Agree on Essential Terms to Make a Contract Enforceable
By Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq. of Hanlon Niemann & Wright, a Freehold, NJ Contract Attorney In a recent unpublished N.J. Appellate Division decision, we attorneys got a look into just what it means to have an enforceable contract. In Jacowitz v. Lozito, the plaintiff doctor entered into a verbal agreement with a defendants’ chiropractic practice where the plaintiff, a cardiologist, would provide the defendants’ out of network patients with imaging scans, and the defendants would handle the billing and pay the technician. The defendant was...
read moreVoiding the Enforcement of a Mandatory Arbitration Clause in NJ
By Fredrick P. Niemann, Esq. of Hanlon Niemann & Wright, a Freehold, NJ Arbitration Law Attorney Is there anything that will persuade a NJ court to void a mandatory arbitration clause? In a landmark decision, the N.J. Supreme Court case of Atalese v. U.S. Legal Services Group, determined that for a mandatory arbitration provision to be enforceable, it must not only mention arbitration but specifically, must state that the plaintiff is giving up his right to bring his claims in court. The idea behind this ruling is to prevent certain...
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