The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires anyone who owns, leases, or operates a place of public accommodation to make sure that the place or premises complies with ADA guidelines. This means that when drafting an ADA compliant commercial lease, a property owner must address how the parties to the agreement will comply with the ADA, and who will absorb the cost of a potential ADA lawsuit.
Title III of the ADA requires "barrier removal"...
A power of attorney is a legal document that grants a person the legal authority to sign documents and enter into transactions on someone else’s behalf. If you give a trusted professional, friend, or family member power of attorney, their signature on your behalf is legally effective to the same extent as if you had signed.
There are several reasons why you may give someone power of attorney, such as anticipation of your own incapacity...
“No prudent individual would make a contract for the construction of a building of any magnitude without incorporating a provision somewhere making specific and definite arrangements concerning extra work.” City Street Improvement Company v. Kroh, 158 Cal. 308, 321 (1910).
Previously on our blog, we discussed how changes to construction contracts are often unavoidable, but that there are limitations to how much a construction contract can change. In this article, we will discuss the proper tool...
Previously on our blog, we discussed how more complex contracts allude to other existing contracts and documents. Incorporation by reference is the method of making these alluded-to documents part of a contract, and is often used to save space when parties want to include or reference another legal document or contract into a new contract. To properly incorporate another document by reference, it has to be adequately described in a new contract, and it...
In order to build a development, home, or addition that does not comply with local zoning ordinances or restrictions, a property owner or developer must obtain a variance. The exact process of obtaining a variance will vary based on applicable city or county laws, and can vary depending on the scope of the project and the type of variance sought.
For example, there could be different processes or requirements for “residential use” variances versus “residential...
Every contract in California (and across the country) must meet certain legal requirements to be considered “valid,” such as the manifestation of assent by both parties to be bound by the terms of the transaction. For centuries parties have been “signing on the dotted line” to evidence their assent to the terms of the agreement.
In an increasingly digital economy many contracts are being consummated electronically. The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (the “UETA”) (found at Civil Code...
Previously on the blog, we discussed what constitutes unfair competition in California. In this article, we will share a few examples of recent unfair competition lawsuits involving California businesses.
As a refresher, California Business and Professions Code Section 17200 prohibits “unfair competition,” which includes any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice. It also includes any unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising, as well as any other act prohibited by the Business and Professions Code. A violation under this code section...
Selling partnership shares often involves various considerations. In most partnerships, partners can choose to sell their share of the partnership to the partnership or a new potential partner as part of the resolution of a partnership dispute or simply because the individual or entity no longer desires to be part of the partnership.
Selling partnership shares will be governed by a partnership agreement, or if there is no partnership agreement, state law will govern sale of...
Changes to a construction contract are a part of doing business in most cases. Therefore, parties to a construction contract almost always have the right to make change orders. However, there are often limitations to the changes that can be requested and made. Parties to a construction contract should be familiar with what a permitted change is, and what an impermissible “cardinal change” is.
Construction contracts should contain what is often called a “contract changes”...
A flow-down clause (also referred to as a pass-through or conduit clause) is usually found in a construction contract and provides that subcontractors will be bound to the general contractor in the same fashion as the general contractor is bound under its contract with the property owner.
Flow-down provisions are important to protect parties to a construction contract by spelling out that a subcontractor's obligations to the general contractor are identical to the ones a...
