Category: Business

THERE are situations in both Divorce and Child Support cases where the Summons and Petition resulted to a default against one party for failing to respond on time.  In certain situations, the defaulted party failed to respond on time because he or she did not even know that he or she was served with a…

MANY people who need debt relief are afraid to file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 because they fear that life after bankruptcy will be difficult. The fear is that bankruptcy will prevent them from getting new credit cards, buying a car, buying a house. Some even believe that they won’t be able to freely…

ARE you worried about your future due to having too much debt? You’ve probably heard the saying, “The failure to plan is a plan to fail”.  And yet so many of us don’t realize how we so easily neglect to plan for our financial future. Ask a few people you know what kind of financial…

Q: I HEAR a lot of talk about “diversity” and “pay equity” in the workplace. I live in California and, yes, I work with a “diverse” group of people in terms of race, age, gender, etc. But it is obvious to me that there is no “pay equity” in this diversity. How, as an employee,…

THERE are situations in both Divorce and Child Support cases where the Summons and Petition resulted to a default against one party for failing to respond on time.  In certain situations, the defaulted party failed to respond on time because he or she did not even know that he or she was served with a…

MATTHEW Flanigan worked as the Director of Information Technology (IT) for Rheumatology Diagnostics Laboratory, Inc. (RDL) in Los Angeles, California. He discovered that tens of thousands of patients’ information were uploaded to the network, causing a privacy violation. He reported the violation to upper management but was ignored. Later, in a separate lawsuit among shareholders,…

Establishing parentage rights for Moms is a lot easier than establishing one for unmarried Dads.  Moms can establish this by simply showing proof of her having given birth to the child.  Family Code §7610. Establishing parentage rights, including custody and visitation rights, becomes more problematic with unmarried Dads because proving yourself as the biological father…

OVER the last 35 years, many clients always ask me “Attorney, should I file for bankruptcy?” This question is asked after they have told me what their problem is. The problem is always financial: having a hard time paying credit cards; behind on mortgage payments and there is a threat of foreclosure from the bank;…

FACING difficult financial times can be a frightening thing for a lot of people. When bill collectors are hounding you, at some point, you realize that something must be done but you just don’t know where to begin or where to go for help. Often, options can also be confusing unless you get the right…

MANY self-employed individuals have relied on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and other federal pandemic loans to rescue their businesses from going under. If you notice, many restaurants that we go to pre-pandemic have shuttered up permanently despite using up PPP and other loans. Sure the PPP loans helped a lot to keep employees employed,…

CARLOS Castellon worked as a driver for Penn-Ridge Transportation, Inc., a company that delivers the goods of major retailers (such as Best Buy) to the homes of consumers. The delivery drivers and their helpers delivered and installed appliances at the consumers’ homes. The workers were categorized as independent contractors (ICs). Castellon sued the company in…

Couples get divorced for various reasons.  California is a no fault state.  The reasons why a couple is getting divorced are often irrelevant to the issues of the family law case.  Divorce is often a difficult and negative experience for most families.  However, getting divorce may have some unintended benefits in the immigration law arena. …

ARE you struggling to pay your debts every month, especially your credit cards? Do you barely have anything left to pay your mortgage, rent, food, and other basic living expenses after you make your monthly debt payments?  Do you want to lower your payments and make life a bit easier? One type of relief under…

Q: I have a good employment record for this company I have been working with for more than 10 years. My employer recently hired another employee whose conduct made me feel uncomfortable. When I am on a lunch break, he would come up to me while I am eating and show me sexually inappropriate photos…

Couples get divorced for various reasons.  California is a no fault state.  The reasons why a couple is getting divorced are often irrelevant to the issues of the family law case.  Divorce is often a difficult and negative experience for most families.  However, getting divorce may have some unintended benefits in the immigration law arena. …

Client case is unusual. She is young at 28 and owes about $300,000 of credit cards. She used these cards to fund a “gift card” business. What’s a “gift card” business? There are many people who cannot qualify for credit to purchase items like iPhones, TVs, personal computers, and other big ticket items but they…

YOU’VE just been sued for a credit card debt after you’ve had trouble paying what you owe. After several months of getting harassing phone calls that you were ignoring because you didn’t have the money, now they’ve finally sent you court papers. What do you do? Should you file bankruptcy or are there other options?…

‘Poor performance’ is no excuse for employer WALLEN Lawson worked as a territory manager for two years for PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc. (PPG), a paint manufacturer. Wallen sold and stocked PPG paint products in Lowe’s home improvement stores in Southern California. PPG used two metrics to evaluate Wallen’s performance: his ability to meet sales goals…

ONE of the biggest problem of millenials and Gen Z are educational cost and student loan debt.  This eats up a large part of a households budget even among married couples.  However, what happens to all the money paid towards one spouse’s education and student loans if the marriage fails and leads to divorce. Well,…

Debtor also has one collection lawsuit for $10K THE client is 48 and has just been sued for $10,000 by American Express. He recently received the summons and complaint. He is single with one teenager dependent. He used to have a business, but that has failed. He now works as a manager and earns $4,000…

ARE you having problems paying your debts? Are creditors calling you day and night threatening you with a wage garnishment, repossession, or foreclosure? Are you starting to feel hopeless and depressed about your situation and don’t know where to turn for help? We are living in tough financial times. Economists are foreseeing a recession right…

Arbitration is a procedure to resolve disputes without filing a complaint in court. By signing an employment arbitration agreement, the employee agrees to adjudicate any claim against the employer before an arbitrator and not before a judge or a jury. This means the employee cannot sue that employer in court. Unlike court proceedings which are…

I’VE recently gotten a couple of clients who have been on debt consolidation and are now ready to jump into Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. First, let’s distinguish debt consolidation from debt settlement. No, they are not the same thing actually. However, both debt consolidation and debt settlement require negotiations with creditors because the aim…

THE COVID-19 Pandemic is a scary reality which affects everyone globally and has shut down the global economy.  Individuals over 65 are more at risk of having serious complications with this virus.  Although we cannot completely control how we would respond to such virus, we can prepare our finances and estate incase the worst happens….

Q: I WAS fired from work last week and another co-worker also quit at around the same time. Our employer told us both to sign an “exit form” and a “release.” We were told that we would not get our final paycheck if we do not sign these documents. Is this legal? A: If an…