Avoiding Business Lawsuits and Claims

Companies adopt different strategies such as employment policies and partnership agreements to avoid business lawsuits and claims. Ideally, any contract should be written since oral agreement may result to confusion and dispute.

AVOIDING LAWSUIT OVER INTERNAL DISPUTE

• Create a written partnership agreement
  
  If a business has two or more owners, there should be a comprehensive partnership agreement that will state every partner’s duties, obligation, percentage of shares and profits, and voting rights. This contract should also include the provisions in case that a partner decides to leave the company (or his other partners want him to go), has been disabled, and has died.
  
  According to Los Angeles lawyers, having a clear and comprehensive partnership agreement is the best way in defending a company from lawsuits and claims.


• Make sure that a contract is fair
  
  Courts may void a contract if this is obviously one-sided. This means that if only one party enjoys advantages while the other is not getting more than he should, the contract may not be legally enforceable.


• Make sure that there is no misrepresentation in the contract
  
  A contract will be considered void if a person deliberately lied or did not include entries which are relevant for the other involved party.

AVOIDING INFRINGEMENT LAWSUIT

Apart from adopting strategies to avoid internal dispute, businessmen, especially those who are operating in the food and technology industry, should also make sure that their activities will not violate the federal and state laws.

• Do not infringe other people or companies’ invention or product
  
  Do not use, sell, distribute a copyrighted material or artwork unless with the consent of the creator or owner. Infringing the copyright of other people may result to lawsuits and claims which are usually expensive.


• Avoid objectionable artwork
  
  People should avoid using objectionable artwork (e.g. a book which has a title that resembles the name of a popular novel) since it will not just cause problems in the release of a certain work but may also make them liable for claims and legal settlement.


• Do not use a trademark to confuse consumers
  
  Businessmen should not use a trademark (names, logos, words, or phrases that have been associated with a certain company) that will confuse consumers who may think that they are buying a product of another company.
  
  One of the most recent trademark lawsuits involves Beyonce Knowles who plans to release a perfume name “Sasha Fierce”.
  
  US clothing giant Abercrombie & Fitch, which filed the lawsuit, said the R&B’s perfume will create confusion with its own signature scent called “Fierce”.

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