Do you need a Business Lawyer or Commercial Litigation Lawyer? McMackin Law has experience handling a wide variety of Business law disputes such as:
Partnership and Shareholder disputes occur for many reasons. Some of the frequent disputes which can often be resolved amicably with legal assistance are as follows:
While the disputes above often can be resolved amicably the following disputes often require litigation:
It is not uncommon for majority shareholders to steer corporations in ways that financially benefit them while leaving a trail of minority shareholders with nothing. This is where a proceeding which pleads Oppression may be required. Oppression proceedings are designed to protect against wrongful corporate conduct. Section 248 of the Ontario Business Corporations Act deals with the Oppression Remedy. In Section 248(3) it essentially says the Court can do whatever it wants to remedy the Oppression. This wide-reaching provision can be an excellent tool for minority shareholders.
If you are a victim of Fraud, Embezzlement or Oppression you need to seek counsel immediately. The longer you wait, the less chance you will have of getting your money back.
Contract disputes typically involve where a breach of contract has occurred or is anticipated to occur. There are many reasons why a party breaches a contract. In cases of nonpayment we are well versed in Debt Collection. In more complex cases often it will often come down to the following two things:
Unfortunately, in this case QZY uses a 1-page contract as precedent that was originally drafted 20 years ago. The contract uses broad terms like Perform Excavation services without clarifying location, depth etc. Nothing in the contract deals with delay or consequences for failing to meet the timeline. In fact, no timeline is even in the contract.
ZYX ends up doing 6 feet high holes and 2 feet deep five feet from the property line. QZY had expected the holes to be 4 feet wide and 9 feet deep and two feet from the property line. ZYX also took 2 months to finish the work while QZY had budgeted 2 weeks for the work to be completed. Several subcontractors have been delayed and are now suing QZY for damages due to lost income.
QZY now has a very large issue on their hands. The contract they drafted was vague and subject to contra proferentem. (Interpret against the drafter)
The contract should include the price, timeline, consequences for failing to meet the timeline, exact specification as to what is to be done, exact location of where it is to be done, when delay will be calculated from etc. All too often small businesses make the mistake of just inserting a price and a broad unclear description. A business owner should not leave anything in a contract open to interpretation.
All the issues in this example could have potentially been avoided by hiring McMackin Law, Oshawa Business Lawyer, Bowmanville Business Lawyer, Whitby Business Lawyer or a Durham Business Lawyer.
Commercial Property Disputes are wide ranging. There can be issues with leases, nonpayment, breach of contract, delay, misrepresentations, damage to the property etc. We can help.
Debt collection is an issue almost every business will need at some point in time. Some debts that are small may not make financial sense to go after in the short term. In the long term though setting precedent may well be worth it for your business. If you require Debt Collection services or want more information please review our page on Debt Collection for more information.
Employment Agreements: These agreements will have a significant impact on your business in the long term. Layoffs have been deemed to be illegal in common law. (There are some exceptions) With that said a properly drafted Employment Agreement may allow you to legally lay off an employee.
Absent a correctly drafted clause on Severance and Termination pay a long-term employee will often be entitled to 26 to 104 weeks pay in lieu of notice at common law. With a correctly drafted severance clause you could potentially limit employees to at or slightly more than the Employment Standards Act requirements. The Employment Standards Act provides for a maximum of 8 weeks notice. Additionally, if certain requirements are met employees may be entitled to severance pay of 1 week per year worked.
Recent case law suggests if you even remotely violate an Employment Standards Act provision related to severance then your severance provisions may be found void.
In most cases an employee dismissed for cause will actually be entitled to full severance. This is because dismissing an employee for cause is the equivalent of the death penalty in Employment Law. It is reserved for the worst of the worst. You will need to show progressive discipline over a significant period of time in most cases to have a chance at arguing the employee was dismissed for cause.
In most cases independent contractors will in common law be found to be dependent contractors or employees. It does not matter that they signed independent contractor agreements or that they file their tax returns as such. What matters is the actual nature of their employment. This will have a significant effect on many businesses going forward because dependent contractors are entitled to full severance based on recent case law. The cost of terminating life long independent contractors that are found to be dependent contractors or employees could be in many cases upwards of 1-2 years severance pay.
For more information on misclassification of independent contractors and the risks in doing so, see our article on Independent Contractors, Dependent Contractors and Employees.
You have a duty to accommodate employees with special needs that are protected under the Human Rights Code up to the point of Undue Hardship. If you fail to do this, you may be liable for full severance and Human Rights damages.
If you reduce an employees pay, lay them off, demote them, move them to an office far away then the employee may have the right to treat this as a constructive dismissal and be entitled to full severance.
When we are contacted by a new business client, we suggest meeting at our main office in Bowmanville. Often business clients will not have one issue but a variety of issues. We work closely with each business client to develop customized solutions to suit their business needs.
At McMackin Law we have significant litigation experience. Alan over a 40-year career has been a part of upwards of 100 trials. He spent the last 5 years of his career training Ryan in the Art of Litigation. This allows us to go to court and enforce your legal rights where necessary.
A lawyer who only focuses and knows one single area of law will have a difficult time addressing the many concerns that will occur over the course of your time as a business owner. They will likely have to refer you to a separate lawyer for each dispute that doesn’t fall within their scope of practice. At McMackin Law we have knowledge and experience litigating a wide range of issues that businesses will frequently encounter as can be seen in the areas of Business Law that we practice.
A business lawyer can help you solve a wide variety of your current legal issues and assist you in protecting your business from future legal issues.
McMackin Law serves Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Durham Region, Courtice, Bowmanville, Newcastle, Clarington, Port Hope, Cobourg, Northumberland County, Toronto and Surrounding Areas.