In short, a Utah real estate agent hired by the seller or vendor owes to others, including the buyer, a duty to be “honest, ethical, and competent and is answerable at law for his or her statutory duty to the public.” See NetDictation, LLC v. Rice, 2019 UT App 192. Let’s take a look at …
What Duty Does Your Utah Real Estate Agent Owe to You? Read More »
Million-dollar view from one of my favorite rocks in Farmington, Utah Did you engage your accountant to work for your company (LLC or S Corp) or did you engage him or her to work for you personally? The reason that I ask this has to do with whether you can personally rely on your accountant’s …
Utah Accountant Liability: Is Your Accountant Working for You or Not? Read More »
Utah is an at-will employment state, meaning that “either the employer or the employee may terminate the employment for any reason (or no reason) except where prohibited by law.” This termination right, however, is not without limitation and could be modified either by written or verbal agreement. So, as with most legal rules, there are …
Utah Employers and Employees Have Contracts Just Like Everyone Else Read More »
Utah business partners: are you in trouble? Seen here mountain biking on Antelope Island, Utah Short answer: probably. It all depends on what you mean by ‘trouble.’ Do you mean, “is my Utah business partnership about to implode (or explode!)?” If you are asking yourself that question, you probably already know the answer. Get Utah …
The duty to defend is the duty that an insurance company owes its insureds to hire an attorney and take action to defend the insured when the insured gets sued. It’s a bit of complex law that is often at the heart of any bad faith action against an insurance company. Utah typically follows the …
The Utah Supreme Court ruled against a debtor who asserted a novel defense to repayment of a $250,000 loan in default. The case is Crapo v. Zions Bank. The debtor claimed that once the bank sent him a Form 1099-C discharging his debt, the bank could no longer attempt to collect the bad debt from …
The Utah Supreme Court Again Requires Reasonable Conduct Under the Circumstances Read More »
The Utah Court of Appeals recently provided a quick and dirty summary of basic contract terms in Lebrecht v. Deep Blue Pools, 2016 UT App 110. The case also provides a primer for creating an enforceable settlement agreement without an attorney. Let’s take a look.
What happens when you suffer harm from a breach of contract that you cannot prove or would have a very difficult time proving? Such as for a delay? Often your damages will go unreimbursed. One typical situation is for delay in contract performance– “Time Is Money,” right? The proof of damages under this axiom is …
How to Use a Liquidated Damages Clause in Utah Contracts Read More »
The Utah Legislature recently passed and Governor Herbert signed a law in 2016 limiting non-competition agreements. It can be found at Utah Code Ann. 34-51-101, et seq. Please note that I updated this article as of April 2017. When the law initially started through the Legislature, it seriously limited non-competition covenants. The end result was much …
Utah Law Governing Non-Competition Agreements – April 2017 Update Read More »
Your initial response to the title question should certainly be ‘No’. In light of a recent case pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals, however, you may want to reevaluate your representations made in contract or settlement negotiations. A bank VP was convicted of fraud based on representations he made in a deal he made …
Do Your Contract or Settlement Negotiations Amount to Fraud? Read More »