QUESTION: The court has approved my final account and report, discharged me as receiver and exonerated my bond in a difficult, litigious case I am glad to have over. An elder receiver I know told me I could still be liable for acts or omissions that occurred in the case even though I have been discharged and my bond exonerated. Is this true?

ANSWER: As the saying goes: “Listen to your elders”. There are situations where you may still have liability for actions taken or not taken during your term as receiver; even personal liability. Although there is a dearth of case law on this subject, the ...

QUESTION: I have been appointed receiver in a case involving contentious litigation over a business. The defendant has appealed my order of appointment. The defendant has also repeatedly violated the injunction issued along with my appointing order and has refused to turn over or account for receivership property. Because of the defendant’s conduct, at my request, the court issued an order to show cause why the defendant should not be held in contempt. Given the defendant’s conduct, is there an argument that his appeal should be dismissed because he has refused to comply with the ...

Money, that is. It is a motivation shared by employers and employees alike. It is the reason why employers are in business and why employees work for employers. And it is often the primary reason for a lawsuit.None of this will surprise savvy employers. But what often comes as a surprise to employers is that the plaintiff is not usually the person driving employment litigation. Whether it is a class action or a single plaintiff dispute, as the saying goes, if you “follow the money” more often than not it is the plaintiffs’ counsel that is in command of the lawsuit, from start to finish.

Confirming what most employers have long assumed to be true, this week the U.S. Supreme Court held that severance payments made to terminated employees are “wages” subject to the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax withholding requirements. Specifically, United States v. Quality Stores, Inc. was a bankruptcy case which involved an attempt by Quality Stores to claw back taxes paid in connection with severance to workers. The issue on appeal was whether supplemental unemployment compensation benefits, which was how both the taxing authorities and Quality Stores ...

In a brief memorandum recently issued to the Secretary of Labor, President Obama directed the Department of Labor (DOL) to update federal overtime rules. As noted in the memorandum, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides basic rights and wage protections for American workers, including Federal minimum wage and overtime. Most workers covered under the FLSA must receive overtime pay of at least 1.5 times their regular pay rate for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week (Alaska, California and Colorado have established additional requirements, including daily ...

QUESTION: Before the Commercial Code was amended a few years ago, it provided that a receiver becomes a lien creditor over personal property in the receivership estate and can avoid unperfected security interests in such property. I can’t find that provision in the amended code. Does it still exist, and if so where is it?

ANSWER: The concept of a receiver becoming a lien creditor upon his appointment, with the ability to avoid unperfected security interests in property of the estate, still exists in the amended Commercial Code; it’s just harder to find than it used to ...

On January 1, 2014, the IRS standard mileage deduction rate decreased from 56.5¢ to 56¢ per mile for business miles driven. The rate for medical or moving purpose mileage also decreased from 24¢ to 23.5¢. The rate for miles driven in service of a charitable organization remained set at 14¢ per mile. The business rate is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile. The medical and moving rate is based on the variable costs. The charitable rate is based on statute.These rates impact all California employers because California requires that all ...

QUESTION: Should receivers appear only through counsel to avoid civil liability?

ANSWER: In Re Shattuck, 411 B.R. 378 (10th Cir. BAP 2009), which held that a receiver, who is not a lawyer, cannot appear in federal court without a lawyer. The decision was based not only on 28 U.S.C. §1654 but also on the fact that a receiver acting in a representative capacity and, not being a lawyer, cannot represent third parties or entities. In thinking further about this issue it dawned on me, like the boy who suddenly realized “the emperor has no clothes”, what authority does a California ...

When they are not properly paid. A number of law firms and corporate employers consider paralegals to be exempt from overtime. At the federal level, the Department of Labor (DOL) has stated that most paralegals lack sufficient specialized education to qualify for the learned professional exemption and are therefore not exempt from overtime. In this regard, the State of California generally applies more strict standards and will likely follow the DOL.Nor is it likely that paralegals could qualify as exempt from overtime under the other most common exemptions. Specifically ...

The Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service recently released final regulations for employer responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that will delay parts of the employer mandate that require businesses with more than 50 employees working 30 hours or more per week to provide affordable health insurance coverage to workers. The final regulations are designed to allow a gradual phase-in of certain responsibility provisions that will assist employers in complying with and providing coverage during the transitional year of 2015.Specifically ...