Attorney Melissa Lynn

10/23/2024

Contracts 101: know the difference in the risk between:

"the seller shall deliver..." and
"the seller shall make her best efforts to deliver...."

The second one is a huge erosion of obligations and is a much larger risk for the buyer/other party. (You can swap the word "seller" with any party to a contract - this is just a generic example.)

10/05/2024

Hurricane Helene Emergency Attorney Assistance:

The states of North and South Carolina both have emergency attorney services available for those facing the effects of the hurricane. Although I personally am in South Carolina, and so are many of our firm's attorneys, I am really proud that many of our attorneys across the nation have stepped up to help out and that the states have allowed attorneys licensed elsewhere to lend a hand.

If you're facing issues with things like insurance claims, the states have opened their doors for pro bono attorney assistance so you don't have to worry about unscrupulous insurance adjusters and claim denials. Contact the appropriate state bars, they have done a phenomenal job in organizing all of us to help the most efficient ways possible - they have a process where you get an attorney response within a business day.

Visit the links below for contact info, volunteer and donation info, and hotlines:

South Carolina Bar - https://www.scbar.org/public/get-legal-help/disaster-relief-resources/
North Carolina Bar - https://www.ncbar.org/news/free-legal-assistance-available-for-north-carolina-survivors-of-tropical-storm-helene/

The Disaster Legal Services program is a partnership among the North Carolina Bar Association and Foundation, Legal Aid of North Carolina, American Bar Association, and FEMA to assist North Carolina residents affected by natural disasters. A toll-free legal aid hotline is now available for survivors...

10/04/2024

Red tape for the sake of red tape - thanks, uncle Sam🙄

To all small business owners: do not forget that you need to file your beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports by January 1, 2025. This applies to almost all small businesses. FinCen requires all small businesses (with very limited exceptions) to file their BOI reports by the end of 2024. If you own a small biz, you need to file this.

Failure to file before that deadline WILL result in penalties of up to $500 a day.

YOU CAN DO THIS YOURSELF if you want to figure it out. If you don't, or if you are not sure and want a cheap answer to avoid penalties, my firm will file on your behalf for only $50 per beneficial owner, any state. If you're a sole member LLC, it's just you. $50 and we make sure you're compliant before the law goes into effect.

You do not need a lawyer to file this, but we've been involved with FinCen for over a decade so it's not too hard for us, and we keep your information confidential. Filing only ever has to be done ONCE (unless a change occurs) but it must be done correctly.

Get your business ready before the deadline for our very small fee. I was prompted to share this and open things up outside our normal clientele when I saw an automated offer for $200 with a 20% discount. Don't pay two hundred bucks.

10/03/2024

For any attorneys who wish to help out with emergency services in North Carolina post hurricane Helene, the state has opened up to licensed attorneys from any jurisdiction and really could use the help. Here is a link to the form directly from their website, which you complete and then email to them.

09/03/2024

Oregon's state bar application: best question I've seen on any of them. I wish this was asked more often and had more severe repercussions.

08/19/2024

A counteroffer is a rejection of the first offer. You cannot make a counteroffer and then change your mind and accept the first one - it is gone. The second a counter is made, the original offer is extinguished.

People ask frequently why they can't make counteroffers on all the offers coming in (such as when selling a home) when they have multiple. That is because a counteroffer is an immediate and total rejection of the offer. If you sent out multiple counters at once, you'd be ruining multiple offers (by extinguishing them) and creating a legal minefield for yourself. An acceptance with additional terms is almost always going to be a counteroffer as well, extinguishing the original offer.

This can bring a really unfortunate and abrupt end to some premature celebrations, I've seen.

07/25/2024

For anyone moving somewhere from far away / out of state: If you take over a lease (whether an apartment or a house) from someone else, please talk to a lawyer or do a free consult before you sign any docs. I see so many people coming from out of state ending up with problems and in court over these things - sometimes left out on their own.

Please make sure you send someone independent to verify the property exists with their own eyes, that it's habitable, that the people contacting you are legitimate owners/agents, etc.

Make sure you have an agreement in writing about whether there is supposed to be any cleaning done, the expected conditions, and any money changing hands (usually that's just the security deposit being paid from new tenants to old ones moving out - new tenants get the currently held deposit back from landlord at the end, so they take on all the responsibility of the condition of the premises).

Every state has landlord tenant law, and that's relatively easy to deal with. What becomes a nightmare is when it's not landlord tenant law, but an issue of contract breach between tenants who never agreed to anything in writing, when the parties aren't doing credit/ID checks on each other (like a landlord usually does), when you end up going to court for things like breach of implied/quasi contract, fraud, quantum meruit, unjust enrichment, etc. These cases are expensive, usually are litigated in small claims, and don't provide for attorneys fees. That means you need to either find an attorney who will work for free (not many good ones will, other than for legitimate legal aid programs with federal income requirements) or pay out of pocket. Insanity.

06/04/2024

lol

06/03/2024

Non-compete agreements/clauses: going away thanks to a new federal law from the FTC which goes into effect in Sept 2024. There is an exception for non-competes already in place for senior leadership involved in policy making, but for most all others, no more non-competes. Your employer also must come forward to tell you proactively that the non-compete you had will no longer be enforceable. The reasoning was that non-competes are anti-competition, among other things.

Today, the Federal Trade Commission issued a final rule to promote competition by banning noncompetes nationwide, protecting the fundamen

05/11/2024

You have rights against this behavior. You should be angry.