Are you a partner in a partnership or memberin an LLC?If able, most partnerships (including LLCs taxed as partnerships) likely will want to “opt out” of the new centralized audit regime enacted under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (“BBA”) on their upcoming tax return. If unable to opt out (as discussed below), we still […]

President Trump, Congress must fill critical vacancies for judges in federal courts The following op-ed with headline below was originally published online by The Fresno Bee on August 3, 2018: Enamored of the Declaration of Independence and acting against the orders of the French king, the 20-year old Marquis de Lafayette in 1777 left France […]

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (“SGMA”) has led to an unintended and unpublicized effect:  a shortage of water law attorneys that can provide non-conflicted representation of farmers, water districts and groundwater sustainability agencies (“GSAs”).  Although in the past water law attorneys had to bridle the ethical and advocacy wall between representing farmers and the related […]

If you pay commissions, keep in mind that California Labor Code section 2751 requires that all employers who use commissions as a means of compensating employees provide those employees with a written agreement which sets forth the method by which the commissions will be calculated and paid.  Further, the written commission agreement must be signed […]

Most parents want to make sure their children are provided for in the event something happens to them while the children are still minors. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and good friends sometimes want to leave gifts to beloved young children too. Unfortunately, good intentions and poor planning often have unintended results. Don’t make these common, expensive […]

Recently a group of plaintiff attorneys have started filing claims under California’s Proposition 65 also known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 for a chemical known as Furfuryl Alcohol.  As of September 30, 2017, all products containing Furfuryl Alcohol sold in California must include a warning meeting the Prop. 65 […]

Labor Code sections 202 and 203 require employers to make prompt payment of the final wages owed to employees who are discharged or “quit.” An employer that “willfully fails to pay” is subject to waiting time penalties of up to 30 days’ wages.   When an employee retires, is he or she quitting under section 203?  […]

Fresno is home to the nation’s second largest population of Hmong immigrants and their children. Since 1999 the Hmong International New Year Foundation, Inc. has hosted an annual New Year celebration at the Fresno Fairgrounds that has attracted tens of thousands from throughout the world. For the past four years, with the help of Dowling […]

In Davis v. Honeywell International Inc. (filed 3/3/16, B256793), the admissibility of evidence going to the  burden on a plaintiff in an asbestos-related cancer case to prove legal cause, as was addressed by the California Supreme Court in Rutherford v. Owen-Illinois, Inc.(1997) 16 Ca.4th 953, is clarified in light of the trial court’s “gatekeeper” role […]

Commonly referred to as a “whistle blower” statute, Labor Code Section 1102.5 (b) provides in part that an employer “shall not retaliate against an employee for disclosing information . . . to a government or law enforcement agency . . . if the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation […]