The Iowa Supreme Court has announced that it is beginning a three-year project for an Iowa Business Specialty Court for complex cases with $200,000 or more in dispute. To begin the project, three Iowa judges will be hired for the court based upon their educational background, judicial and trial experience with complex commercial cases
Business Litigation
Iowa Supreme Court Rules Employer Can Fire Woman Because She’s Too Attractive
Happy New Year everyone! The first blog post of the year centers on a controversial Iowa Supreme Court decision handed down right before the holidays.
In Nelson v. Knight, the Iowa Supreme Court was presented with the question whether a male employer could terminate a female employee because the employer’s wife, due to no…
Evaluating a Franchise Opportunity
In meeting after meeting with prospective franchisees I am asked what I would look for in a franchise opportunity. It’s not an easy question. But trust me when I say that all franchise opportunities are NOT created the same.
What separates the good franchising opportunities from the bad franchising opportunities in my experience? Here are…
Employers Should Consider Policies on Ownership of Social Media Accounts
Daniel Burnick of the Alabama Employment Law Report has an interesting post on a case involving a disputed Twitter account where the employee left his employment, changed his Twitter account name and then kept all the followers he had with his former employer.
In Kravitz v. PhoneDog, Kravitz used @phonedog for his Twitter account…
Franchisees: Think Twice About Agreeing to Paying Franchisor State Tax
In a recent review of a franchise disclosure document (FDD), I spotted a provision from a franchisor requiring the franchisee to pay any state taxes imposed on the franchisor as a result of the franchise operations within the state. Franchisees (particularly here in Iowa) should think twice before agreeing to this type of provision due…
Be Aware of Independent Contractor Misclassification
In my last post I shared my ABI Quick Bits Interview on Wage & Hour Lawsuits. In that interview I discussed how I often hear employers reference "1099 employees". I cautioned that you should make sure not to confuse independent contractors and employees. They are separate worker classifications and it’s important the your workers…
ABI Quick Bits: Wage and Hour Lawsuits
I recently sat down for an interview with Leisa Fox of the Iowa Association of Business & Industry to discuss wage and hour lawsuits. For a blog post I wrote on the topic see here.
Be sure to check out the other Quick Bits videos on a variety of business topics from
Rush Nigut to Speak at ABI Social Media Roundtable
Rush Nigut of Brick Gentry, P.C. will be one of the featured speakers at the Iowa Association of Business and Industry’s Social Media Roundtable on November 14, 2012 at the Honey Creek Lodge Resort. Rush will deliver the keynote general session presentation on New Developments and the Future of Social Media. He will also lead…
Drought Brings Expectation of Crop Insurance Arbitration Battles
I recently came across the Midwest Agricultural Law Guide, a legal blog written by Omaha lawyer Sean Minahan. Sean has an interesting blog post on how the recent drought may bring a flood of arbitration claims against crop insurers. Apparently the drought is expected to bring a whopping $25 Billion in claims!…
Price Shopping v. Loyalty on Business Insurance Policies
A lot of business owners are understandably price conscious when it comes to their business insurance policies. Often, business owners will shop their business insurance and hop from insurance company to insurance company in the hopes of finding the most affordable policy.
The problem with this strategy is that if a claim occurs it may…