Last year, the Consumer Financial Services Committee of the Business Law Section of the California State Bar sponsored AB 2364 (Wagner). This bill, which took effect on Tuesday, is intended to simplify the process for levying on bank accounts for both creditors and banks. Until now, a creditor was required to identify and serve separately each branch of a bank at which the debtor Read more...
New Law Lets A Thousand Rules Bloom, But Only Quarterly
Under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Office of Administrative Law is responsible for the review of regulations promulgated by over 200 state agencies. In 2011, reportedly 103 different agencies proposed 467 new rules. If the OAL determines that a proposed rule or amendment meets the standards prescribed by the APA, the OAL files the regulation with the Secretary of State’s office. In the Read more...
California’s GO-Biz Site Bedeviled By Errors and Omissions
According to the website, the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) was created ”to serve as California’s single point of contact for economic development and job creation efforts”. While the site does provide some very basic level of information, it is dangerously incomplete and riddled with manifest errors. No advice would be better than bad advice. “It Sounds Read more...
Changes In California Business Entity Filings Take Effect Next Week
The California Secretary of State has given notice of the following changes to business entity filings: All formation/registration documents must include the business entity street address and mailing address. All foreign corporation and foreign limited liability company registration documents must include the street address of the principal business office address in California, if one exists. All documents listing an individual Read more...
Phishing Scam Uses California Victims of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund As Lure
Earlier this month, the California Secretary of State warned of yet another phishing scam. Criminals typically phish by associating themselves with legitimate businesses. Their goal is to obtain personal information that can be used to steal your identity. This particular scam mentions the California Victims of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund, a real fund that is administered by the Secretary of State. See Read more...
In What Branch Of Government Are State Agencies?
Article III, Section 3 of the California Constitution declares that the powers of state government are legislative, executive and judicial. Section 3 then explicitly provides that “Persons charged with the exercise of one power may not exercise either of the others except as permitted by this Constitution.” This is what the Constitution says, but is it reality when it comes Read more...
Does A Lawyer Who Files A Derivative Action Have An Attorney-Client Relationship With The Corporation?
Because the California Corporations Code requires that the business and affairs of a corporation be managed by or under the direction of its board of directors, any decision of whether a corporation should bring suit on behalf of the corporation is ultimately vested in the corporation’s board. Cal. Corp. Code § 300(a). Derivative actions are an exception to this general principle. If Read more...
Does The Victims Of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund Deny Due Process?
In notorious defiance of the California Constitution, the legislature in 2002 established the Victims of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund. See Victims of Corporate Fraud. The purpose of the fund is to provide ”restitution to the victims of a corporate fraud”. Several years later, Sacramento Bee reporter Dan Morain wrote a devastating article on the fund: Fraud Victims Fund is a Travesty. He ended Read more...
Facebook Fairness Hearing Back In The News
Last August, the Department of Corporations approved the acquisition of Instagram, Inc. by Facebook, Inc. following a fairness hearing. See DOC Calls It Fair. According to this Los Angeles Times story by Salvador Rodriguez, Facebook officially closed the acquisition a few days later. Although I would have expected that to have been the end of the matter, the Facebook fairness hearing leaped into Read more...