Licata & Toerek

Licata & Toerek exists to create freedom for entrepreneurs and their ventures. The Firm accomplishes this by first working hard to understand your business, then applying our legal expertise to help your business succeed.

The Firm provides complete legal counsel as well as consulting on domestic and international business matters, addressing key issues that every entrepreneur encounters, including:

Asset Protection
Employment Relationships
Intellectual Property
Workers' Compensation
Business Transactions
Regulatory Compliance

The unique combination of business intelligence and legal expertise results in a unique approach to what a client requires for success. A legal matter is never just a transaction to the Firm. Lawyers at Licata & Toerek understand that every legal issue impacts the overall health of a business, and therefore its owners, employees, and customers. This complete approach gives entrepreneurs the freedom they need to create and manage successful ventures with confidence.

Recent-Developments

THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD RULES THAT
FACEBOOK® COMMENTS ARE "PROTECTED ACTIVITY"

On October 27, 2010 the National Labor Relations Board's Hartford regional office issued a complaint against a Connecticut ambulance service for "illegally" terminating an employee who posted negative remarks about her supervisor on her personal Facebook® page. In addition, the NLRB's complaint alleged that the company's social media policy was "overly broad".

According to a News Release published by the NLRB's General Counsel on November 2, 2010, the employee, a member of Teamsters Local 443 was asked by her supervisor to prepare an investigative report regarding a customer complaint made about the employee's work. In response, the employee apparently requested representation by her union concerning the report, but the supervisor denied the request. When the employee left work, she voiced her opinions about the supervisor on her personal Facebook® page, from her personal computer. Co-workers apparently posted supportive comments which prompted the employee to post additional negative comments...

Hot Topic

Dispute Resolution Alternatives Make $ense
Posted by: Louis J. Licata

As any business owner who has participated in litigation of any type can attest, litigation of legal claims is extremely lengthy and expensive, and the resulting cost can cripple a small business for years. Whether the claims that are the subject of the litigation relate to a business contract dispute or an employment matter, the impact of litigation on a business' bottom line is immense. Not only must the business expend its financial resources on the legal fees that accompany litigation, but also the business must expend significant human resources throughout litigation. Also, litigation inevitably impacts the business' bottom line through the decrease in work production due the considerable time investment of the business owner and any employees involved in or with knowledge of the subject matter of the litigation.

Most business owners likely do not voluntarily subject themselves to this agony. To that end, and on the sage advice of their trusted counsel, business owners are taking proactive steps to protect their businesses from the potentially harmful impact of litigation. One of these proactive steps involves the use of dispute resolution alternatives...