BHL Bogen

BHL Bogen
BridgehouseLaw LLP - Your Business Law Firm

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Vegan sues McDonald's after dairy, wheat disclosure

A professed vegan has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit claiming McDonald's Corp. misled consumers into thinking its french fries are free of dairy and wheat products. It seems to be one of those stories. McDonald is sues for everything. For coffee too hot, for hamburger too fat and now for fries too natural.

Nadia Sugich from Los Angeles ate a lot of fries. Or at least enough of them to feel bad about her consumption. She said this week on Wednesday after filing her law suit, that she "would have never purchased or consumed the french fries if she had known they contain dairy and were not vegan."

What is the legal theory is the question? "Unfair business practices" is the argument.

This was quick as only a few days ago McDonald's informed the public that wheat and dairy ingredients are used to flavor the its fries.

Does this ring a bell? In 2002 McDonald's paid $10 million. For fries!! This lawsuit was filed by vegetarian groups after it was disclosed that its fries were being cooked in beef-flavored oil. Exactly one year ago in February 2005 there was another 8.5 million settlement for a suit re: changing the cooking oil, but then delaying the switch.

In looking at the revenue the best investment may have been one small portion of french fries bought at McDonad's.

Bon appétit!

Friday, February 24, 2006

bla bla bla or Dianna Abdala vs. William Korman

Dianna Abdala is a 24-year-old Boston-area attorney who made some kind of world fame. She had apparently agreed to work for William Korman, a lawyer. She decided on Friday at 9 PM not to take a job which was most likely scheduled to start on Monday morning.

This all happend through email. But read yourself


——-Original Message——-
From: Dianna Abdala
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 9:23 PM
To: William A. Korman
Subject: Thank you

Dear Attorney Korman,

At this time, I am writing to inform you that I will not be accepting your offer.

After careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that the pay you are offering would neither fulfill me nor support the lifestyle I am living in light of the work I would be doing for you. I have decided instead to work for myself, and reap 100% of the benefits that I sow.

Thank you for the interviews.

Dianna L. Abdala, Esq.

——-Original Message——-
From: William A. Korman
To: Dianna Abdala
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 12:15 PM
Subject: RE: Thank you

Dianna —

Given that you had two interviews, were offered and accepted the job (indeed, you had a definite start date), I am surprised that you chose an e-mail and a 9:30 PM voicemail message to convey this information to me. It smacks of immaturity and is quite unprofessional. Indeed, I did rely upon your acceptance by ordering stationary and business cards with your name, reformatting a computer and setting up both internal and external e-mails for you here at the office. While I do not quarrel with your reasoning, I am extremely disappointed in the way this played out. I sincerely wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Will Korman

——-Original Message——-
From: Dianna Abdala
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 4:01 PM
To: William A. Korman
Subject: Re: Thank you

A real lawyer would have put the contract into writing and not exercised any such reliance until he did so.

Again, thank you.

——-Original Message——-
From: William A. Korman
To: Dianna Abdala
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 4:18 PM
Subject: RE: Thank you

Thank you for the refresher course on contracts. This is not a bar exam question. You need to realize that this is a very small legal community, especially the criminal defense bar. Do you really want to start pissing off more experienced lawyers at this early stage of your career?

——-Original Message——-
From: Dianna Abdala
To: William A. Korman
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 4:28 PM
Subject: Re: Thank you

bla bla bla



--------
I read about this so many times over the last few days ... including this one remark "In case you’re curious the position is not open at this time."

I guess the moral is "never write an e-mail that is not intended to be preserved forever in history ..."

Sarbanes Oxley Act

nice new piece of information to get started about SOX regarding the following:

* IT security's role in SOX compliance
* The evolving nature of a SOX audit and what it will take to pass future audits
* How to develop a SOX philosophy
* How to project business requirements to security requirements

http://exsj.bitpipe.com/detail/RES/1139250179_157.html

Take a look!

Greetings
RvH

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Picaro or Picasso ?

The European Union's highest court dismissed a legal bid by the heirs of Pablo Picasso to stop the car firm DaimlerChrysler from using the trademark "Picaro" which, they argued, was too similar to the name of the artist.

Five of the painter's children and grandchildren had asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to intervene. They argued that DaimlerChrysler's trademark risked confusion with the name "Picasso", which they had licensed to Citroen-Peugeot for use on one of its cars. It was the family's last appeal, after a series of defeats in lower European courts, one of which, last September, saw them given an astonishing dressing down by a senior officer of the ECJ.

The final ruling was less colourful, but no kinder to the Picasso family. The justices of the ECJ dismissed their argument that the two names were easily confused. A Picaro is no Picasso, and that's final.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Unternehmensgründung leicht gemacht

Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung berichtet zum Thema "Bürokratieabbau". Interessant, wenn eine Behörde die Bürokratie abbauen will ...

Dort lese ich: "In Deutschland gibt es viele gute Geschäftsideen. Aber Deutschland hat auch viele Verordnungen und Vorschriften. Damit die guten Ideen schneller Wirklichkeit werden, startet nun ein Internet-Portal mit allen relevanten Vorschriften und Gesetzen.

Die startothek ist ein datenbankgestütztes Beratungsprogramm für angehende Gründerinnen und Gründungsberater. Es bietet verlässliche, umfassende und jederzeit topaktuelle Rechtsinformationen für Gewerbe, Handwerk und freie Berufe in über 370 Wirtschaftszweigen.

Die startothek schafft Transparenz im Paragraphendickicht

Hartmut Schauerte, Staatssekretär beim Bundeswirtschaftsministerium, stellte das neue Portal am 26. Januar vor: "Mühsame Recherchen in Publikationen und bei zahlreichen Behörden gehören der Vergangenheit an." Die startothek solle dem Unternehmensgründer die Angst vor dem unüberschaubaren Vorschriftendschungel nehmen.

"Schritt für Schritt nähern wir uns unserem Ziel, der One-Stop-Anlaufstelle", so Schauerte. In einem solchen "one-stop-shop" soll ein Unternehmensgründer alle Formalitäten einer Unternehmensgründung erledigen können.

Wie funktioniert die startothek?

Das Programm lässt sich ganz einfach nutzen: Man gibt zum Beispiel Standort, Wirtschaftszweig, Rechtsform und weitere Daten für das geplante Vorhaben ein. Das Ergebnis liefert eine Übersicht über alle Genehmigungen, die für den Einzelfall einzuholen sind. Die To-Do-Liste lässt sich Punkt für Punkt abhaken.

Auch Ansprechpartner und weitere Informationen werden genannt. Musterbeispiele sind aufgeführt.

Die startothek wurde auf Initiative des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Technologie zusammen mit der KfW Mittelstandsbank entwickelt. Das Projekt wird bereits seit Oktober 2005 erprobt. Die Startphase finanziert der Europäische Sozialfonds (ESF), das Bundeswirtschaftsministerium und die KfW. Danach tragen Lizenzgebühren die Finanzierung. Die lizenzpflichtige Phase beginnt am 1. März 2006. Bis dahin haben alle die Möglichkeit kostenlos zu testen.:

>> Zur Startothek

Das mal los!

Besten Gruss aus den USA
RvH