A File Of Emails Regarding Deposition Of The Plaintiffs: Fill & Download for Free

There are a few things you should be aware of before forming any entity type. Most people will tell you what to do, but fail to apprise you of the financial obligations that doing so create. Others will immediately chime in and repeat something they read or heard about elsewhere, as if it were the best option for you (e.g., “You must form your LLC in Delaware because of its laws”, “You should form it in Nevada, for privacy”, etc).The fact is, you should form an LLC in the state you’ll be conducting business (PA, in your case). In addition, you’ll need to file as a foreign LLC in non-PA states you do business in (which, if you’re just soliciting businesses in PA, you don’t need to do).In addition, you will have to hire a Registered Agent in your state of formation (PA, in your case), as well as in every state that you file as a foreign LLC (none, in your case). For the uninitiated (i.e., those not “in the know”), a registered agent can cost you $225 per year (assuming you use Corporate Services Company). I use RegisteredAgents.com, and prepay for 5 years of service ($299 total - about $60/year).Despite what some people may tell you, the Pennsylvania Department of State makes it clear (as do most states) that the registered agent must be a bona-fide business address that is open to the public during regular business hours (9:00 am to 5:00 pm), Monday through Friday. In other words, the registered agent must be available during business days to accept service of process, if your LLC is sued.To form an LLC in PA, you visit your Department of State website and download the Domestic LLC Certificate of Organization, fill it out, then file it and pay the $125 filing fee. From then on, you must file an Annual Report with the Department of State - at no cost to you (which is very fortunate, most states aren’t like that). In addition, it appears that every 10 years your LLC will also be subject to a $70 fee.You should receive an email or postcard from the Department of State, giving you notice regarding the Annual Report, and most states allow you to file online (the postcard has a code you type in).Some of the things others may not mention… unless you have a proper operating agreement (other than LegalZoom boilerplate) and business bank account, and are following the rules set forth in your operating agreement and the RULLCA (Revised Uniform LLC Act - which your state likely has adopted) regarding treating your LLC as a business separate from you, it won’t offer you any protection in case of a lawsuit.You can still be personally sued if the LLC commits a civil tort; that does not mean the plaintiff will prevail against you. Anyone can sue anyone, with or without good cause. You (as well as your LLC) will have to answer the complaint, and wait for the plaintiff to send out form interrogatories or schedule a deposition. At that time, you’ll be able to show that services were rendered under the LLC, and not by you personally (if… and only if… each written customer contract was made out in the name of the LLC, and your signature indicates that you are signing as the manager of the LLC (on behalf of the LLC), and not as an individual.If your LLC is sued, you will likely have to produce its books and records, including accounting records, while the other side goes on a fishing expedition to try and find examples of situations in which you co-mingled personal and LLC assets, or acted as an individual rather than an LLC. They will try to “pierce the corporate veil” of the LLC by proving that you weren’t serious about it, and didn’t run it as a separate business.Another thing to note; now that you have an LLC, you cannot appear on behalf of your LLC in court (if sued, or if suing someone). You must hire an attorney to represent your LLC, since you are just a member of it. Welcome to the world of surprises.Overall, an LLC is worth having… if you have a profitable business, or if you have substantial personal assets that need protecting. If you’re a student, then for all intents and purposes, you’re basically broke - and few clients would spend their money suing you, when you lack assets (or insurance).On another note, here’s a State LLC Chart I developed for myself (for those not in PA). It only includes certain states, because those were the ones relevant for my personal estate planning situation. Most people will be interested primarily in the “File Fee/Ann[ual] Fee” column. Note that I last updated it in 2015.

Which country has arguably the best judicial system in the world and why?China has the best judicial system in the world Because the sine qua non for a good judicial system is trust and people trust their legal system because it applies the law uniformly to rich and poor, powerful and powerless, alike.If people do not trust their judicial system it has failed, and China’s judicial system is the most trusted on earth.How do China and America compare? How much do citizens trust their respective legal systems?When he launched his anti-corruption drive in 2012, President Xi promised⁠1 to govern by virtuous example, yide zhiguo, and to create a socialist spiritual civilization, jingshen wenming. Four years later, reminded⁠2 a judicial study group that law and ethics are inextricably bound:Law is virtue expressed in words and virtue is law borne in people's hearts. In the eyes of the State, law and virtue have equal status in regulating social behavior, adjusting social relations and maintaining social order. Rule of law must embody moral ideals that provide reliable institutional support for virtue. Laws and regulations should promote virtuous behavior while socialist core values–prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, the rule of law, patriotism, dedication, integrity and friendliness–should be woven into legislation, law enforcement, and the judicial process.Penal law and judicial processes still play minor roles in Chinese everyday life and the legal process remains a work in process. Members of the National Family⁠3 still address older strangers as ‘aunty,’ ‘uncle,’ ‘grandfather,’ or ‘grandmother,’ and every adult assumes responsibility for every child. Would-be criminals struggle against family, friends, workmates, classmates, and neighbors who counsel, mediate and compromise⁠4 with them to keep them on the path of virtue. They encourage self-criticism and use persuasion, education, and individually tailored solutions, which families can enforce far more effectively than police. So effective is mediation that Congress now requires all villages to maintain People’s Mediation Committees⁠5, courthouses to maintain mediation offices, and lawyers to become certified mediators. In 2019, seven-million mediators handled six million disputes and reduced the national legal bill to one-tenth of America’s⁠6.As in France, magistrates are regarded as neutral truth seekers who interrogate suspects, examine evidence, hear testimony, render verdicts and determine guilt and innocence pre-trial. Though a Trial Spot in wealthy Shanghai provides defense lawyers for all criminal defendants, elsewhere defense lawyers are mandatory only for juveniles, the disabled, and those facing life imprisonment or death. If there is insufficient evidence for a conviction, the magistrate will suggest that the procurate either reduce the charges or investigate further. Since most casework involves paper depositions, the Western custom of cross-examining witnesses under oath before a judge is uncommon but, while American defendants lose their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination if they testify, Chinese defendants may say what they wish in their defense or refuse to be cross examined, without prejudice. If the investigating magistrate decides that the defendant is guilty the case go to trial, which is really a sentencing hearing, but even if a defendant confesses and wishes to end the matter, the magistrate must hold an open trial and ask the defendant to confirm his confession publicly.Though lawyers’ reputation in Chinese society has always been poor, the profession was boosted in 2012 when Li Keqiang⁠7, an expert on English common law, became Premier and, overnight, the Supreme Court’s internship program began attracting top students. Then President Xi suggested establishing independent judicial committees, including non-Party members, to select judges based on merit and professional track record and, by 2019, every province had an independent judicial committee to minimize local government interference, select and oversee the work of judges and prosecutors, and punish professional misconduct. Shanghai’s committee expelled a High Court prosecutor, two sub-prosecutors, the Vice President of the Provincial Supreme Court and a senior circuit court judge. Police, prosecutors and court officials are responsible for wrongful prosecutions until the day they die, and national appeals courts re-hear cases, overturn wrongful convictions, order restitution, and require lower courts to study their reversals.The Supreme People’s Court’s website, with five billion visits, offers online courses on every element of the law, invites criticism of new laws, and provides an artificial intelligence interface to its six hundred thousand recorded trials. Its website invites citizens to email the Chief Justice, whose answers begin cheerily, “Hello! We received your question, and after consideration, we respond as follows…” and end with, “Thank you for your support of the work of the Supreme People’s Court!” Ultimately–since their ethical duty transcends their legal responsibility–the courts answer to the Party which, as arbiter of national ethics, prevents unethical and anti-democratic decisions⁠8. As former Chief Justice Xiao Yang explained, “The power of the courts to adjudicate independently doesn't mean independence from the Party at all. On the contrary, it embodies a high degree of responsibility vis-à-vis the Party’s [dàtóng⁠9] program.”Though unarmed, police have powers their Western colleagues only dream of. Instead of removing miscreants from society they can issue temporary restraining orders and mandate home confinement, which gives them the opportunity to discuss solutions with their families. Convicted criminals–who can prosecute prison staff for breaching their rights–must receive humane levels of material comfort and dignity from arrest to release. Sentences are typically short, but prisoners must participate in career, legal, cultural, and moral counseling that focuses on the social consequences of their crimes. Even murderers are expected to repent, reform, and rejoin society.Citizens can video police, who must publish the status of all arrestees online. TV programs regularly explain new laws and schools, offices, factories, mines and army units discuss concepts like the exclusion of illegally obtained evidence. After the success of a weekly TV show, I am a Barrister, the Legal Channel followed up with The Lawyers Are Here. Each episode introduces legal issues ranging from child custody to healthcare negligence and expert panels offer opinions and advise real litigants on air.Online Trial Spots are reducing legal costs, promoting equitable outcomes and lightening the burden of enforcement. One app bundles free mediation, dispute settlement and legal aid and connects plaintiffs to thousands of lawyers, notaries and judicial appraisers. Another verifies plaintiffs’ and defendants’ IDs and combines face and speech recognition with electronic signatures, allowing them go to trial without leaving home. Using voice-to-text, it submits their files, transcribes their testimonies, and stores their case records in case of appeal. Beijing’s Internet Court provides artificial intelligence-based risk assessment as a public service and automatically generates legal documents, applies machine translation, and simplifies settlements through oral interaction with its knowledge base. In 2017 Hangzhou, home of Alibaba, launched the first cyber court exclusively for online e-commerce complaints, loan litigation, and copyright infringement. In its inaugural case, TikTok sued Baidu for ownership of user-generated video content.With unarmed police, two percent of America’s legal professionals and one-fourth its per capita policing budget, China has the world’s lowest rates of imprisonment and re-offense. Crime remains low, trust is rising, and Beijingers no longer remove batteries from parked electric scooters. When Harvard’s Tony Saich⁠10 surveyed them about their greatest worry, most Chinese ranked ‘Maintenance of Social Order’ highest and when he asked which government service pleased them most they chose ‘Maintenance of Social Order.’____________________________________________________________________________1 Report, 18th Party Congress, November 8, 2012. Xi was quoting from Confucius’ Analects.2 Xi stresses integrating law, virtue in state governance. Xinhua. 2016-12-103 The Chinese term for nation-state is ‘nation-family’ and most Chinese would take for granted that the nation-state is an extended family.4 Failure to do so can bring consequences. In 2018, when Liu Zehnhua committed suicide after raping and murdering Li Mingzhu, the court ordered Liu’s family to pay the Li family one hundred thousand dollars for failing to socialize their son.5 In addition to People’s Mediation conducted by grassroots community mediators, China employs Judicial Mediation conducted by judges, Administrative Mediation conducted by government officials, Arbitral Mediation conducted by arbitral administrative bodies, and Industry Mediation conducted by specific industrial associations.6 Average Person Spends $250 Per Year on Legal Services. Jay Reeves | April 14, 2015. Lawyers Mutual7 At Peking University Law School in 1978, Li translated Lord Denning’s “The Due Process of Law,” becoming so proficient in the language that he broke protocol and spoke in fluent English at a Hong Kong University event in 2011.8 In 2010 the US Supreme Court ruled that corporations can spend unlimited money on elections because limiting corporations’ “independent political spending” violates their First Amendment right to free speech.9 A dàtóng society is the Chinese Dream, which Confucian scholar Kang Youwei rendered thus: “Now to have states, families, and selves is to allow each individual to maintain a sphere of selfishness. This infracts utterly the Universal Principle (gongli) and impedes progress...The only [true way] is sharing the world in common by all (tienxia weigong) This is the way of the Great Community, dàtóng, which prevailed in the Age of Universal Peace. Commentary on Liyun.10 How China’s citizens view the quality of governance under Xi Jinping. Tony Saich. Journal of Chinese Governance. Vol 1, 2016

Well, I’m not supposed to do anything against their business interests, so I won’t say the company name, and you wouldn’t even know them if I did, because they’re small and insignificant but I’ll give the story in quite a bit of detail, in case you’re thinking about this course of action. Before getting started I’ll say this: suing people is hard, and not really fun unless you’re a semantics nerd like myself. Also, I should mention that I sued my employer and got them to settle for a relatively significant sum of money - but I didn’t actually go to trial. I’d like to though if you know of a shady employer in California and can get me a job. Just kidding. Mostly…Also, for your information, this took place in California, so don’t go thinking you can apply anything I say here in any other state. And obviously, this is not legal advice. If you can afford to you should get a lawyer, because it will save you a ton of a headache. But if you can’t afford one well… here’s what I did:THE BACKSTORYSo first you’ll need a little bit of background. I got hired by this company right after I completed a coding boot camp. It was this father and son team and they told me that they were just about to launch and they needed someone to oversee the installs of their software on customer premises. I was told that the pay was $20/hr plus commission, but that commissions were one to two months away. Now, being in the SF Bay Area, $20/hr is pretty low - minimum wage is $15 in Emeryville. For context, I’m 32, and while I’m not college educated, I’ve worked for quite a few tech companies on the sales side of things before I decided to get technical myself, so I have some experience that’s relevant to this since it’s a software startup.So, I think the pay is questionable, but the business is in an industry that I think is on the upswing, so I say fuck it and join up. If it turns out to be a sham, then I can quit in a few weeks, and if it takes off, well hopefully I’ll be able to make a chunk of change on commissions. So I start with the company and basically, by the end of day one, I should have known it was bad… they have me come over to their house (which is quite nice because the father (father and son team remember?) used to be a surgeon) for a meeting with their marketing team. The meeting is nothing but vague promises to get things going, and grandiose claims about what people are capable of, on both sides. Someone let’s slip that the marketing team’s contract is $20,000/mo.So the next week we’re set to go to some industry conference that’s happening in town (Oakland for Bay Area peoples). I get there, and I’m standing at the booth where we’re supposed to have our software being demoed, but there’s nothing to show really. There’s another red flag. Meanwhile, the father and the son are promising people the moon in terms of what their software can do. I still haven’t seen the software, but I’m becoming more and more skeptical by the minute.The conference lasts a few days, we gather a bunch of business cards of folks who are interested and we go back to their house to work. The next red flag comes when I find out they have a beta tester, and that they’ve had to pay him thousands of dollars to make up for when the software has caused them headaches. What was that you were saying about commissions?But, ever the optimist, I figured, hey, maybe these guys really need my help! This is an opportunity! So I dig in. Over the next couple of weeks, I get them out of that beta testing deal, I identify that the contractors who they’re working with are providing a terrible value, and I start advocating for going back to the drawing board because it seems like the product is a long way from being able to launch. And obviously, I raised the issue that since there’s no product there will be no commissions, so I’d like to renegotiate as to compensation.PROMISES, PROMISESSo initially they offer me a $2.50/hr raise. Uh, yeah, that’s not gonna cut it - we’re in the Bay Area, after all. So I press for more and they finally agree to a $5 raise from $20/hr to $25/hr - keep this in mind as it’ll be important later. Around this same time, they are clamoring for more help and asking if I know anyone else who’d like a job. Despite my overall skepticism about the situation, I did, in fact, have a close friend from the boot camp that I went through, who I know was looking for a job and would probably be interested in this too since he also had an interest in the industry, so I called him up and got him hired on.Early on in my time with the company the son had asked me to speak up, saying that he valued my opinion. By this time, I guess I had spoken up too much because I got a talking to about it. In response, I asked what was happening with that raise we had been promised. Then, a couple of days later, I was having a conversation with Son’s friend, who we’ll call David (cuz that’s his real name haha). David was saying that we would be getting our pay bump on the next check. I asked Father about it later that day and got a story about how it would be a few more weeks. I’ve compressed this part of the story for the sake of brevity, but just know that when this next part happens I had already been waiting nearly a month for the raise to come through. And mind you, this is a super small company - before I joined it was the father, the son, and David - so making this change was as simple as making a call to the accountant and saying “Marti, we’re giving everyone a pay bump of $5/hr.”But for the whole month we don’t get the raise, and then the Father gives me the “talking to” and I ask about the pay bump, and get a bunch of BS. So I wrote my resignation the next day. I had looked up the laws by that point and realized that, since it was Tuesday, if I gave notice that day I could get paid out in full, including PTO, on Friday, which I think may have been payday anyway. So I hand in my resignation that day, and they come back to me about an hour later having obviously had some sort of discussion. They said go ahead and turn over all the company intellectual property you have and leave today.Even better! Know why? Because I had written my resignation letter such that it laid the groundwork for my being able to get unemployment benefits. I looked up the regulations and learned that if you quit you don’t qualify, UNLESS, you quit for a good reason. So I wrote in my resignation that I was leaving because my skills would atrophy since they were such a crap company and because they promised commissions that never came, and then promised a raise in lieu of those but hadn’t paid it. That increased my chances of being able to get unemployment (and they did ultimately grant me benefits).THE LONG CONEven better than better, since they’ve fired me now by law they have to pay me immediately. As I’m leaving work that day, I tell my friend who I had gotten hired on that I have a hunch that they’ll take a while to pay me, and that’s GREAT because there’s a law that says if your employer willfully fails to pay you in California, you’re entitled to waiting-time penalties of a day's wages for each day that they fail to pay you up to 30 days. But the law also stated that you couldn’t hide from your employer in order to not get your check. So that Friday, I think I got a check, but it wasn’t everything. I sent a casual email asking them what was up with my check but didn’t press them in the least when they gave me the by now familiar excuses. “Oh, it’s coming next check,” they said.2 more weeks? NOIIIIICE!!!!! That’s 14 days, at $20/hr x 8hrs. That’s another $2800! For doing nothing! I’m pretty sure I’m qualified to do that! Some might say I’m an expert! This was working out better than I had planned! I mean, they were predictable, but this was too good to be true. But then, in two more weeks, I was also going to watch the eclipse in Portland, so I really wanted my money to come in then. But they know they have to pay me, so I can’t imagine they’ll pull anything funny…Life lesson: weasels can’t help but be weasels. I wake up in Portland on that Friday morning, two weeks later, with a few dollars in my bank account instead of the few hundred that I expected after the direct deposit came in. It hadn’t come. Well fuck. This weekend might be dark for reasons other than the eclipse. I shot them an email. Hey, uh, there must be some kind of mixup, because I didn’t get that money that you said was coming.“Oh really? Marti should have taken care of that. Let me see what’s going on.”10 minutes later…“Yeah, John, it looks like we don’t have a time card for you, and you know, by our books, we have you having worked just Monday and Tuesday the Xth and the Yth of August. So, if we don’t know how much we owe you, we can’t pay you.”“Funny thing about that… did you know that the law says that if you let someone go you have to pay them on the spot? You let me go almost 3 weeks ago now and I still haven’t gotten my check, which entitles me to waiting-time penalties of a day’s wages for each day that you don’t pay me. On top of that, you’re responsible for keeping accurate records and paying me what I’m owed whether or not I turn in a time card. But I really just want to be able to enjoy my weekend in Portland, so if you can get me my money before the end of the day I won’t make a claim with the labor board against you.”“We really need you to send in that time card, and Marti’s already gone. She’s back east, so we’ll get it processed first thing Monday morning.”Three more days! Hooray?THE SLEEPY YEAR-LONG COLD WARI got my money that Monday morning or something, as I was boarding the plane to go home. I was livid. These guys had money and liked to show it off. It wasn’t like they didn’t pay me because they couldn’t. They didn’t pay me because it would have inconvenienced them to have to make special arrangements. Things like logging on to Western Union’s website and typing in a debit card number. If I hadn’t been sure I was going to sue them before, this was definitely the final straw.I was fired on August 1. I finally got my check on Aug 23, and then I filed suit on August 31st (2017). In response, their attorney filed an answer full of boilerplate defenses. There was a little bit of maneuvering around the pleadings (for the uninitiated, a court case begins with a Complaint - the pleading document of the plaintiff/accusor, to which the defendant/accused has to file an Answer within 30 days) but then, things kinda went dark. I had to work on other stuff to make a living, and then I spent 3 months in Brazil. During this time I would, however, send settlement offers to the opposing attorney. Every time I sent a settlement offer the attorney would basically ignore it. Then, in early August of this year (2018) I get their first settlement offer and its for…. drumroll please… $500.Now, I had predicted to my friend on the day that I quit that I’d likely settle for $2000, so while I wasn’t expecting a huge windfall, this offer was certainly an insult. I countered somewhere above $2000 knowing that was the number I was willing to come down to. We went back and forth like that for a week or so until finally, with a web development freelance project about to begin, I went ahead and accepted an offer for $1500. This was on a Friday, the attorney told me that he’d get me the paperwork to sign on Monday morning (before 11 because he had a meeting) and that the Father would drop off a check that afternoon.YOU’VE AWAKENED A SLEEPING GIANTSo Monday morning rolls around, and I don’t get anything from the attorney. Monday afternoon comes and I get an email from him at 12:15, when the Father is supposed to come at 1pm with the check. There are terms in the agreement that I don’t like, so I tell him not to let the Father come until we’ve finalized the terms. Father shows up at my door anyway. I turn him away.Feeling spurned, I guess, they stop negotiating, which means that now the ball is in my court. I have to show them that I have both the will and the wherewithal to prosecute my case if they don’t acquiesce to my demands. So I prepare a Motion for a Judgment on the Pleadings, and file it with the court. The idea behind the motion being that there is a violation of the law that’s clear from the face of my final pay-stub, which I had submitted as part of my complaint. I argue that since the pay-stub shows a violation of the law, and since the employer has the responsibility for accurate record keeping under the law, that they should be required to prove that they did not violate the law, and that if the could not, then I was entitled to a judgment. And since, if I won that motion, I’d be entitled to $6000 for that part of my claim alone, (and there would be other parts still to decide if I won), I informed the opposing counsel that my demand had now increased to $7500.No response from the attorney. I guess I might have to really take this to court. Not ideal - I have a contract to finish, but I have a somewhat ridiculous drive for justice. Seeing that they still needed convincing, I played my Ace in the hole, and drafted a bunch of discovery requests. In a court case discovery is where one side asks the other side to provide information in various formal ways - it’s one of the most expensive parts of litigation. Then, through my friend who still worked at the company, I made an overture to the Son, and let him know that my demand had increased to $10,000 and made a very convincing argument that there was no way he could get out of discovery without paying his $700/hr lawyer almost 10 grand and that even if he did he was still likely to lose because the facts of the case were against him.I don’t think he ever actually looked up the laws that I was suing them under. I don’t think he ever even made a determination for himself whether my case had merit. I think he just did the math and realized that no matter what, he was paying that money to someone, and it could either come with me as a headache or without me. We settled for $9999.99 (for technical reasons - its easier to have a suit dismissed if it settles for less than $10k apparently).THE MORAL OF THE STORYI’m not advocating that anyone use the legal system to extort money from someone, but if you have an employer that is abusive and you take measures to curb their abuse or separate yourself from them, and they continue to be abusive, you should really consider filing a lawsuit. If your shady employer caught you stealing, you’d better believe they’d use the court system to exact their revenge - the working people deserve to have the protection of the courts as well, but rights are only as powerful as our determination to exercise them. Dealing with a lawsuit is a dirty business - the opposing attorney in my case accused me of being in “bad faith” in basically every communication we ever had, including the very first one, and threatened sanctions against me at every opportunity. This was an intimidation tactic intended to make me feel like I could end up owing money at the end of all this. But, ultimately, the court has a mandate to be interested in “substantial justice”. When a lawyer threatens you it’s important to remember that if they had anything truly scary to say, they’d probably say it in a motion, rather than a threatening letter.Anyway, nothing is better than making a bully pay for being a bully. And I enjoyed making these guys pay immensely!Here’s the video of me getting my check. This video starts a few seconds after I have signed all the paperwork that I need to sign, and he’s still trying to extract additional promises from me. It took everything I had to keep my cool as much as I did in this situation, but at the end of the day he does indeed hand me the check.https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dWcKVhRi0G1KyG4R5rbiwCp8KsH8_gGA/view?ts=5b921639The ironic part is that the statute that enabled me to go after them for so much money wouldn’t have been available to me except for the fact that they tried to make it seem as if they had always intended to give me the raise by paying out my final paycheck at $25/hr. BUT they didn’t pay my PTO all at that rate - they prorated it and paid it based on my pay rate when it was earned ($20/hr for most of it), which is illegal under California law. So in trying to avoid liability for their previous shady behavior they violated the law in a way that gave me the much more obvious claim that allowed me to make my motion for judgment on the pleadings. It would have been almost impossible for me to prove their fraud regarding the commissions and raise because the promises were mostly made verbally, and I would have faced an uphill battle getting evidence of them.Shady employers: watch your back!Honest hardworking employees: hold shady employers accountable!One last point. If you’re in California, and you think your employer is shady, you should really look into the Private Attorney’s General Act. It can help you add a lot of heft to your claim (and, potentially, complexity to the discovery process) which can move you towards a settlement more quickly.Good luck everyone, and for the love of God, let’s treat each other with respect!