Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: business law

Sure, this has happened often in the past. The owners of any business can sell it with any, or almost any, disputes pending.

However, your question raises many subsidiary questions and issues.

The first, perhaps, is why a business large enough to have a true labor dispute, suggesting that it probably has a collective bargaining agreement in place, needs to be asking about its right to sell to another owner on a free-advice law bulletin board. As great as LawGuru is at advising folks, we don't often hear from companies that are probably big enough to have their own full-time, in-house counsel or pay $400 an hour to lawyers in a Beverly Hills highrise.

There are several fairly obvious comments that can be made which might be partially responsive to what you need to know, or otherwise helpful.

First, obviously the seller of a business with a labor dispute MUST fully disclose the dispute to the buyer.

Second, sale of the business may or may not relieve the buyer, or the seller, of responsibility for the dispute. I have personally been involved as a principal in several business sales in which the buyer (me) was able to acquire a spun-off branch or division of a unionized company without having to assume the contract. This is a VERY complex area of law and I cannot say the avoidance of an existing union agreement always automatically follows by sale of a part of the unionized business. However, sometimes it does.

Third, you don't say whether the business is a corporation, sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC or perhaps something else, nor whether your question goes beyond mere ability to sell and also asks about avoidance of liability. I would say that it is a heck of a lot easier to shed the business than it is to get rid of a liability the owner or seller may have because of past violations of a collective bargaining agreement. So, I'd say you can sell the business if you disclose all to the buyer, but you may not get the monkey off your back.

This whole area of law is technical and involves both state and federal considerations, and is NO PLACE for an unrepresented business owner to be floundering around without a labor attorney at his side.

Re: business law

Yes with your are business liablities. It is advisable to engage attorney/lawyer

Re: business law

the simple answer is yes, you can sell your business, so long as you make full disclosure to the buyer and the buyer is willing to buy into the dispute.

However, selling the business in the face of a labor dispute may raise issues of documentation, of assumption of labor contracts, and other issues.

the foregoing is a general response to your question, and should not be considered a formal legal opinion or legal advice, which we cannot render unless and until (a) we are retained, and (b) we have the opportunity to review all pertinent documents.