Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: General Contractor To Work Under Own Liscence As Employee Of Another Company

[Post of 5/1/00 first sent by LawGuru 6/14/00]

As a corporation is not a natural person who can demonstrate licensable expertise, licensing of the corporation's activities is through a "responsible managing officer" or "responsible managing employee." As such, the company is suggesting that your husband be either an RMO or RME for them, rather than an independent contractor. Within a corporate structure, business operations can be conducted through divisions focused on specialty or niche markets. It would appear that the company interested in your husband's skills and book of business wants to fold his line of work in with theirs. Depending on the complexity of the assets held in your husband's business, this could be done through an asset purchase agreement or through merely re-structuring the business as, for example, "ABC, a division of XYZ." (You've probably seen this type of disclosure on a number of recognizable company marks.)

If you wish to discuss this in more detail, I'd be happy to be available to you. My direct-dial telephone number is 626-963-3940.

Bill Bresee