Articles, news & legal alerts

Read the latest news from Scali Rasmussen, including legal alerts and event listings.

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Mike Brown was working as the fixed operations director for nucar auto group when, in August of 2024, he got a call from David Rosenberg. Rosenberg, whom Brown had worked for in the past, had an intriguing offer. Rosenberg, owner of DSR Motor Group, was working on an acquisition.

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Outside capital can be a valuable resource whether to a dealer with only a few franchises seeking to grow his or her dealership group or a larger group looking to get even bigger. But the rewards also come with risks, as two examples of outside capital show.

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While you may have seen headlines about private equity moving into the buy sell world, that can actually be something of a misnomer. It is generally more accurate to say that different forms of outside capital, of which private equity is one, are investing in automotive dealerships. Those investors differ in the amount they invest and terms under which they invest.

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Scali Rasmussen announced today that Shareholder Jeffrey Erdman and Principal Jasmin Bhandari have been recognized by Los Angeles Business Journal as “Leaders of Influence: Minority Attorneys” in a special feature that published Monday. “We have profiled those standout minority attorneys considered to be particularly impactful on the legal scene while serving as trusted advisors in the LA region,” states the publication.

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Plaintiffs Samuel Zarate, Jorge Chavez, and Aldo Isas sued California Collision and its owner, George Osorio, for various wage and hour claims. The Complaint asserted no less than eleven causes of action: (1) misclassification as independent contractors rather than employees; (2) failure to pay minimum wages; (3) failure to pay overtime wages; (4) failure to pay wages earned; (5) failure to give meal breaks; (6) failure to give rest breaks; (7) waiting time penalties; (8) failure to provide accurate, itemized wage statements; (9) failure to reimburse for business expenses; (10) unfair business practices under the Unfair Competition Law (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq.); and (11) as to Chavez and Isas, violations of Labor Code section 1198.5 for failure to timely allow them to inspect or receive copies of their personnel records.

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Edgar Gonzalez was employed by Nowhere Santa Monica (“Nowhere Santa Monica”), one of 10 related limited liability companies (“non-Santa Monica entities”) operating Erewhon markets in Los Angeles. During his employment, Gonzalez signed an arbitration agreement in which he agreed to resolve any employment-related disputes with “Nowhere Santa Monica, LLC DBA Erewhon-Santa Monica” through arbitration. Gonzalez was terminated after only five months of employment. After his termination, Gonzalez filed a putative class action lawsuit against Nowhere Santa Monica and the other non-Santa Monica entities, alleging various wage and hour violations of the California Labor Code. He alleged that all ten entities were his joint employers.

IRS releases 2025 mileage reimbursement rate

Are your travel reimbursement policies compliant?

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The IRS has released the new standard mileage reimbursement rate for the new year, raising the 2024 rate of 67 cents per mile to 70 cents for 2025. Employers are obligated to reimburse employees for reasonable expenses associated with the employees using their personal vehicles for work purposes (excluding their normal commute to/from work), such as offsite meetings, training, and work-related errands.

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On December 26, 2024, a mere three days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit lifted an injunction staying enforcement of FinCEN’s beneficial ownership information reporting requirement, the same court has now reversed itself, reinstating the injunction and giving businesses an indefinite reprieve from the filing requirement. In effect, In light of a recent federal court order, reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so while the order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.

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