Attorney Michael L Coates Sr's Legal Cases

Contracts and agreements

Distributor & Referral Agreements

Mar 11, 2009

OUTCOME: Contracts signed with enhanced incentives

This client is a broker and middle-man for some tobacco companies looking to retail their products in local convenience stores. The client also has his own personnel with "feet on the street" to check ... and update displays, etc. Here, I was retained to handle the contracts with the tobacco companies involved. Here, there were different relationships -- some where the client was an existing regional distributor but could now help the companies expand in other areas (to be handled by distributors in other regions); some where the client had no relationship and was looking for a nationwide referral arrangement along with being the distributor for his covered regions; and others. A series of contracts were developed for each situation, along with cover letters (ghost written for the client to send) explaining the key provisions in plain english (avoiding "attorney" speak), and including various enhancement suggestions to the business relationship. On the latter, this included building in scaled bonuses based upon volume, and other items not considered by the client. While the client thought these incentives would not be agreed to by the target companies, they generally were, because of how it was all presented.

Contracts and agreements

Sales Employee Needing Commissions Paid After Termination

Dec 12, 2008

OUTCOME: Client was paid all monies owed

Client was terminated from her sales position, as part of a layoff, but in order to attempt to avoid paying commissions outstanding, it was deemed a termination. While others close to the client were ... pushing for the filing of a lawsuit, the strategy we employed was one where the objective was the focus: getting what she wanted paid as soon as possible. Once attorneys are involved, things generally heat up (and the costs as well). In this case, I proposed ghost writing the letter to the client's employer stating in a factual way the basis for her demands (put in as "requests"), and pointing out the issues the employer had in her case. In the end, the employer paid the client more than she had expected, and surprisingly to her close advisory network, without much prodding. The point is ... having your attorney professional ghost writing letters to resolve issues can often achieve the best results, faster, and for a lot less money in the long run.

Lawsuits and disputes

Printer Dispute Resolution & Recovery

Aug 01, 2008

OUTCOME: agreement for full recovery & customer transition

This was a matter where a client marketing company owed a printer substantial sums over a long period of time. Due to the economy, the marketing company could no longer pay, yet continued to seek prin ... ting from the client. It was learned that the marketer had two homes, but no equity, so in effect was on the verge of a bankruptcy and was otherwise uncollectable. The strategy developed was then to seek a transition from the marketer to my client the relationship with its top client which ordered a substantial amount of printing each year. With the relationship able to be developed directly by the printer client, they will be adding more annual revenues than the outstanding debt; plus, the marketer, while still getting commissioned on jobs from that client will have an agreed-upon portion kept by the printer until the outstanding indebtendess is paid off in full. By allowing the marketer to continue to receive a commission, and only a portion of that commission being applied to the outstandign debt, it helps to ensure the longevity of the business with the transitioned client. In the end, the printer client, if all goes well, would receive a multiple on the monies actually owed. A true win-win for all concerned.

Michael L Coates Sr's Legal Cases (3)

Distributor & Referral Agreements

Sales Employee Needing Commissions Paid After Termination

Printer Dispute Resolution & Recovery