Have you ever heard a story among your friends about a company where two partners got along great, but then one suffered an untimely death and then his widow or children caused the company to breakup? That is a common scenario, although one might not be able to place the…
Cybersecurity experts have observed that hackers and cybercriminals are increasingly targeting small and medium-sized businesses and that these efforts account for 60% of all cyberattacks. One expert described these companies as the “soft underbelly” of cybersecurity. Companies of all sizes face potentially significant costs in responding to a data breach…
When dealing with shareholder oppression claims the court has a broad arsenal of remedies at its disposal. In fact, the remedies available to the court are limited only by its own imagination and the court’s sense of fairness. The statute applicable to oppressed minority shareholders does provide some remedies along…
Statutory remedies are made available to shareholders in a small, closely held corporation should harmful actions be undertaken by other shareholder or directors of the corporation. Importantly, these statutory remedies are available only to owners of a corporation with 25 or fewer shareholders. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 14A:12-7(1)(c), a shareholder in…
Businesses have a major need to assess their own cybersecurity risks, and to openly exchange internal information within the company to effectively address and mitigate an actual breach situation. Yet a company’s internal assessments of its own weaknesses and the holes in its cybersecurity protections can, ironically, actually expose the…
New Jersey statutes provide important rights and protections to “minority” shareholders of small, closely held companies. The applicable statute provides a right to file a lawsuit for relief under the following circumstances: In the case of a corporation having 25 or less shareholders, the directors or those in control have…
The United States does not currently have a single comprehensive federal law regulating data privacy and cybersecurity matters. Instead, there is a patchwork of laws which at times overlap, and in other cases may even potentially contradict one another. This patchwork, together with the growth in interstate and international data…
Identity theft is an area of major concern for consumers and businesses alike. Roughly nine million individuals in the U.S. can expect to have their identity stolen each year. With just a few items of personal information (such as the name, social security number, and the date of birth of…
It is a day that virtually every business owner fears, when you receive word from your IT department that your company’s computer system has been hacked. A million thoughts rush through your head, but they all come back to one question: what do I do right now to protect my…
A successful New Jersey business recently retained a cyber expert to evaluate the effectiveness of its network’s cybersecurity. The expert upgraded the company’s systems and educated its employees on how to recognize, prevent and respond to a cyber-attack. The expert then tested the defenses and was unable, despite multiple attempts,…