Notice from Minnesota Secretary of State regarding pre-2015 limited liability companies in Minnesota

From the MN Secretary of State ### NOTICE: Owners of pre-2015 limited liability companies in Minnesota: Upcoming changes to the law will affect your business. The Office of the Secretary of State (OSS) wants to remind all limited liability companies formed prior to August 1, 2015 that they will become subject to a new law passed by the 2015 Legislature, Chapter 322C, beginning January 1, 2018. It is recommended that owners contact their attorneys, accountants or other business advisors well before the end of the calendar year to review the impact of the new law. The new law pertaining to LLCs may bring significant changes to governance and management, operating agreements, and other aspects of your business. All owners of an interest in an LLC should be aware of the impending law change, and should review the governing documents of the LLC to determine whether any adjustments are necessary. The law does provide certain provisions to smooth the transition to the new law. For further information...
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Who can Sue when a Freelancer is Discriminated Against?

Freelancers take note: Under Minnesota Law if you have formed an LLC or other business entity and you experience discrimination at the hands of one of your clients, as an individual you cannot make a claim under Minnesota's Human Rights Act (Minn. Stat. § 363A.17 (2008)), which authorizes parties to a business contract to sue for business discrimination in the performance of that contract.The Minnesota Supreme Court reasoned in Krueger v. Zeman Construction Co. that the focus of the statue was the relationship of the parties, not on the individual subject to the discrimination. As a result, the court argued that an individual employee, even one that is a single member owner of an LLC, is not the intended beneficiary of the statute and therefore they cannot file a lawsuit in their individual capacity.While I generally believe freelancers should consider business entities like LLC over that of sole proprietorship, this case provides a stark example of how there...
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Bringing Conciliation Court Cases

Conciliation court was created to allow citizens to bring legal actions for smaller claims that would normally be difficult to bring due to the expense and knowledge needed to bring a suit in district court. Generally, these courts allow individuals to bring claims of up to $7,500 ($4,000 in cases involving commercial consumer credit transaction), or order the return of property. However, these claims may not include claims for title to real estate, libel or slander, class actions or medical malpractice. Additionally, since these are state courts, they can not hear matters of federal law such as disputes over copyright ownership. They can, however, hear cases involving breach of contract that involves copyrighted material. This means that the conciliation court can not hear a case involving ownership of a copyright, but it can hear a case involving whether a party has paid what they owe for the creation of copyrighted material. An important thing to remember before you file a conciliation court...
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