Employee Handbooks Can Bring Benefits, Dangers
- November 20, 2012 | By Shawna L. L'Italien | Business & Employment
Each employer makes its own decision on whether or not to have an employee handbook. When done right and handled correctly, handbooks provide the benefit of consistency, communication, clarity and support. However, if not done right, an employee handbook can…
Doing Business with Oil & Gas Companies Requires Close Scrutiny and Caution
- July 3, 2012 | By Martin J. Boetcher | Business & Employment, Oil & Gas
The rise of oil & gas exploration activity in the northeastern Ohio has created business opportunities for many local companies. Making the most of those opportunities requires caution with respect to the contracts that govern business relationships with the large…
New EEOC Guidelines on Background Checks May Mean New Approaches for Employers
- July 2, 2012 | By Martin J. Boetcher | Business & Employment
New Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines about employers' use of criminal records in hiring decisions may require employers to consider some new approaches. The new EEOC guidelines deal with the use of arrest and conviction records in employment-related decisions like…
Seismic Testing: Know Your Rights Around the ‘Big Bang’
- April 23, 2012 | By Alan D. Wenger | Oil & Gas
Many landowners have become familiar with seismic testing contractors who ask landowners to sign form permits allowing access to conduct sophisticated tests to map shale layers. Testing can involve explosive charges set off in shallow bore holes and compressive “thumper…
Attorney Tells Personal Cancer Story, Encourages Regular Prostate Exams
- November 4, 2011 | By Patrick K. Wilson | Litigation
I became intimately aware of the perils of cancer in 1989 when my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 64. Just a year later, another round of bad news arrived when my father-in-law was diagnosed with the same…
Who Does Your Oil & Gas Lease Consultant Work For?
- October 6, 2011 | By Alan D. Wenger | Oil & Gas
With the explosion of oil and gas leasing and the escalating bonus payments and royalty percentages has come a proliferation of consultant-types who appeal to landowners, sometimes promising attractive leases and big money with very low fees to the landowner….
Landowner Protections in Pipeline Easements
- July 5, 2011 | By Alan D. Wenger | Oil & Gas
With expected increased shale drilling come offers for pipeline easements. Pipelines are used for transporting well products, as well as potentially other drilling fluids. The typical industry right of way or easement document is slanted in favor of the grantee…
Beware of Buyers of Mineral Rights; Purchase Offers May Bring Major Risks
- June 7, 2011 | By Alan D. Wenger | Oil & Gas
There are companies going around offering to purchase mineral rights from landowners who may already have an existing oil and gas lease on their property. For a property owner stuck with an older oil and gas lease that predated the…
Seek Qualified Counsel For Tax Strategy On Oil & Gas Lease Bonuses
- May 25, 2011 | By Alan D. Wenger | Estate Planning
As property owners who have successfully negotiated an oil and gas lease receive the welcome bonus check, it is only natural to want to avoid paying taxes to the extent legally possible. The tax impact of a bonus payment will…
Oil & Gas Leases: ‘Lessor's Consent Not Unreasonably Withheld'
- January 26, 2011 | By Alan D. Wenger | Oil & Gas
Many oil and gas leases appear to give the property owner a right to give or withhold prior consent to various actions that might be taken by a lessee. These would include the location of roads, pipelines, wells, or other…