Blog

Running a successful business involves many key components, including the management of relationships with employees, customers, partners, and suppliers. While most of these interactions are familiar to a business owner, there are many disputes that can interrupt even the smoothest-running business. At Garcia-Martin & Martin, P.C., we want you to have all the information when it comes to common business…Read More

A Texas Appellate Court upheld a decision that a non-compete clause in two separate agreements was not enforceable against an ex-employee who resigned to work for a competitor. The court’s decision is a good reminder that non-competes must be drafted with extreme scrutiny, especially those offering conditions subsequent clauses; otherwise a former employee may be able to ignore them and…Read More

A Texas court awarded damages to a former Department of Transportation (DOT) employee who claimed he had been fired because of his race. Jeffery Daniels had been an employee with the DOT for nearly 20 years when he was fired; he said his supervisor discriminated against him because he was African-American. He filed a lawsuit claiming the DOT had violated…Read More

While there are different types of business owners that have different approaches in how they interact with their employees, there is one thing that all business owners should know: when employee morale is high, you will see an increase in productivity and team work, and a decrease in absenteeism and turnover. You may be thinking, “Okay, well that’s nice, but…Read More

Recently-shuttered Career Point College’s operators are being sued by over 50 former students for breach of contract, among other issues. The students claim they were told by the college to take out high-interest loans to cover financial aid expenses. Some students were supposed to receive federal grant money from Career Point but claim the school never sent it to them.…Read More

A federal judge in Texas recently issued an emergency injunction against a rule extending overtime pay for certain workers. The Department of Labor (DOL), along with President Obama, issued a final rule that would increase overtime pay for more than 4 million U.S. workers within the first year it is implemented. U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant heard arguments against the…Read More

It’s oil giant vs. oil giant: Marathon Petroleum is suing BP, alleging they breached a contract signed in 2012. Marathon purchased a Texas City oil refinery and three product terminals from BP, who signed a contract wherein they agreed to be responsible for the continue maintenance on the refinery until Marathon took it over. Marathon claims BP did not maintain…Read More

Recently, a Texas judge ruled a non-compete authored by Cameron International Corporation was unenforceable due to its overbroad language. Steven Abbiss was an executive with Cameron and worked for the company for 25 years before being hired by its direct competitor, FMC Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd. Cameron sued Abbiss for allegedly violating the non-compete agreements he had signed in exchange…Read More

Enforcing non-compete agreements can be quite challenging considering the rapid landscape change in this area of law in Texas. The Texas Supreme court at one time ruled that all non-competes, primarily designed to limit competition restrict a party’s ability or right to engage in a common business, were unenforceable. But the Texas legislature passed legislation shortly thereafter, making non-compete agreements…Read More

If you’ve started a Houston business, chances are you’ve encountered one of the following issues or made one of these mistakes. The good news is, it may not be to late to fix these issues, but they first must be identified and then properly and promptly addressed. Choosing a Copyrighted Name Starting a Houston business is an exciting process. Yet…Read More