Highest average sale price ($525,312) of the top 39 firms in the Louisville market Business First, March 21, 2014 Louisville Web Design by iMarketing Solutions LLC AttorneysDarcie P.L. BeaudinBryan M. DenchMichael R. Poulin Norman J. Rattey At Skelton, Taintor & Abbott, representing and counseling businesses and their owners is the core of our practice.  Today operating a startup or small business and growing your business into a larger company is exceedingly difficult, fraught with legal and regulatory challenges.  When a company is larger and well established, its legal challenges may be different but no less complex. In addition to counseling all kinds of businesses through these issues, our lawyers have helped Maine businesses and business leaders through generations of ownership changes.   Family owned businesses are a special area of expertise for our firm.This experience and skill become especially important in the sale or purchase of a business, and we have wide experience representing buyers and sellers in these transactions. 

We have the expertise to help with letter of intent, due diligence reviews pending closing, negotiating purchase and sale contracts and related agreements, and conducting a smooth and accurate closing.Today, business mergers and acquisitions are more complicated than ever. Skelton, Taintor & Abbott’s business lawyers have extensive experience designing mergers and acquisitions, handling spin-offs and structuring business ownership and succession plans.business for sale vilniusMaine still has many small, independent companies and family businesses. business for sale brooklyn nswWhen those businesses are bought and sold, our lawyers provide specific advice and guidance from the initial discussions and negotiations through consummation of sales, mergers and acquisitions. business for sale totnes devon uk

Our attorneys have experience handling acquisitions through stock purchases, the sale and purchase of assets and the design of operating plans to help new businesses succeed. Our personalized legal service to businesses and individual clients has earned us a reputation as one of Maine’s most respected law firms.A full-service law firm based in Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, Skelton, Taintor & Abbott serves business and individual clients in Portland, South Portland, Biddeford, Lewiston, Auburn, Rockland, Augusta, Waterville and Bangor, as well as Androscoggin, Cumberland and York Counties.business for sale bixby okWhen the Keller family turned over their family business to new owners Dawn Skelton and Jay Schad in June 2015, there was an initial optimism Keller's Bakery would remain a community fixture.handyman service chester

Now, hopes of keeping the Linthicum landmark open appear dashed. Keller's closed last fall and one of the new owners of the property is at the center of a lawsuit. Tom Keller offered guidance to Skelton and Schad for two weeks after the Kellers sold the business that originally opened in 1951. The idea was to get the new owners up to speed so they could maintain the bakery's operations and allow the Keller family to exit.But the business closed down only a few months later and the property's landlord is looking for potential buyers as a lawsuit regarding the former business looks to work its way through the legal system.business for sale jalisco mexico Court records show J & D Sales Inc., a business listing the bakery's South Camp Meade Road location as its principle office, is suing Skelton for damages in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.State records list Schad as the company's resident agent and the business was formed in June 2015, around the time the Kellers went public with the company's sale.

According to Tom Keller, the business closed sometime between September and November of last year.He said the property's landlord, Joseph Kirkpatrick, has "been in the process of getting all bakery equipment and fixtures" moved from the location and is currently speaking to potential buyers. Court documents reveal J & D Sales Inc. filed a complaint for damages and injunctive relief on Nov. 18. A motion on the same date urging the "removal and dissipation of corporate assets" was denied.Attempts to reach Schad and Skelton were unsuccessful Friday afternoon. Calls seeking comment from Kirkpatrick were not immediately returned.Attorney John Ryan, who is representing J & D Sales Inc in the lawsuit, declined to comment on the details of the case prior to speaking with his client, who he also would not name.Tom Keller stressed he has been separated from the situation since the sale and he did not know any additional details regarding to any disputes over the property.When asked whether he was sad to see the bakery closed or the property's direction left up in the air, Tom said that while he feels for the community, he's made peace with divorcing himself with the business."

People think I am, but I'm not," Tom said about being upset over the bakery's closing. "The business decision that we made was to move on and to sell. Once you've made that decision, it's done.""I feel sad for the community because the community lost a bakery and there aren't many more (from) scratch bakeries," he added.Our practice encompasses all types of business litigation, including intellectual property litigation, securities fraud suits, class actions, antitrust litigation, contract disputes, partnership disputes, deceptive trade practices litigation, construction litigation, employment law matters and bankruptcy litigation. Our attorneys are experienced trial lawyers who try cases, both jury and non-jury, in state and federal courts throughout Texas. Our litigation style is to seize the initiative from our opponents and put them on the defensive through motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment and other appropriate procedural maneuvers. We have a strong track record of success in obtaining early dismissals and summary judgments.

In terms of cost consciousness, we believe that keeping fees reasonable and emphasizing overall cost effectiveness is the best way to assure repeat business. We do not "mark up" Federal Express charges or telephone calls, and certainly do not charge for word processing or overtime. Our bills provide a clear delineation of the activity, hourly rate, and itemized expenses. We will customize the format of our bills as requested and will prepare budgets as needed by our clients. Most of all, however, the ultimate cost effectiveness comes from winning. We have a proven track record of obtaining dismissals, summary judgments, and partial summary judgments that lead to reasonable settlements, and for winning trials and appeals. Our clients include banks, venture capital firms, technology firms, communications companies, construction firms, more than a dozen Texas school districts, as well as a number of the nation's largest insurers. The following is a summary of our work for several representative clients: Lawsuit Against Our Client Dismissed For Lack of Jurisdiction In June 2015, Hamp Skelton and Brandon Gleason won a motion to dismiss in federal court in Houston on behalf of a Florida company who was sued by a customer in Texas.

Our client, a Florida livestock equipment distributor, was sued by a Texas manufacturer of livestock equipment. We moved to dismiss, citing our client’s lack of minimum contacts with Texas. The federal court in Houston agreed, writing that phone calls, texts and emails to the Texas plaintiff were not sufficient to make our client amenable to suit in Texas. A copy of the court’s opinion may be seen at this link: Order Granting Motion to Dismiss. Injunctions Obtained Against Xerox Hamp Skelton and Brandon Gleason obtained first a Temporary Restraining Order then a broader temporary injunction against Xerox in September and October 2013 in a case involving breach of a contractual provision barring Xerox from hiring away the employees of the firm's client, Stellargy. The case later settled in a creative manner that restored the working relationship between Xerox and Stellargy. A copy of the injunction issued October 28, 2013 is available here: Ordering Granting Temporay Injuction Summary Judgment Victories in Two Patent Cases Skelton & Woody was co-counsel with Kirkland & Ellis in a pair of patent cases filed by Encyclopedia Britannica against Toyota, Honda, TomTom Inc., Magellan Navigation Inc., and Alpine Electronics concerning the map search function on GPS devices.

Encyclopedia Britannica's patent infringement claims were dismissed by Austin Federal Judge Lee Yeakel who found that Encyclopedia Britannica's claim of priority was broken and that Encyclopedia Britannica's patents were invalid. : Toyota, Others Prevail In Spat Over Britannica Map IP . Victory on motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction Austin Federal district judge Lee Yeakel granted our client’s motion to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds in EIEIO, Inc. v. Waring Oil, Inc., et. al. on December 14, 2006. Waring, a Mississippi corporation, had purchased goods and material s from the Plaintiff, a Texas company. When disputes arose and Plaintiff sued in Austin, Waring moved to dismiss, citing the absence of minimum contacts with Texas necessary to support jurisdiction in Texas courts. The judge agreed, holding that no minimum contacts were present and, even had they existed, it would offend traditional notions of fair play and justice to force Waring to come to Texas to defend the suit.

The court’s opinion can be reviewed at the following link: EIEIO, Inc. v. Warning Oil, Inc. Victory on Appeal The Houston Court of Appeals [1st Dist.] affirmed summary judgment for OmniBank and its former officer in Robert H. Bishop v. Sadler, OmniBank and Hardaway, 2006 WL 1669022 (Tex. App.--Houston [1st Dist.]. Bishop, who had guaranteed a loan to purchase a restaurant, sued the seller, the bank and the loan officer, alleging he was fraudulently induced by all into guaranteeing the loan. He first brought an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy court against the buyer whose loan he guaranteed, but lost in that proceeding. Omnibank obtained summary judgment on collateral estoppel grounds and the court of appeals affirmed. Summary Judgment for Bank Client In June 2006, Skelton Woody obtained a summary judgment for OmniBank in a lender liability case brought by a land developer. The plaintiff, JBTB, Inc., had borrowed money from the bank to develop raw land into residential lots for sale to a large national homebuilder.

JBTB under-budgeted by approximately $900,000 and went back to the bank for an additional loan, which the bank made. Disputes arose over the terms and conditions of the new loan, the timing of the funding and certain draw requests. JBTB sued alleging oral misrepresentations, breach of contract. OmniBank moved for summary judgment and the Travis County District Court granted the motion. Our banking litigation practice covers regulatory hearings and litigation as well as traditional lawsuits brought by borrowers, guarantors and others throughout Texas. We have handled a number of lender liability cases, including a major suit in Del Rio brought by a borrower who claimed a bank's breach of fiduciary duties had caused the borrower to sell a large family ranch. We successfully negotiated with directors' and officers' insurance carrier to cover defense and settlement costs, protecting the bank from losses. In January 2005, we obtained a summary judgment for a major Texas bank in a fraud and misrepresentation suit brought in Houston by a disgruntled guarantor of a commercial loan.

Two victories in 2006 for bank clients are featured in our "news" section. The Texas Banker's Association has retained us on several matters, including an amicus brief filed in the Texas Supreme Court on an important issue to the state's banks. References are available on request from our banking clients. Defense of major New York venture capital group in lawsuit brought by terminated president and CEO of a company the venture capital group invested in, for fraud and breach of contract in connection with stock option agreement. We were retained shortly before trial to replace a major New York firm. The week before trial, we obtained a complete summary judgment for our client based on statute of frauds, lack of consideration and other affirmative defenses. We then handled the appeal. The Houston Court of Appeals affirmed in 1996 and the Texas Supreme Court rejected opposing counsel's last appeal in late 1997. (The opinion is available on Westlaw at 1996 WL 417651 (Tex. App.--Houston). Drawing upon our insurance coverage law expertise, we also convinced a co-defendant's commercial liability carrier to pay the majority of our legal fees.

We represent litigants in major will contest and breach of fiduciary duty litigation involving trusts and estates. These matters are private and not appropriate for website postings, but references are available on request. General representation of startup technology company on litigation matters, including dispute with founders' former employer, a large publicly traded company, over intellectual property, hiring, and non-competition arrangements. The much larger competitor sought to enjoin the startup company from operating and we were successful in defeating all challenges. We also serve as local counsel to several nationally prominent intellectual property litigation firms on major cases in Austin. Amicus brief projects for major bank trade association on behalf of member banks. Our most recent project was a brief in the Texas Supreme Court. Defense of several Texas and out-of-state banks in major lender liability litigation involving claims of fraud, breach fiduciary duty, deceptive trade and related claims brought by borrower whose ranching operation created large indebtedness, resulting in foreclosure on vast ranch holdings.