Posted on Wed, Apr 11, 2012
On April 3, 2012, Governor John Kasich signed House Bill 275 into law after it was passed by both the Ohio Senate and House of Representatives. As discussed below, this new law will amend Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act (“the CSPA”) in a significant way.
Curtis Cornett of Cors & Bassett recently testified in front of an Ohio Senate committee in support of this proposed law. Specifically, the new law will allow suppliers who are alleged to have violated the CSPA to offer a cure at the outset of the litigation which will make the consumer whole for any actual damages suffered by the consumer, together with a maximum of $2,500 to pay for the consumer’s attorney fees.
This new law infuses needed balance into the CSPA as it allows consumers to receive 100% of his/her actual damages at the beginning of the litigation process before the consumer has to endure the time-consuming and emotionally-draining discovery process. In addition, the new law prevents abuse by plaintiffs’ attorneys in running up unnecessary, significant legal fees on behalf of the consumer and then holding the supplier responsible for those fees – even though the consumer may receive no more in actual damages. In short, this new law will be fairer to both consumers and suppliers.
This law passed despite significant opposition by plaintiffs’ trial attorneys, consumer groups, and the media. It will take effect 90 days from the date it was signed by Governor Kasich.
Please contact Curtis should you have any questions regarding this new law.
Posted on Tue, Apr 10, 2012
The Optimist Club of Newport, Kentucky is hosting a Spaghetti Lunch and Dinner on Thursday, April 26th from 11am to 7pm. It's being held at the United Church of Christ on 5th and Park in Newport.
The cost is $7.00 for adults and $3.00 for children.
For those of you not familiar, the Newport, Kentucky Optimist Club is a charitable group which benefits the children of Newport.
Come on out and support the children of Newport at the April 26th Spaghetti Lunch and Dinner!
Posted on Thu, Mar 01, 2012
Leading international association of independent professional firms MSI Global Alliance, has been nominated by the IAB for the Association of the Year award
Top 6 international association of independent accounting and law firms, MSI Global Alliance, has been shortlisted by the International Accounting Bulletin for the inaugural Association of the Year award to be presented at their awards evening in London on 8 March 2012.
This year’s IAB awards, sponsored by global insurance broker Aon, attracted more than 100 nominations from all over the world.
According to the IAB, a judging panel, comprised of former BDO global chief executive Jeremy Newman, ACCA technical director Sue Almond and London City lawyer Jane Howard, whittled down the nomination lists over two rounds of judging. MSI is one of five organisations nominated for the international accounting association award. Read more...
Posted on Fri, Feb 24, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MSI Global Feelgood Index Shows Confidence Building in North America, but Uncertainties in Eurozone Still Pose Threat to Recovery
MSI’s latest business confidence survey shows some regional variations in terms of business sentiment compared to the report of November 2011, but while the worst may possibly be over, at the start of 2012, the outlook for the global economy continues to give cause for concern.
London, 22 February 2012 – Research into levels of business confidence worldwide from the leading international association of professional services firms MSI Global Alliance shows that recovery in many of the major Western economies is being hampered by continued strains in the Eurozone.
“The year ahead will be challenging for many regions and countries across the globe, with the Eurozone economy as a whole expected to go into a mild recession,” warned Joe Nellis, Professor of International Management Economics at Cranfield School of Management.
“This will have a direct impact on the major exporting countries, especially China, Japan and Germany. This year is likely to see the bottom of what has become known as the ‘Great Recession’ – but many uncertainties will still pose a threat to the path of recovery thereafter.”
The MSI Global Feelgood Index, which uses weighted averages of seven key business performance indicators, indicates that the balance of confidence remains virtually neutral at the global level (+0.10). However, over the last three months, there has been a notable upturn in the balance of confidence in the North American region (from +0.04 to +0.22). This supports the emerging view that the region is near to or at the bottom of the economic cycle and that a modest recovery may well be under way. This view is supported by the latest forecasts from the IMF for the region, with GDP in the USA expected to grow by 1.8% in 2012.
This is tempered by the balance of business confidence in general across Western Europe remaining in negative territory (-0.04). James Mendelssohn, MSI’s Chief Executive, comments: “This is not surprising in the light of the sovereign debt crisis that continues to build momentum in some Euro member states – particularly Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy.” In contrast, and unexpectedly, the balance of business confidence in Eastern Europe is positive (at +0.39).
The survey also shows that North Americans are generally more optimistic, particularly with regards to the outlook for their companies’ sales pipeline (+0.35), whereas in Western Europe few have confidence in the prospects for strong company sales (-0.06).
Over the last three months there has been a slight downturn in the MSI Feelgood Index for the Australia/New Zealand region (from +0.03 to -0.03), more or less matching that of Eastern Asia (-0.05) and the Indian region (-0.01).
The general level of business confidence remains positive in Latin America and directly in tandem with the +0.22 balance noted earlier for North America.
Finally, the balance of optimism in the Middle East and North Africa as well as Southern Africa regions has dampened, according to the latest MSI Feelgood Index (from +0.33 to +0.07 and from +0.22 to +0.04 respectively) – but is still in positive territory.
Nellis concludes: “The IMF, in its most recent World Economic Outlook report, now expects the global economy to grow by 3.25 per cent in 2012; this is down significantly from the 4 per cent predicted just a few months ago. The findings of MSI’s latest Global Feelgood Index show that the year ahead will be challenging for many regions and countries.”
Note to Editors
Each quarter, the MSI Global Feelgood Index surveys business owners and managers in over 100 countries on their levels of optimism regarding seven key areas of business: sales pipeline, profit margins, cash flow, spending on investment capital, staff numbers, spending on marketing and advertising, and spending on staff training and welfare.
From the period 16 -31 January 2012, participants were asked to state their level of optimism or pessimism for each of the seven key areas of business. The responses were then collated and weighted to reflect the size of the different economies in the responding countries, before being analysed by Joe Nellis, Professor of International Management Economics at Cranfield School of Management, a leading international business school based in the UK.
The full research report with global and regional breakdowns and additional comments from Professor Joe Nellis is available on our website at: www.msiglobal.org or can be requested by email from MSI’s marketing team (marketing@msiglobal.org).
About MSI Global Alliance (MSI)
MSI Global Alliance (MSI) is an international association of independent professional firms, with over 250 member firms in some 105 countries. MSI was established in 1990 in response to the growing need for cross-border co-operation between professional services firms. MSI is different to other international associations and networks due to its multidisciplinary membership of both accounting and law firms and its comprehensive global coverage. MSI was recently shortlisted by The Lawyer magazine in the category Law Firm Network of the Year category at the Lawyer European Awards.
For more information about MSI, the Global Feelgood Index, and MSI’s member firms, please go to www.msiglobal.org or follow the association’s updates on Twitter @msi_global
Supplemental Information & Commentary
The Bottom of the ‘Great Recession’ in 2012 – at last?
Further analysis of the findings of the inaugural MSI Global Feelgood Index is provided below by Joe Nellis, Professor of International Management Economics at Cranfield School of Management, a leading international business school based in the UK.
London, 22 February 2012 - The outlook for the global economy continues to give cause for concern at the start of 2012. A recovery in many of the major Western economies is being hampered by continued strains in the Eurozone to the extent that there has been a downward revision in the latest forecasts for global output. The IMF, in its most recent World Economic Outlook report now expects the global economy to grow by 3.25 per cent in 2012 – down significantly from the 4 per cent predicted just a few months ago.
The year ahead will be challenging for many regions and countries across the globe – with the Eurozone economy as a whole expected to go into a mild recession. This will have a direct impact on the major exporting countries, especially China, Japan and Germany. This year is likely to see the bottom of what has become known as the ‘Great Recession’ – but many uncertainties will still pose a threat to the path of recovery thereafter!
The latest survey results from the MSI Feelgood Index indicate that there have been some regional variations in terms of business sentiment between the end of 2011 and the start of 2012.
While the composite Global Index has remained more or less static (at +0.10 compared with +0.08 in the previous quarter), there has been a notable upturn in the balance of confidence in the North American region (from +0.04 to +0.22). This supports the emerging view that the region, and in particular is near or at the bottom of the economic cycle and that a modest recovery may well be underway there. This view is supported by the latest forecasts from the IMF for the region (with GDP in the USA expected to grow by 1.8% in 2012).
The balance of business confidence in general across Western Europe remains in negative territory (-0.04). This is not surprising in the light of the sovereign debt crisis that continues to build momentum in some euro member states – particularly Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy. In contrast, and unexpectedly, the balance of business confidence in Eastern Europe is positive (at +0.39).
Over the last three months there has been a slight downturn in the MSI Feelgood Index for the Australia/New Zealand region (from +0.03 to -0.03), more or less matching that of Eastern Asia (-0.05) and the Indian region (-0.01).
The general level of business confidence remains positive in Latin America, directly in tandem with the +0.22 balance noted earlier for North America. Finally, the balance of optimism in the Middle East and North Africa as well as Southern Africa regions has dampened, according to the latest MSI Feelgood Index (from +0.33 to +0.07 and from +0.22 to +0.04 respectively) – but still in positive territory.
|
Region
|
Confidence Index
|
How do you envisage the following key business indicators will perform over the next 3 months?
|
In which direction do you anticipate the following key business indicators will go over the next 3 months?
|
|
|
|
Sales pipeline
|
Profit margins
|
Cash flow
|
Spending on investment capital
|
Staff numbers
|
Spending on marketing & advertising
|
Spending on staff welfare & training
|
|
Global
|
+0.10
|
+0.20
|
-0.03
|
+0.06
|
+0.03
|
+0.11
|
+0.19
|
+0.16
|
|
North America
|
+0.22
|
+0.35
|
+0.09
|
+0.25
|
+0.2
|
+0.18
|
+0.26
|
+0.18
|
|
Western Europe
|
-0.04
|
-0.06
|
-0.17
|
-0.01
|
-0.18
|
+0.07
|
+0.1
|
+/-0.00
|
|
Eastern Europe
|
+0.39
|
+0.64
|
+0.22
|
+0.46
|
+0.18
|
+0.38
|
+0.44
|
+0.42
|
|
ANZ
|
-0.03
|
+0.1
|
-0.05
|
-0.08
|
-0.13
|
-0.05
|
+0.05
|
-0.03
|
|
Eastern Asia
|
-0.05
|
+/-0.00
|
-0.06
|
-0.02
|
-0.08
|
-0.03
|
+0.03
|
+0.06
|
|
Indian Region
|
-0.01
|
+0.14
|
-0.06
|
-0.32
|
+0.09
|
-0.09
|
+0.19
|
-0.05
|
|
Latin America
|
+0.22
|
+0.37
|
-0.10
|
-0.10
|
+0.26
|
+0.28
|
+0.33
|
+0.49
|
|
Middle East & North Africa
|
+0.07
|
+0.42
|
-0.17
|
+/-0.00
|
+0.42
|
+0.07
|
-0.17
|
-0.17
|
|
Southern Africa
|
+0.04
|
+0.08
|
+0.08
|
+0.12
|
-0.12
|
-0.05
|
+0.12
|
+0.01
|
Analysis of Survey Findings by Region
Posted on Tue, Feb 14, 2012
Curtis L. Cornett of Cors & Bassett, LLC, testified January 31, 2012 in front of the Ohio Senate Insurance, Commerce, and Labor Committee in support of a proposed amendment to Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act (“the CSPA”). The proposed amendment would allow suppliers who are alleged to have violated the CSPA, to offer a cure to the consumer at the outset of the litigation which would make the consumer whole for any actual damages suffered by the consumer, together with a maximum of $2,500 to cover the consumer’s attorney fees. If the consumer turns down the supplier’s cure offer and then is awarded an amount at trial which is lower than the supplier’s offer, the consumer would not be entitled to any recovery of attorney fees, court costs, or treble damages.
Curtis Cornett testified in general regarding his extensive experience in litigating CSPA cases under the current statutory scheme and stated that the proposed amendment would improve the CSPA in at least a couple of ways.
First, the amendment would allow the consumer to receive 100% of his/her actual damages at the beginning of the litigation process, before the consumer would be required to go through the time-consuming and emotionally-draining discovery process. In addition, the amendment would infuse needed balance into the statute as it would assist in preventing abuses by plaintiffs’ attorneys. In this regard, some attorneys for consumers currently refuse to settle a case under the CSPA early on in the litigation because they can run up significant fees on behalf of their client, and then hold the supplier responsible for those fees at the end of the case. This is true even though the consumer frequently receives no more in damages at the end of the litigation than he or she would have received had the attorney agreed to settle at the beginning of the case.
In short, it is frequently the consumer’s attorney fees, and not the damages suffered by the consumer, that prevent early settlement under the current version of the statute. Therefore, the proposed amendment is fairer to both the consumer and the supplier.
The Senate is expected to vote on the amendment sometime in early to mid-March. Be sure to check back to see how it turns out.
Posted on Mon, Jan 30, 2012
Kamela Barrier has joined the law firm of Cors & Bassett, LLC, as the firm’s Director of Client Services & Marketing Communications. Ms. Barrier will be working with the Cors & Bassett attorneys to develop client relationships through a variety of strategic initiatives including the development and implementation of the firm’s marketing plan, advertising, public relations and client relationship and development initiatives.
Prior to joining Cors & Bassett, Ms. Barrier served as segment manager in PNC Bank’s retail mortgage group. Ms. Barrier brings more than 17 years of experience in marketing, much of which is in the professional services arena. She has held management positions in marketing and business development, including Marketing Manager at both Unifund CCR Partners and SMART Papers. She served in marketing and business development roles with Arthur Andersen, Coopers & Lybrand, Ernst & Young and Deloitte Consulting. Ms. Barrier also served in the United States Air Force in Torrejon, Spain as a Radio & Television Broadcast Specialist.
Posted on Mon, Dec 12, 2011
The Rise of Equity-Based Compnsation Plans
Matthew S. Parrish, Esq., Cors & Bassett, LLC
Equity-based compensation plans have been a favorite incentive of public companies for many years. Family-owned businesses have been less inclined to adopt plans that award equity (e.g. stock, partnership interests, or LLC membership interests). This is understandable given that family-owned businesses face dynamics much different than those that public companies face. Transferring equity to certain family members or to non-family member executives can alter the dynamic of who controls the company. It also can create hard feelings among those family members who invested in the business and resent that the company is giving away equity interests to others. Read More...