Once the parties have agreed upon the price and entered into a written agreement, the earnest money is typically deposited with the brokerage of the listing agent. The earnest money will be held until the transaction closes. At closing, the earnest money will be applied towards the purchase price of the property. However, if the transaction does not close and one of the parties backs out of the deal, then the parties will need to determine which party will receive the earnest money. Determining which party gets to keep the earnest money will depend largely on the language and provisions included in the purchase agreement.

If you have questions regarding earnest money or purchase agreements, the attorneys at Hartung Schroeder can help.

ABOUT TRAVIS BRENNER

Travis is an associate attorney at Hartung Schroeder. His experience includes real estate and family law, civil litigation, and working with clients to form non-profit organizations and businesses. Travis also holds a Master of Business Administration degree, which allows him to better address the needs of business clients. You can read more about Travis or get in touch with him here.

Who can legally bind your company? Who can sign contracts on behalf of your company? These are questions that business owners all too often fail to consider, and in so doing, create unexpected or unwanted liabilities.

Generally speaking, the owners, officers, directors and/or managers of a company have authority to bind a company. Some companies choose to limit such authority by placing restrictions on the authority of these individuals within the company’s internal documentation (e.g. bylaws/operating agreement). While such restrictions are enforceable within the company itself, meaning when disputes among owners/officers/directors/managers arise, they may have little to no impact on claims made by third parties against a company.

Even if an owner, officer, director, and/or manager’s ability to contractually bind the company is somehow restricted within a company’s internal documentation, this does not mean such an individual cannot bind the company by signing agreements or contracts with third parties. Perhaps more importantly, individuals who generally don’t have such authority, such as normal, everyday employees, can create liability for a company by entering into agreements or signing contracts which they do not have the internal authority to approve.

This type of liability is based on the legal concept of “authority.” When a company representative, regardless of their role in the company, acts within the scope of his/her “actual” or “apparent” authority, he/she creates a legally binding obligation on behalf of the company. Such authority can be established through direct evidence or can be implied through the actions of others at the company. For example, if a company repeatedly ignores or tolerates an employee acting beyond the scope of his/her authority, then later objects to that employee using the very same authority again, the company will very likely be responsible for all liabilities created by that employee.

With the above in mind, all companies should take the time to asses who has authority to bind them, and more importantly, all companies should assess whether they have taken actions in the past which could create unexpected or unwanted liabilities in the future.

If you have questions or concerns regarding who has authority to bind your company, or believe you may already be exposed to unwanted/unexpected liability, an experienced business attorney can help. Steps can be taken to: (1) clearly establish who has authority to bind your company, (2) place the public on notice of who has such authority, and (3) limit your company’s exposure moving forward.

ABOUT JON GARNER

Jon’s caseload often includes matters pertaining to business, family law, civil litigation, criminal matters and mediation. Regardless of the type of case, he believes in helping clients find common ground as they work toward resolution. You can read more about him or get in touch here.

2020 was hard. But what can we learn from it?

1. Family first . . .
2. Health and Human Life are fragile . . .
3. Don’t take the “little things” for granted . . .
4. Just because we read it on-line doesn’t make it true . . .
5. The mind is a powerful thing which can be productive and/or destructive. . .
6. People are passionate – even when we may be misguided . . .
7. Politics are too partisan – and we NEED term limits. . .
8. Not everyone shares the same core values – but most of us do. . .
9. United beats divided . . .
10. We cannot plan for everything . . . but we could have planned better!

At Hartung Schroeder, our firm’s motto “simple solutions for complex times” was adopted in 2019 – before the world-wide Coronavirus Pandemic. Now more than ever we are living in a complex world in need of simple solutions. To that end, the attorneys at Hartung Schroeder are here to serve as your strategic legal partner. For your legal needs in business, family or injury law – please give us a call.

ABOUT J.D. HARTUNG

J.D. is a co-founder and partner at the law firm of Hartung and Schroeder. He started the firm with friend and colleague, Brad Schroeder, after working in both boutique and large, multi-state firms. He saw first-hand that a small firm brings definite advantages to clients. Experienced in general litigation, he serves a wide range of clients including those seeking legal counsel for business, family law issues and personal injury. You can read more about him or get in touch here.