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  Entrepreneurs who launch successful new ventures, and the investors who fund these startup companies, can now really ring the economic bell upon a liquidity event, thanks to a recent change in the tax code.

With California’s crowded court calendars, there can be a substantial time lag between the filing of a lawsuit in a business dispute and the eventual ruling by a court on that dispute.  Not surprisingly, plaintiffs who win their cases want to collect not only the original amount due to them, but interest on that amount for the months or years the case was in court – what lawyers call “prejudgment interest.”

For lawyers, litigation is our bread and butter. For almost any business executive, however, a lawsuit is a costly, time-consuming and frustrating distraction. It is hardly surprising that litigation has been compared to trench warfare, with each side digging in and lobbing legal documents at each other for months or years, while the billable hours steadily rise.

In California, parties who agree to private binding arbitration usually receive little sympathy from the courts when they seek to litigate their disputes. But that does not always hold true.

Do online review sites like Yelp.com have to comply with court orders directed at people who post false and defamatory reviews about others? An appellate court in Los Angeles has said yes.

Every artist or entertainer wants an audience. Foreign artists and entertainers visiting the United States can be sure that at least one group of Americans is watching the success of their performances: agents of the Internal Revenue Service.