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McDermott & DeLateur, LLP
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Attorneys at Law
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Representing Southern California's
Business Community ====
Land
Use
Mr. DeLateur has entitled
numerous projects for land owners and developers.
He assists clients through all phases
of the entitlement process, involving local,
state, and federal agencies.
Among other laws, Steven DeLateur is knowledgeable
and experienced in handling issues
involving the California Environmental Quality
Act, The California Subdivision Map
Act, the Endangered Species Act of 1973,
the National Environmental Policy Act,
among other laws effecting land development.
He also has sucessfully negotiated and
conducted development agreements between
developers and cities to preserve entitlement rights for extended
periods of time.
Real
Estate
Since
1988, Mr. DeLateur has worked extensively in the fields of land use,
real estate litigation,
and real estate, including the
acquisition and sale of assets and businesses.
Mr. DeLateur specializes
in obtaining development entitlements for large real estate projects
involving land use laws and regulations of
local, state and federal agencies, including the
Endangered Species Act.
Civil
& Business Litigation
Litigation involves many complex
issues which require not only a
knowledge of the law that
governs the dispute, but also the law governing
the procedures to be followed in
order to properly litigate a claim. There
are rules governing who may file
a claim, where it must be filed. when it
must be filed, and how to
file it.
The lawyers of McDermott & DeLateur, LLP, have appeared in all
state and
federal courts in California as
well as courts in Arizona, Nevada, Illinois,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Iowa,
and Colorado. The firm specializes in
all types of Civil and Business
Litigation, including Real Estate Litigiation,
Consumer Protection, Anti-Trust,
Construction Defect, and General
Construction Disputes.
Contracts
Contracts are legally enforceable promises. The law
provides remedies
if a promise is breached or recognizes
the performance of a promise as a
duty. Contracts arise when a duty
does or may come into
existence, because
of a promise made by one of the parties. To be
legally binding as a contract,
a
promise must be exchanged for adequate consideration. Adequate
consideration is a benefit or detriment which a party receives which
reasonably and fairly induces them to make the promise/contract.
McDermott &
DeLateur, LLP, assists their clients with negotiating, drafting,
executing, and implementing a
wide array of contracts involving real estate,
businesses, personal property,
and intellectual property. Other contracts
include real estate leases and
construction contracts.
Corporations and Partnerships
Mr. DeLateur and Lyly
Nguyen assist their business clients in the selection and
formation of all available legal
business entities, including corporations,
partnerships, limited
partnerships, and limited liability companies.
Copyright
The U.S. Copyright Act,
17 U.S.C. ~101-810 is Federal legislation
enacted by Congress under its Constitutional grant of authority to
protect the
writings of authors. Changing technology has led to an ever
expanding
understanding of the word
"writings". The Copyright Act now reaches
architectural design, software, the graphic arts, motion pictures,
and sound
recordings. See ~ 106 of the
act. Given the scope of the Federal
legislation
and its provision precluding inconsistent state law, the
field is almost
exclusively
a
Federal one. See ~301
of the act.
A
copyright gives the owner the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute,
perform,
display, or license his work. See ~106
of the act. The owner also receives the
exclusive right to produce or
license derivatives of
his or her work. See ~ 201 (d)
of the
act. Limited exceptions to this exclusivity exist for types of
"fair
use", such
as book
reviews. See ~107
of the act. To be covered by copyright a work must
be
original and in a concrete "medium of expression." See ~102
of the act. Under
current
law, works are covered whether or not
a copyright notice is attached and
whether
or not the work is registered.
Persons desiring aid in filing a copyright may contact the firm.
The firm
specializes in
copyright litigation.
Patents
Patents grant an inventor the right to exclude
others from producing or using the
inventor's discovery or invention for a limited period of time.
U.S.
patent laws
were enacted by Congress under its Constitutional
grant of authority to protect
the discoveries of inventors. The
main body of law concerning patents is found
in
Title 35 of the United States Code. In order to be patented an
invention must
be novel, useful, and not of an
obvious nature. See ~101-135 of Title 35. Such
"utility" patents are issued for four general types of
inventions/discoveries:
machines, human made products,
compositions of matter, and processing
methods. See ~101 of Title 35. Changing technology has
led to an ever
expanding understanding of what constitutes a human made product.
Specific
additions to the Patent
Act provide, in addition, for design and plant patents.
The firm is actively
engaged in patent litigation. Anyone desiring to patent a
product may contact the
firm.
Trademark
Trademarks are generally distinctive symbols,
pictures, or words that sellers affix
to distinguish and identify the origin of their
products. Trademark status may also
be granted to distinctive and
unique packaging, color combinations,
building
designs, product styles, and overall presentations. It is also
possible
to receive
trademark
status for identification that is not on its face distinct or unique
but
which
has
developed a secondary meaning over time that identifies it with the
product or seller. The owner of a trademark has
exclusive right to use it on the
product it was intended to identify
and often on related products. Service-marks
receive the same
legal protection as trademarks but are meant to distinguish
services rather than products.
The firm
is actively engaged in trademark litigation. The firm also
processes
trademark applications.
For further information regarding the protection of
your company's trademark, please
contact us.
Estate
Planning, Trusts, and Litigation
Estate distributes
the real and personal property to an individual's
heirs through
a
trust or will. It is
the process by which an individual or family arranges the
transfer of
assets in anticipation
of death. An estate plan aims to preserve the
maximum amount of wealth
possible for the intended beneficiaries and
flexibility
for the individual prior to death. ls dispose of their
wealth. Trusts, unlike wills,
have the benefit of
avoiding
probate, a lengthy and costly legal process that
oversees the transfer
of assets.
McDermott & DeLateur,
LLP, assists their clients in arriving at an estate plan
which suits their
needs. Documents include trusts, wills, durable powers of
attorney, and advance healthcare directives.
The attorneys of
McDermott & DeLateur have extensive experience maximizing
their clients' distribution of wealth upon the execution of a will or
trust.
The lawyers of
McDermott & DeLateur, LLP, have appeared in all state and
federal courts in
California as
well as courts in Arizona, Nevada, Illinois,
Massachusetts, Michigan,
Iowa,
and Colorado. Mr. McDermott has
been a Fellow of the
American College of Trial Lawyers since 1982 and has
been a past chair of the
Litigation Section of the State Bar of California and
president of the
Association of Business Trial Lawyers.
Probate
Probate is a process in
which the court decides who receives assets that were
owned by a person who has died. McDermott & DeLateur,
LLP, can achieve the
results you want and help you avoid tax traps and other problems that
could arise.
The firm can help you prepare and file the legal documents and prepare
you for
hearings in the court.
Immigration
Mr. DeLateur represents clients seeking family visas and
business
visas. He
represents businesses
seeking business visas for employees as well as foreign
investors seeking to obtain a business visa in the United States in
order to start
and operate businesses
here. Mr. DeLateur also assists qualified permanent
residents with obtaining
United States citizenship.
Tax Law
Lyly Nguyen
practices in the areas of tax controversies, asset protection, and
business
and corporate
law. Ms. Nguyen represents clients in the following types of tax
controversies at
the federal and state tax levels:
- Income Tax
- Employment Tax
- Sales and Use Tax
- Estate Tax
Ms. Nguyen
has extensive experience in handling all aspects of a tax controversy,
which
includes, audit, audit reconsideration, appeal conference, and
litigation in the
United
States Tax Court. Ms. Nguyen also handles Offer-in-Compromise and
tax
collection actions and has negotiated the release of tax liens, levies,
and seizures.