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<blockquote data-quote="Marlow Wilson" data-source="post: 18286" data-attributes="member: 47">Re: LegalityThere are a couple issues.&nbsp; One is the ownership or organizational entity.&nbsp; Is he a sole proprietorship or corporation?In Quebec, you may operate a sole proprietorship with under $30,000/year in revenue without registration.&nbsp; After $30,000 you must register for collecting sales tax, and if you wish to operate as anything other than your full name (Ie Marlow Wilson Productions is okay, Wilson Sound would not be) you need to register the name as well.If you begin a corporation, that legal entity has a host of legal requirements that must be maintained and it must, regardless of the sales, collect and remit tax. This is all to say that from a organizational perspective, it is possible in some jurisdictions to operate bare-bones.&nbsp; I doubt Florida any similar laws, but I&#039;m just putting it out there.The next issue are the operational legalities.It&#039;s impossible to know what your competitor has or doesn&#039;t have, but I&#039;m willing to bet he&#039;s breaking a handful of laws, many on the transport side of things.&nbsp; Something along the lines of &#039;transporting goods in the pursuit of commerce&#039; might be hidden from his insurance company.Also, most residential areas prohibit commerce, so his home based business (assuming it&#039;s home based) may be breaking local ordinances.&nbsp; If it is a real business, and he is allowed to operate a business in his area, there are likely a host of other inspection and compliance elements that he is not following. I make these assumptions because at $500 a night there is no way he could be compliant and cover expenses.As for what you should do?&nbsp; In my experience, you&#039;ll have a hard time getting the client on side by suggesting the competition is operating illegally.&nbsp; Does the client care if the providers warehouse is ADA compliant and if the fire exits are clear and properly marked in the event of an emergency?&nbsp; Does it care if you keep driver logs and he doesn&#039;t?&nbsp; The greatest cause for liability for venues here are over-serving customers&nbsp; (who drive and kill people)&nbsp; and excessive use of force by security personnel.&nbsp; The additional liability of hiring a rogue sound provider may pale in comparison to the other issues faced by the venue.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Marlow Wilson, post: 18286, member: 47"] Re: Legality There are a couple issues. One is the ownership or organizational entity. Is he a sole proprietorship or corporation? In Quebec, you may operate a sole proprietorship with under $30,000/year in revenue without registration. After $30,000 you must register for collecting sales tax, and if you wish to operate as anything other than your full name (Ie Marlow Wilson Productions is okay, Wilson Sound would not be) you need to register the name as well. If you begin a corporation, that legal entity has a host of legal requirements that must be maintained and it must, regardless of the sales, collect and remit tax. This is all to say that from a organizational perspective, it is possible in some jurisdictions to operate bare-bones. I doubt Florida any similar laws, but I'm just putting it out there. The next issue are the operational legalities. It's impossible to know what your competitor has or doesn't have, but I'm willing to bet he's breaking a handful of laws, many on the transport side of things. Something along the lines of 'transporting goods in the pursuit of commerce' might be hidden from his insurance company. Also, most residential areas prohibit commerce, so his home based business (assuming it's home based) may be breaking local ordinances. If it is a real business, and he is allowed to operate a business in his area, there are likely a host of other inspection and compliance elements that he is not following. I make these assumptions because at $500 a night there is no way he could be compliant and cover expenses. As for what you should do? In my experience, you'll have a hard time getting the client on side by suggesting the competition is operating illegally. Does the client care if the providers warehouse is ADA compliant and if the fire exits are clear and properly marked in the event of an emergency? Does it care if you keep driver logs and he doesn't? The greatest cause for liability for venues here are over-serving customers (who drive and kill people) and excessive use of force by security personnel. The additional liability of hiring a rogue sound provider may pale in comparison to the other issues faced by the venue. [/QUOTE]

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