Entrepreneurial

– Cynthia Hsu is a contributor to FindLaw’s Free Enterprise blog. FindLaw is a Thomson Reuters publication. This article originally appeared here. –

With the down economy, businesses these days are trying everything to get an edge. But whatever you do, be wary of defamation laws. For example: calling your rival car dealership something akin to the “Taliban Toyota” might just end up costing you millions.

That’s exactly what happened in the case of Bob Tyler Toyota of Pensacola, Florida. Employees at the Toyota dealership spread rumors and slurs about Shawn Esfahani, the owner of the Eastern Shore Toyota in Daphne, Alabama. They told customers that he was funneling money to insurgents. And that he was an Iraqi terrorist.

Esfahani is actually a naturalized U.S. citizen who is from Iran. The Taliban are an extremist group originating out of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Esfahani brought a suit against Bob Tyler Toyota, alleging defamation. He prevailed. A jury deliberated for three hours before handing down their verdict: $2.5 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.

– Jason Beahm is a contributor to FindLaw’s “Free Enterprise” blog. FindLaw is owned by Thomson Reuters. –

The cliche is true: the one constant is change.

This year a series of regulatory, compliance, and legislative changes will occur that will affect small business owners. Paychex, Inc., recently put together a list of the most influential business regulations in 2011. We narrowed the list down to five that we found the most interesting.

1. Tax changes – In 2011, taxes are going to get even more complicated for small business owners. (What did you think, it was going to get easier?) However, as a plus, there will be a retroactive extension of some of the tax incentives that expired at the end of last year.