Are you a victim of or accused of business fraud in San Diego or Southern California? Are you concerned about resolving business fraud litigation or defending allegations of fraudulent activity? Business fraud occurs whenever a person or business employs deceit or trickery to gain an unfair advantage or illegally obtain value or profit.
Common Examples of Business Fraud
Business fraud usually includes allegations of intentional or negligent misrepresentation of fact(s), omissions, establish false pretenses or puffery to engage in business transactions and promissory fraud including, but not limited to:
- Using your position as an executive or director for self interest
- Misappropriation of cash, assets or inventory
- Theft or embezzlement
- Commingling
- Forgery
- Misrepresentation or contract fraud
- Accounting fraud or “cooking the books” (altering financial documents or accounts)
- Internet or billing related Fraud
- Unfair Competition
- Unfair Business Practices
The party committing fraud not only has to make false representations but they have to know at the time the representations were untrue, overblown or false. The plaintiff in these cases must prove they relied upon the fraudulent information to make their decision(s) and must suffer harm or financial consequences.
Remedies for Business Fraud in San Diego
There are several civil remedies available for those who entered into a business contract based upon the reliance of fraud. You may choose to rescind the contract, or you may affirm the contract and seek financial damages. You may wish to seek an “injunction” to stop actions taken by other parties or wrongful unfair competition.
Defending fraud cases requires experience and extensive legal skill. Negligent misrepresentation is a lower legal bar than fraud. In negligent misrepresentation cases one party may not have purposefully mislead the other, they simply did not have a mastery of the facts or know their representations were fraudulent. In these cases you don’t have to prove fraudulent intent, simply that the representations of the party were false.
The legal and evidentiary issues are quite complex and require proven and skilled attorneys. The Watkins Firm has more than four decades of business litigation and resolving business fraud litigation in San Diego and southern California. We pursue not only the financial damages associated with the business fraud but punitive damages as well. Fraud is based upon intentional misrepresentation or deception, and California law allows for the potential of not only recovering your losses, but a financial punishment (punitive damages) for those who commit fraud.
If you are concerned about resolving business fraud litigation in San Diego we invite you to review our podcast Episode 25 – Unfair Business Practice Overview, the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.
