Are you searching for A San Diego attorney for minority investors and shareholders to protect your rights, the value of your investment and the strength of your position in the corporation?  The shareholder’s rights attorneys at the Watkins Firm have protected the interests of minority shareholders and investors in San Diego and throughout California for decades.  California has unique laws and protections for minority shareholders and we work to hold majority interests accountable and to assert your rights and best interests as a minority shareholder.

Over the decades we’ve seen it all when serving as a San Diego attorney for minority investors and shareholders.  We have helped to put a stop to attempts to dilute the value of a minority shareholder’s stock or to restrict their influence through a variety of strategies intended to marginalize the minority shareholder as an individual and as an investor.  The good news is you have a lot of legal options as a minority shareholder.  The Watkins Firm has over 40+ years of experience serving the business, science and tech, real estate and medical / healthcare communities here in San Diego and across California.  We provide you, our client, with the power, legal skill, experience and resources necessary to assert your rights and protect your interests.

In some cases this simply involves gaining the attention of majority interests or corporate executives to ensure our clients have access to the books and other important corporate documents.  In other cases majority interests have attempted to harm minority investors through mergers, the acquisition of another company or the formation of a new entity.  We help to put a stop to these oppressive strategies.  We work to hold them accountable and assert your rights and interests at each step of the process.

Pro-Tip: “Everybody hears the term conflict of interest and they think it’s something like special or amazing or complicated, but it’s really not. This is the oldest con game. There is example you are working somewhere and you get access to checks coming in. So you go form a company in another state. That sounds just like the name on the checks that are coming in. And you start taking those checks and putting them in your own bank account.

Well, think about that. If you’re a corporation you’re in management and you have a uncle that forms a company and you start sending business that way, and before, you know it, you taking assets from one company and giving it to another company, which technically you don’t have anything in writing as an ownership of, but you have a conflict of interest and you’re breaching your fiduciary duty. And so if the shareholders aren’t watching this happens, and I would say 20% of our litigation every month is based on shareholder disputes fights between shareholders and the corporation and, uh, breach of fiduciary duty

A fiduciary duty is basically the obligation to act in the best interests of those that they have a duty to, because they have such an advantage. The term fiduciary duty comes in this definition when somebody has an advantage of knowledge or power or money over somebody else who’s invested in good faith. They have a duty not just to do what the contracts say, but they have a duty to be a fiduciary, to act in the best interests of the investor or shareholder, to take their position in favor the shareholder and against themselves, if there is a conflict. So they have the utmost duty to disclose and to act in good faith for the interest of the shareholder.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

Your Attorney for Minority Investors and Shareholders in California

It may be necessary to assert your rights as a dissenting shareholder, or to file a derivative lawsuit to protect the corporation from mismanagement or fraudulent schemes.  In other cases we may need to ensure a merger or acquisition provides adequate protections to preserve the value and power of your position in the corporation.  If you are searching for A San Diego attorney for minority shareholders and investors we invite you to review our podcast Episode 14 – Shareholders’ Rights and Disputes as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.