Are you searching for experienced and proven attorneys to defend a breach of fiduciary duty in San Diego or anywhere in California?  Are you a corporate executive, shareholder, board member, trustee or person in a position of power and/or influence who has been accused of a breach of fiduciary duty?  You will need the experienced, proven breach of fiduciary duty defense attorneys at the Watkins Firm.

Key Takeaways On What to Look For in an Attorney to Defend a Breach of Fiduciary Duty in San Diego

• Breach of fiduciary duty is a serious component of many business related disputes and lawsuits.
• Many executives, owners, shareholders, employers, members, partners and other leaders in a business carry the obligation to act in the best interests of the company and the people they serve.  This includes measures of loyalty, good faith, and serving a beneficial interest.
• Often, the fiduciary duty involves a person of authority over another in a business setting, or a situation or transaction where the fiduciary is providing information that a business associate is relying upon to make important business and financial decisions.

What is a Violation or Breach of Fiduciary Duty?

The fiduciary duty is an obligation to represent your corporation or organization loyally and with good faith.  The violation or breach of fiduciary duty exposes a person to personal financial liabilities for an extensive range of damages.  Fiduciaries owe their beneficiaries the highest degree of care, service, advice and action.  The fiduciary must always act in the beneficial interest of their charges and cannot take any action which results in negligence or harms the interests of their beneficiaries.  A fiduciary should never be in a position where their personal interests conflict in any way with the interests of their beneficial interest.  Conflicts of interest must be immediately revealed, and actions must be immediately taken to protect the interests of the beneficiary.

Experienced, Proven Attorneys to Defend a Breach of Fiduciary Duty in San Diego and Throughout California

If you seek experienced, proven attorneys to defend breach of fiduciary duty in San Diego or Southern California we invite you to consider the Watkins Firm.  We aggressively represent our clients to reduce the potential risks they face while seeking to successfully resolve the dispute in an efficient manner.  The personal financial risks are high for a person who is accused of a breach of fiduciary duty.  Beneficiaries will seek compensatory damages and often punitive damages..

Compensatory and Punitive Damages

The remedy for a proven breach of fiduciary duty in California includes compensatory and punitive damages.  Compensatory damages are designed to repay the victim for the financial equivalent of any losses they may have sustained as a result of a breach of fiduciary duty.  However, many plaintiffs attorneys will also seek punitive damages which are much more severe.  Punitive damages are designed to punish the actions of a fiduciary and ensure other fiduciaries are discouraged from taking similar action.

Pro-Tip: “Generally, a fiduciary duty is when one party has an advantage of power, knowledge, or resources over another party. And they’re doing business with each other. That’s basically where we get fiduciary duty. And then the laws have been built on that concept for hundreds of years. So you can imagine that today’s fiduciary duty lawsuits are much different than they were 50 years ago. We’ve come a long way. Well, the laws changed.

So when or how does a fiduciary duty begin?  A fiduciary duty begins in several different ways. One, the legislature defines when there’s a fiduciary duty in trust and estates, there’s a fiduciary in banking.  It’s in the law, there is a fiduciary and it’s then redefined. And there’s legislative intent defining what they have meant. And then there’s courts defining what they meant and courts of appeals and so on and so forth. So it’s a very important concept and it changes as things happen in our society. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be written in a contract, explained and say, okay, I’m starting now. It’s an implied fact. This is the nature of this relationship. The other one is the common law.

And then they rip you off. For example, if, as a Fiduciary, you know that they are detrimentally relying on you, a person in a position of trust, power, and more knowledge than them, and then you rip them off without giving them full disclosures or referring them to go get a lawyer and have yourself advised by somebody else, you’re into some deep legal and financial water.

Before, they could just give you disclosures and you’re supposed to go research it yourself. Right now, the law has changed because too many people have been ripped off and legislatures have stepped in and the courts have stepped in. And so this is how the term fiduciary duty has evolved over the years. And if you’re ever in a situation where you feel like you’ve been ripped off, or you feel like someone’s unfairly accused you of ripping someone else off, but the devil’s in the details. When our clients come in with this situation, we advise them. We advise them before they get into business, when we form their companies. And then when they get in trouble or they get sued, we advise them what technically is the law and where the line is drawn. And that takes a little bit of research and keeping up with the law.

A fiduciary is supposed to act openly, honestly, and fairly. They’re supposed to put the beneficiary’s interest above their own, and they’re supposed to never self-deal, act in good faith.  Act in good faith.  Basically, not take money from your fiduciary client that they don’t know you’re taking.  So what are some examples in real life of those that carry a fiduciary duty?

If you own a corporation, you’re a shareholder and you find out your buddy down the street owns the same amount of shares as you, but he got twice the dividends as you did … corporations and their board of directors. They have an obligation and their officers to treat like shareholders in a like, and similar manner, and then that doesn’t happen.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

Your Attorney to Defend a Breach of Fiduciary Duty in San Diego or Anywhere in California

If you are accused of a breach of fiduciary duty you need proven, experienced attorneys to defend breach of fiduciary duty in San Diego.  We invite you to review our podcast Episode 17 – Violation of the Fiduciary Duty as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.

Learn more about how we can protect your interests and the specific steps we will take to seek a positive resolution in your case.

Meet Dan Watkins:

Daniel W. Watkins is a true people person who sincerely listens. He cares about things that occur in other people’s lives. Dan enjoys digging into the facts and finding creative solutions to problems. He is not shy about giving his opinion either.

Dan’s interest in people make him deeply invested in every relationship and his exuberant personality makes him a true litigator. Dan fights for his clients with a fierce and calculated commitment.

Dan has practiced in the areas of business, medical practices and healthcare business, high tech/science, real estate and employment defense law since 1987. He is a seasoned litigator and true trial attorney with over 50 jury and bench trials to his credit. Dan has successfully represented both large companies and individuals and achieved substantial victories in well-publicized trials throughout California and the U.S.

He is experienced in business and corporate formation and administration, as well as all forms of alternative dispute resolution, including binding arbitration and mediation.

THE ROAD TO BECOMING A BUSINESS LAWYER AND LITIGATOR

Dan has almost 40 years of experience working with, for and against some of the largest insurance companies in the country. He has successfully tried and litigated cases in the areas of Healthcare Compliance, Commercial Litigation, Unfair Business Practices, Fraud, Breach of Contract, Battery, Premises Liability, Product Defect, Medical Malpractice, Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Construction Defect, as well as Unfair Competition, Defamation, and Trade Secrets.

In December 2003, Dan commenced litigation against Health South Surgery Centers-West, Inc and its’ subsidiaries, exposing the company’s extensive mismanagement and misconduct of its’ surgery centers. Dan has also been asked by some of California’s largest municipalities and corporations to conduct legally required investigations into matters involving alleged employment discrimination and harassment.