Are you considering a lawsuit for unfair business practices and business fraud in San Diego or anywhere in California?  Do you believe you have been the victim of a business related fraud in Southern California?  Have you felt coerced into a business transaction or lost part or all of your investment due to the misrepresentations or outright falsehoods of another party?

What Constitutes Business Fraud?

Business fraud is usually the result of a party to a business contract or transaction providing false information or making deceptive or outright untrue statements which must have been relied upon in order to induce participation in the deal.  If the other party knowingly omitted crucial information or known facts or committed any other type of fraud in order to get you to make a business decision you could have a valid lawsuit for business fraud.

California’s commercial code requires all participants in a business transaction or contract to conduct themselves with honesty and integrity.  We require all business professionals and contract participants to provide factual and honest financial information, prospectus facts and data and disclosures.  We expect business promises which are made to be business promises which are kept.  The remedy when they are not is to file a lawsuit for unfair business practices and business fraud and seek appropriate financial damages and other legal and financial remedies.

Filing a Lawsuit for Business Fraud and Unfair Business Practices

Has another party to your contract or business transaction lied, forged a signature or documents, made false representations or disclosures or knowingly provided inaccurate information to compel you to take action?  Are you considering filing a unfair business practices and business fraud by a fellow owner, member, shareholder, partner or vendor?

The Watkins Firm has more than 35 years of experience and a successful, proven track record when filing a lawsuit for business fraud and unfair business practices.  We take a unique approach to fraud and business litigation cases which is specifically designed to achieve our client’s goals and resolve the issue(s) at hand in the fastest and most efficient manner possible.  In most cases we are able to negotiate a positive resolution to the matter.  In other cases mediation may prove to be an effective venue for the dispute.  Our trial attorneys are always prepared to prove your lawsuit for business fraud in Court if necessary to protect your interests.

Pro-Tip: “We handle a lot of cases regarding business fraud, unfair competition, false advertising practices, and just general common law fraud between businesses.

So business to business fraud is a big topic. It happens. You’re in the marketplace, you are doing great, and all of a sudden no one’s coming to you anymore. And then you find out that the number one competitor has taken some of the elements of your website are saying bad things about you, or they’re doing a lost leader advertising bait and switch on the price. And they’re grabbing all your customers, but you have the best product and the best service. They are defrauding you out of your rightful profits. All of a sudden you’re not making the money you used to. You might be the victim of fraud and don’t know it. Go see a lawyer who knows this stuff. We’ll spot it.

Business partner fraud. This never happens until you make money. When there’s no money. I rarely, in fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of a case with business partner fraud until the business starts doing well. And then it’s so common. It’s crazy. People with all the greatest virtues you’ve ever seen in your life, you’ve known your whole life. All of a sudden your company expanding, doing well and money disappears. It’s just so tempting. It’s like gold fever. So that’s also includes shareholder fraud, officer, fraud director fraud, usurpation. That’s a fancy word for taking the company or corporate assets without any fair compensation or in secret. Then there’s the sale of business fraud. We do a lot of that. We sell hundreds of millions of dollars in companies. We merge them, we create partnership agreements for them. And we see the hardest part is when you buy a business, you want to know you’re getting what you paid for. And when you sell a business, you want to make sure you get the money, the price you agreed to, because these things are complicated. And you also don’t want to get sued later for inaccurate disclosures, some contingent liability.

In a business fraud case, you get all your contract remedies and tort remedies. You get double whamming contract remedies. You get to have injunctive relief. You get to have provisional remedies. That’s injunctive relief. You have stop orders, you get to have money turnover orders. Just tell the judge, I want that money back, order it back. You get to have general damages of what your lost profits are. You get to have your causation damages of how much money did I actually lose? You know, not just the profits but also lost money because …, whatever the facts are. And most of the time you get attorney’s fees, interests, and punitive damages. And there’s probably more, we’re on a topic where it fits into so many statutes that we can go really use the law in your favor. And also if it’s against you, we can advise you of all these threats. And if the opposing counsel is really not up to steam, we can let you know that sooner!  You may wake up to find you’re in a big dispute, and we can help you get it resolved quickly when you might otherwise think I can go fight on the way. The risks of “what if” are just too great.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

We invite you to review our podcast Episode 32 – Business Fraud as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.