The Action to Take If Your Company is Sued

Are you searching for information about what actions you should take if your company is sued in San Diego or anywhere in the State of California? Have you heard from a business contact or even a potential witness of a potential dispute? Have you already been served papers in a business lawsuit? What action should you take? How do you reduce your financial exposure and resolve the dispute as quickly and efficiently as possible?

Key Takeaways About the Action to Take if Your Company is Sued:

You need a quick triage – insight – evaluation of what you’ve learned, and immediate steps you can take to reduce or even mitigate your legal and financial exposure altogether.
Our proven attorneys can actually get ahead of a coming dispute or lawsuit. We can immediately check to see if anything has been filed. In many cases we can find out the details of a dispute before our clients are served.
The moment you learn that a claim or a lawsuit may be filed against your business, the most important asset you have is time.
Establishing a thorough, well documented chronology is not a minor detail. If your company is sued, a disciplined factual chronology helps to inform every strategic decision that follows.

What is the First Step to Take if Your Learn of a Dispute or Lawsuit?

What is the first step to take if you learn of a potential dispute or lawsuit? You need a quick triage – insight – evaluation of what you’ve learned, and immediate steps you can take to reduce or even mitigate your legal and financial exposure altogether. We invite you to contact the experienced business litigation and dispute resolution attorneys at the Watkins Firm or call right now to speak directly with one of our experienced business dispute attorneys for a free consultation at 858-535-1511. We have served the San Diego business community for decades, and will work to determine the strengths of your position, your risks and develop strategies to accomplish your goals and resolve the dispute quickly and favorably.

We can tell you “if that mole is cancerous!” Our Founder Dan Watkins discusses this important question on one of our most recent podcasts, Episode 31 – ABCs of What to Do if Your Company is Sued. It may help you to know that most legal actions and business lawsuits are resolved by the Watkins Firm through effective, leveraged negotiation. This is the fastest and least expensive path to resolving any business dispute or lawsuit.

Our proven attorneys can actually get ahead of a coming dispute or lawsuit. We can immediately check to see if anything has been filed. In many cases we can find out the details of a dispute before our clients are served. This allows us to thoroughly investigate the matter, establish the all important chronology of events and witnesses in order to develop very specific strategies and take immediate actions to reduce exposures or eliminate matters altogether.

What to Do If Your Company Is Sued for Breach of Contract or an Employee-Related Dispute

The moment you learn that a claim or a lawsuit may be filed against your business, the most important asset you have is time. If your company is sued, your Watkins Firm attorney can and will take early, important actions that will shape the outcome long before a courtroom is ever involved. Waiting, reacting emotionally, or assuming the issue will resolve itself just increases your risks and exposure.

In many situations, our experienced counsel can determine whether a complaint has already been filed and identify the substance of the potential lawsuit, including the extent and nature of the allegations, before formal service. That early insight allows your legal team to:

Confirm or prepare to dispute the facts and nature of asserted claims
Preserve and prepare critical documents and electronic records
Identify and interview key witnesses while memories are fresh
Construct a thorough, well-documented chronology of events, and a mastery of potential and available damages
Evaluate potential insurance coverage and other notice-related obligations

Establishing a thorough, well documented chronology is not a minor detail. Courts, arbitrators, and mediators rely heavily on the sequence of events: who acted, when they acted, and what documentation and facts support each perspective. If your company is sued, a disciplined factual chronology helps to inform every strategic decision that follows.

Breach of Contract Claims

One of the most common business dispute scenarios involves allegations of breach of contract. These disputes may be based on a failure to perform the obligations of the contract, payment issues, delivery timelines, or alleged misrepresentations. When facing the potential of a contract-based lawsuit, the first step is to carefully review the controlling agreement. Many contracts contain arbitration clauses, notice requirements, or limitation-of-liability language that directly affect your exposure and potential defense.

It is almost always to immediately focus on:

Securing the complete executed contract and amendments
Reviewing communications related to performance by the parties
Assessing whether the conditions and terms of the agreement were satisfied
Evaluating mitigation efforts by the opposing party

If your company is sued for breach of contract, it is rarely a simple question of who is “right.” It is a matter of interpreting language, performance standards, factors within and outside the parties’ control, and damages. Our immediate legal analysis and insights may reveal leverage points and mitigation issues that support negotiation tactics or an outright dismissal before associated costs escalate.

Employment-Related Disputes

Dealing with disputes involving workers are part of the challenge of being a California employer. Common allegations include wage and hour violations, PAGA actions, retaliation claims, misclassification, wrongful termination, discrimination, or harassment. These issues can become legally quite complex, often involve issues of federal violations, our complex California laws, administrative prerequisites, and strict procedural deadlines.

When an employment claim arises, your Watkins Firm attorney will work quickly to:

Preserve personnel files and payroll records
Review policies and employee handbooks
Interview appropriate supervisors and managers
Evaluate former issues, complaints and performance documentation
Evaluate potential exposure under applicable statutes

If your company is sued in an employment dispute, the financial exposure may include back pay, penalties, attorney’s fees, and in some cases statutory damages. Our experienced, employer-focused representation ensures that all available actions to mitigate or remediate the situation altogether are quickly taken. We work to keep all responses measured and supported by documentation rather than reactive explanations.

Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration, or Trial

Not every lawsuit results in a trial. In fact, it may surprise you to learn that Watkins Firm can resolve the majority of our business-related disputes through effective, leveraged negotiation. This is the fastest, least expensive path to resolve any business-related dispute.

The actual reality for our clients is that most business disputes are resolved long before reaching a trial. A strategic litigation strategy evaluates all available pathways, including:

Early steps to narrow or dismiss claims
Structured settlement discussions
Business mediation with an experienced mediator
Contractually stipulated arbitration
Trial preparation when other forms of resolution are not able to accomplish our client’s goals and objectives

If your company is sued, the objective is not simply to “win.” The objective is to evaluate all that has happened, generate a prompt, thorough, well-documented chronology of events and mastery of potential damages, reduce or eliminate risk, protect goals and objectives, and control costs. Sometimes that means defending aggressively. In other cases, it means negotiating from a position of strength to achieve the positive solution our clients seek.

Pro-Tip: “We know how to resolve a business lawsuit. We handle these matters all the time. We are able to resolve most matters through effective, leveraged negotiation. If not, the next opportunity is the settlement conference, or mediation. What happens in mediation?

The parties agree upon the mediator, and you bring in former superior court, judge Jones, and he’s looking at us, the lawyers, and he knows the difference between genuine issues and posturing when he sees it. So he’s going to have some control in controlling the lawyers from over-valuing this dispute and from over-posturing, just being aggressive for this sake of impressing their clients. And he’s going to go back and forth and have the purpose of settlement on his mind, which is what we both want. And a lot of times here’s the thing: they often don’t immediately settle. I’d say 50% of our cases don’t settle at mediation, but after a good mediation a month or two later, it’ll settle because of the mediation.

Some mediators actually call us a month after when we came so close and say, ‘Dan, what can I do? Do you want me to call the other side?’ I’ll say, ‘yeah, good idea. Call the other side.’ And then he’ll call the other side. And their clients have calmed down. They’re relaxed and we’ll settle. We have to get to that 95% somehow. So there’s a lot of different ways using the ADR formulas, using them to your benefit. Understanding them gives you the best result in 95% of the cases, which is how they resolve.

Arbitration is when you have an agreement in your contract that says, I’m going to resolve this by arbitration and it’s usually quicker and cheaper, but you waive the right to a jury trial and the arbitrator themself can be very expensive. But in the long run, waiting to go to trial for two and a half years and waiting for a judge who has an overburdened docket can be just as risky. So arbitrations are great. They cut to the chase and you really don’t have a lot of time for dramatics. You have to have accurate law and facts when you go in and it’s usually decided by your arbitration brief because the judge knows when he sees a case that has no merit or has great merit.

And generally it keeps crazy verdicts from happening because if you win, you’re going to get something reasonable. And if you lose, it’s going to be something reasonable. Their goal is to try to be reasonable. They’ve seen crazy jury verdicts their whole life from time to time. And so, and they know the law on the facts. So normally I would expect, you know, a very reasonable sound fair resolution when I go to an arbitrator. The arbitrator makes a decision. The decision is final. There’s no appeal. And unlike a trial, it’s just over.

And, because we start with a thorough chronology, mastery of the damages, and all of our philosophies on how to prepare a case, we’re ready to go to trial. And we’ve tried lots of cases. If it’s a trial, we really enjoy jury trials. If it’s arbitration, we’ve been around so long, we’re comfortable with the arbitrators. And then jury trials, we’ve tried so many jury trials that we really feel comfortable picking a jury going through the jury selection process. Our whole team knows how to get all the exhibits ready, comply with all the court, local rules, having everything professional and laid out, having expert witnesses, ready to go. You put on a show, we enjoy doing it. We’d rather settle. But when we go to trial, we like getting that big jury verdict. It’s just wonderful.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

We are able to represent business clients through every step of a dispute: effective, leveraged negotiation, mediation, arbitration and if necessary trial in a Court of Law. Our clients value our unique approach to litigation, and the productive actions we take to resolve disputes quickly and in a cost-effective manner. If you are searching on what to do if your company is sued in San Diego or Southern California take a deep breath. Next, we invite you to review our podcast Episode 31 – ABCs of What to Do If You Are Sued as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.

We will discuss the potential issues of the case, the process and actions which can be taken to mitigate the risks and damages or remediate them altogether. We will help you to quantify your risks and exposure, while taking immediate steps to begin to reduce or eliminate these liabilities.

Together, we will develop and implement a strategy that will guide the process smoothly and efficiently while creating every opportunity for a negotiated settlement. You’ll feel better. You will be in a much stronger position. You’ll know what to do (and what not to do).

Meet Daniel Watkins:

Daniel W. Watkins is a true people person who sincerely listens. He cares deeply about what others are going through. Dan enjoys digging into the facts and finding creative solutions to problems. He contributes his insights candidly and constructively.

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 trusted litigation strategist 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.