If you are a Director, Officer or Shareholder of a corporation involved in or seeking to file a lawsuit in Los Angeles, you should look for lawyers with experience in corporate litigation. Whether you are a minority shareholder or a majority shareholder, you will need Corporate Litigation Attorneys who can protect your interests and help you achieve a successful resolution to your lawsuit.
The Corporate Litigation Lawyers at Wagenseller Law Firm represent a number of big and small corporations in all manner of corporate disputes. Common causes of action against corporations include breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, fraud, accounting, breach of the duty of loyalty, negligent misrepresentation and violations of the California Corporations code. Minority shareholders will often bring a lawsuit against management in an attempt to force an outcome they were not able to get through voting. On the other hand, majority shareholders can often treat minority shareholder unfairly for their own gain.
Our attorneys have handled corporate dissolution actions such as when two equal shareholders can no longer work together. In another corporate accounting and breach of fiduciary duty case, our software company client’s President was accused of self-dealing and unfairly treating the minority shareholders. Laine T. Wagenseller has extensive experience in Directors and Officers liability litigation throughout California.
If you are seeking successful and attentive attorneys to handle your company’s corporate dispute, the Corporate Litigation Lawyers at Wagenseller Law Firm will assist you in a cost-effective, responsive and thorough way.
Home Sales: In home sales this will usually involve the California Association of Realtors (CAR) form agreement used by most brokers. A breach of the purchase and sale agreement usually arises when the seller decides that he or she would rather not sell or even when he or she receives another offer at a higher price.
Commercial Real Estate Sales: Multi-family sales in Los Angeles are often handled with a California Association of Realtors or a broker-generated purchase and sale agreement. Industrial building sales are often handled with an American Industrial Real Estate Association (AIR) form contract.Our Breach of Contract Attorneys have experience with the CAR form, the AIR form and many other specially drafted contracts. Having an experienced real estate breach of contract attorney can have an impact on your case in others ways as well. Our trial attorneys have experience with specific performance, which involves asking the court to order that the other party must actually perform his or her obligations under the contract rather than just awarding money damages. A real estate lawsuit regarding the ownership or possession of real property may also involve a lis pendens (or Notice of Pending Action). The lis pendens can be a very powerful litigation tool. The party who records an improper lis pendens can face sanctions for wrongfully recording it. The innocent party whose property is tied up by a lis pendens can miss out on a potential sale or refinance when a lis pendens is improperly recorded. Our experienced real estate litigation attorneys have had success in dealing with both lis pendens scenarios.
A commercial lease is usually one of the most important contracts that any business will enter. It can also have the most devastating impact because of its lengthy term or high rental payments. The attorneys at Wagenseller Law Firm handle lawsuits over lease issues for both landlords and tenants. Clients typically include industrial building, retail, shopping center, restaurant and office tenants and landlords.Most breach of lease lawsuits revolve around non-payment of rent. However, both sides often have incentives to reach a resolution on these lawsuits. The tenant may be suffering a temporary set-back but be able to enter into payments over time. The landlord must weigh accepting less money or money over time versus having a space that sits empty and which must be improved for a new tenant. A new tenant also usually means a brokerage commission must be paid. The most important element in negotiating a breach of lease situation is to actually communicate. Our breach of lease attorneys can help both sides reach a mutually agreeable solution.Other breach of lease lawsuits include disputes over options, co-tenancy provisions, common area maintenance charge disputes, lease exclusivity provisions, lease renewal procedures and other terms of the lease.
Breach of commercial contracts in Los Angeles often involves the application of California’s Commercial Code. The Commercial Code will provide certain guidelines that govern a commercial transaction. A business litigation attorney with experience in commercial transactions will have the necessary knowledge to help guide you through commercial litigation.Breach of contract lawsuits relating to commercial contracts often involve collections for amounts owing or for disputes over allegedly defective goods.
Our partnership litigation attorneys handle numerous partnership disputes, most of which are governed by partnership agreements or limited liability operating agreements. Litigation over an Operating Agreement is a common lawsuit between members, both in real estate litigation and in general business litigation. California’s Corporations Code sets forth various requirements as to what may or may not be included in an Operating Agreement. Otherwise a well-drafted Operating Agreement should provide the framework for the Company members to resolve their disputes. Conversely, a vague or poorly-drafted LLC Operating Agreement can make resolution of member disputes more difficult than they should be. The partnership lawyers at Wagenseller Law Firm have handled many LLC member disputes and have extensive experience resolving lawsuits arising over an Operating Agreement.
Not all breach of contract lawsuits arise over the interpretation of a written contract. In fact many business partners go into business with each based just on a handshake and a discussion over a cup of coffee. Others will trade emails on what they think the partnership or joint venture should be but never get around to hiring a lawyer to commit the understandings to a written contract. California law recognizes oral contracts and allows for lawsuits for breach of an oral contract. A statute of limitations for a breach of oral contract is typically shorter than the statute of limitations for a written contract. There may also be difficulties in proving the required elements of a breach of contract lawsuit. Not every conversation rises to the level of an oral contract. An experienced business trial lawyer should be able to help you with your situation to determine whether the facts of your case have a chance of succeeding in breach of contract litigation.
Likewise, an experienced breach of contract lawyer can evaluate whether the conduct of the parties rises to the level of a contract (and a breach of contract) even when those terms have not been set forth in writing. While one party may argue that no agreement was reached and no contract was entered into, an experienced litigation attorney may be able to point to certain facts (that party made payments, manufactured the good, marketed the arrangement, etc.) that show that the parties had a meeting of the minds.
The Wagenseller Law Firm has experience handling a variety of corporate litigation matters.
