Can a San Diego Business Litigation Attorney Help if Your Company is Sued?

A San Diego business litigation attorney can provide legal representation to companies involved in a variety of disputes. Businesses can be sued for many different reasons, whether the lawsuit arises from an alleged breach of contract, a personal injury or allegations made by a disgruntled employee.

While there are myriad possible causes of action that can result in a business being forced to defend itself, the goals of most civil cases are the same: plaintiffs want to obtain a monetary remedy from the company or plaintiffs wish to obtain some other type of remedy, such as the court ordering a defendant to refrain from or engage in a particular type of behavior like following through on contractual obligations or re-hiring an employee who was wrongfully terminated. A San Diego business litigation attorney will work with businesses to develop the right legal strategy, whether that involves settling or defending a case in court.

How a Business Litigation Attorney Helps Your Company Settle Lawsuits

According to the New York Times, anywhere from 80 to 92 percent of civil cases settle. Cases settle for a reason: it is often more costly and risky for a company to go to court. In 24 percent of cases, defendants made the wrong choice about whether to proceed to trial and ended up paying more than they could have paid to settle the case. When defendants were wrong about going to trial and had to pay plaintiffs more than they could have settled for, the difference was substantial. Defendants who went to trial when they shouldn’t have paid around $1.1 million more than settling expenses would have cost.

Whether to settle or not will depend upon factors including the amount a company can afford, the damage to the company’s reputation that can come from a prolonged trial and the strength of the plaintiff’s case.

Determining whether settling is likely to permit your business to keep more money can be highly subjective and requires years of experience to predict. Factors that can impact whether to settle include the likelihood of a plaintiff’s victory, the strength of the plaintiff’s evidence, the availability and feasibility of affirmative defenses, potential legal remedies that a plaintiff is seeking, and possible damage to your company’s reputation if a trial is publicized. Because many considerations require knowledge of precedent and an understanding of the statutes under which a plaintiff’s claims arise, companies named as defendants in a lawsuit can benefit tremendously by retaining a litigation attorney before deciding how to proceed.

How a Business Litigation Attorney Helps Your Company Fight in Court

When your company is sued, fighting in court is sometimes the best course of action, such as in the case of  frivolous lawsuit. It may be, in appropriate instances, worth the added expense and time of going to trial to vigorously defend a frivolous lawsuit and prevail at trial. This can establish a precedent that you will not reward parties for filing frivolous lawsuits, preventing such suits from being filed against your business down the road. Frivolous lawsuits are a serious problem within the legal system. A recent article in theWall Street Journal indicates every family in the U.S. loses as much as $3,520 annually due to costs associated with frivolous lawsuits. You can avoid making your business an easy target for such suits by not backing down if your business is the target of frivolous claims.

A defendant who wishes to defend against a case in court will need to introduce doubt as to their liability or breach of legal duty, or will need to raise affirmative defenses justifying their conduct. Juries don’t have to be 100 percent convinced of a defendant’s liability to find for a plaintiff. There is a lower burden of proof in civil cases than criminal ones, so plaintiffs must only show liability by a preponderance of the evidence. This lower standard of proof makes it easier, but not easy, for plaintiffs to win and vital for defendants to be able to introduce significant doubt in the plaintiff’s evidence.

Affirmative defenses such as a plaintiff’s misuse of a product in an injury claim, a bona-fide job-related reason for an employer’s actions in an employment dispute, or an intervening act as justification for breach of contract will need to be proved if these defenses are to allow a defendant to avoid an adverse ruling.  A litigation attorney can provide assistance in introducing doubt or proving affirmative defenses.

Getting Help from A San Diego Business Litigation Attorney

The business litigation attorneys at Gehres Law Group have a long track record of representing companies in San Diego and surrounding areas when those businesses have been sued. We understand the financial and reputational damage that can result from legal action and our firm helps you to resolve the claims against you as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.

To find out more about the ways in which a San Diego business litigation attorney at our firm can help you with the development of a legal strategy and with the execution of that strategy to get the best possible outcome in your case, give us a call at 858-964-2314 or contact us online today.

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How a Business Lawyer Helps Your Company Avoid a Lawsuit

A San Diego business attorney provides assistance to your company in taking proactive steps to avoid litigation. Gehres Law Group will work closely with you to identify potential areas of conflict that could result in litigation and will help you reduce the potential that your company will become a defendant in a civil case.

How a San Diego Business Attorney Helps Avoid Contract Litigation

Many companies enter into myriad different contracts, from a lease for the premises from which they will operate, to financing agreement, licensing deals, or contracts with suppliers to purchase materials or goods. While the Uniform Commercial Code aims to resolve problems that commonly arise in business contracts, including issues that are caused by companies using different forms for the same transaction, contracts still must involve an offer, an acceptance, and a meeting of the minds to be enforceable.

Contracts that are too vague, that do not include clauses protecting your interests, or that contain terms that are against public policy could result in your company facing a lawsuit or result in your company being forced to initiate a lawsuit. By appropriately drafting contracts with the help of an attorney, and including necessary clauses to protect your interests, your company can reduce the chances of a conflict with a customer or supplier that results in litigation.

You may wish, for example, to include arbitration clauses in customer contracts so customers will be required to resolve issues in arbitration rather than in a costlier lawsuit that could result in a larger plaintiff’s verdict. Recent Supreme Court decisions, including AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, have provided companies with more power to use arbitration clauses to prevent costly class actions. While the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has taken steps to curtail these clauses in certain industries, it is still possible for many businesses to use contracts in strategic ways to reduce litigation risks- with the help of a qualified lawyer who can provide advice on acting within the bounds of the law.

How a San Diego Business Attorney Helps Avoid Employment Litigation

Businesses may be sued by employees for wrongful termination or discrimination. Employees could also potentially make wage-and-hour claims if you do not comply with minimum wage laws, overtime laws, and other regulations associated with worker payment. If an employee gets hurt at work, the employee typically cannot sue but may file a workers’ compensation claim, which could also cost your company more money in premium costs – and the injury could also prompt an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

California law is very protective of workers and both state and federal law provide broad protection from discrimination including disparate impact discrimination and hostile work environment discrimination.

For example, hostile work environment claims may be successfully brought against your company based on alleged discriminatory conduct if co-workers create an unpleasant work environment based on a protected classification, unless there was a procedure in place for reporting harassment which was properly communicated to employees and the company takes prompt action in response to a complaint by an employee. If the employee did not make a report, or if your business took appropriate action in response to one, you could avoid liability by raising affirmative defenses. Disparate impact discrimination, on the other hand, occurs if a job requirement has the “effect” of disqualifying people of a protected class. Your company could defend against a claim of disparate impact discrimination if you ensure you impose qualification requirements only if they have a “bona fide” relationship to the job each candidate being hired to perform. It is best to get legal advice on how to be proactive in avoiding a lawsuit through instituting proper workplace policies and procedures.

How a San Diego Business Attorney Helps Avoid Injury Litigation

Your company is at risk of being sued if someone gets hurt using your products or gets hurt on your premises. Avoiding litigation necessitates understand the legal duty you owe to customers and visitors. For example, if you invite people onto your premises for commercial purposes, you must routinely inspect the property for hazards that could cause injury. You must correct problems with the property that create the injury risk and/or must provide warning to visitors of risk that cannot be reasonably mitigated.

Getting Help from A San Diego Business Attorney

In addition to assisting you in taking proactive steps to reduce the chances of being sued, our legal team can also help you to respond when a claim is made against you. We are skilled and experienced litigators who have successfully helped many companies prevail in court or to quickly and effectively resolve claims. To find out more about the assistance a San Diego business attorney at our firm can provide to you, give us a call at 858-964-2314 or contact us online today.

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5 Ways Business Lawyers Help Startups

Startups in San Diego should reach out to the business lawyers at Gehres Law Group to help get their company off to a solid start as they begin operations. Only around 1/3 of new businesses that open up will make it past their 10th anniversary, according to The Motley Fool, but your business can maximize the chances of becoming one of them by making the right choices from day one. 

Business lawyers can help new companies in many different ways to protect their competitive advantage, to minimize risk and to develop a plan for the future. Attorneys also assist those who are starting companies in finding ways to protect their personal wealth from losses if something goes wrong with the business.

Gehres Law Group will tailor the services our firm provides to your new company’s needs. To give you an idea of what business lawyers do, consider five of the most common services business law attorneys provide to startups.

Choosing the Right Business Entity

Many new business owners run their business as a sole proprietorship or partnership either by default (because they fail to choose another business structure) or because they don’t have a full understanding of other options. Unfortunately, both sole proprietors and partners face significant personal risk of liability because the proprietor or partner is viewed as the same legal entity as the company. A judgement against the business, lawsuits and business bankruptcy can put personal wealth in jeopardy.

Other business structures including Limited Liability Companies, Limited Partnerships, S-corporations and C-corporations provide liability protection and, in many cases, also offer enhanced tax flexibility and other benefits. For example, if you form an S-corporation, you can choose to characterize some of your income from your business as a distribution rather than wage income, allowing you to avoid paying FICA taxes on that income. This is legal and allowable, as long as you pay yourself a reasonable compensation for services rendered to the business.

Being Smart About Contracts You Sign

Startups may have to sign contracts with investors; with suppliers; with a landlord they are leasing from; and with a host of other individuals and business entities. Disadvantageous contracts could make it difficult or impossible to achieve business success. In fact, many businesses have declared bankruptcy under Chapter 11 because their companies needed to re-negotiate contracts that were making profitability impossible. By negotiating contracts to protect business interests, and having contracts reviewed by an attorney to ensure they contain appropriate protective clauses, you can reduce the likelihood that an agreement adverse to your interests will render your company unprofitable.

Hiring Employees While Protecting Your Organization

Many startups must hire employees to help their companies operate and grow. Hiring employees unfortunately makes your business vulnerable to wrongful termination lawsuits, unemployment claims, workers’ compensation claims, and OSHA citations if a worker gets hurt on-the-job. Employees could also potentially share trade secrets, go to work for competitors, or steal clients and go into direct competition with your business.

California has some of the strictest anti-discrimination laws in the country under the state’s Fair Employmnt and Housing Act. Califronia also has more stringent worker protection laws than many other states, including laws such as the California Family Rights Act, which requires employers who have 50 or more employees to provide job-protected leave upon the birth or adoption of a child or if the employee or a family member develops a serious health condition.

There are options to protect yourself from the risks that employees present. Non-disclosure agreements are one way to protect secrets. Knowing the laws on workplace safety and discrimination will also help your company avoid inadvertent and costly mistakes.

Reviewing Financing Options

You may be taking out a loan or seeking investors or partners. There are pros and cons to each option. Loans put all the risk on you – but you get the possibility of all the rewards.

As one entrepeneur explained in Forbes, making the decision to raise outside capital is difficult, but company growth was limited due to insufficient funding so ultimately it was better for his business to accept outside funding in order to accelerate development.

While each business owner must weigh trade-offs of funding options independently, it is critical to understand the terms of financing or investment agreements in order to make informed choices regarding the best approach to securing funding for startups.

Protecting Your Intellectual Property

Your company may have a unique process to get work done, a creative design the company wants to sell, and a brand identity you are trying to cultivate. You want your logos, work processes and creative ideas to actually belong to your organization. Intangible property has value – often a significant one – and you need to find a way to protect your intellectual property.

Patents, trademarks and copyrights can protect logos, inventions, processes, creative product, and your company’s brand identity. Obtaining intellectual property protection will require submitting applications to the US Patent & Trademark Office or the U.S. Copyright Office. You will be eligible for protection only if your ideas are original ones and you can prove you meet the relevant criteria. If you wish to obtain a patent, for example, your invention must meet certain requirements: it must be new, useful, and non-obvious..

Getting Help from San Diego Business Lawyers

Whether your company is a startup or is an established business in San Diego or surrounding areas, business lawyers at Gehres Law Group can provide you with personalized legal advice to protect the business and to protect your investment within it. To find out more about how our firm can help you, give us a call at 858-964-2314 or contact us online today.

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