Litigation & Arbitration

LITIGATION & ARBITRATION

Commercial / Business Litigation

In the business world, the interests of the parties to a contract or other business relationship often conflict and legal issues arise. We represent clients in all types of business and commercial litigation, including:

Securities Arbitrations

Securities arbitration is a dispute resolution process, which is an alternative to the traditional lawsuit in court. Rather than have a matter decided by a judge and jury, participants to a securities arbitration proceeding have their dispute resolved by a panel of arbitrators, in a private or semi-private proceeding. Most of these arbitrations are held before FINRA, the industry self-regulatory organization, which was created in 2007 through the consolidation of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) enforcement and arbitration divisions.

Although arbitration and mediation have existed as dispute resolution mechanisms for well over 200 years, it was not until the decision of the United States Supreme Court, in Shearson v. MacMahon, 482 U.S. 220 (1987) that securities arbitration became the most widely used means of resolving disputes in the securities industry.

Arbitration of broker-dealer disputes has long been used as an alternative to the courts because it is a prompt and inexpensive means of resolving complicated issues. There are specific laws that govern the conduct of an arbitration proceeding from both the federal government and the various states. One of the most important legal aspects of arbitration is that arbitration awards are final and binding, subject to review by a court only on a very limited basis. Parties should recognize, too, that in choosing securities arbitration as a means of resolving a dispute, they generally give up their right to pursue the matter through the courts.

Securities arbitrations may involve many acts of stockbroker misconduct including misrepresentations, churning, unsuitability, unauthorized trading, failure to diversify, breach of fiduciary duty, illegal or excessive markups, selling away, control and domination, ACAT problem, research violations, margin violations, clearing broker liability, books and records violations, supervisory issues and significant others.

Consumer Protection Law

Consumers are often the target of false advertising and other unfair, fraudulent, and unlawful business practices. Likewise, businesses themselves can be the victims of unfair and fraudulent practices by competitors or service providers, resulting in large-scale damages and lost profits.

California’s unfair competition law prohibits unlawful, unfair and fraudulent business acts or practices, as well as deceptive advertising. Specifically, California’s false advertising law makes it unlawful to engage in deceptive, false and misleading advertising in connection with the sale or disposition of real or personal property or services. Any person, firm, corporation or association damaged may bring an action to obtain an injunction to stop unfair, unlawful, or fraudulent business practices and false advertising, and to obtain restitution for money lost or gained by the defendants as a result of the wrongful conduct.

Real Estate Disputes

Owners of real estate, buyers, sellers, landlords, tenants, lenders, individuals and business entities may become involved in a wide variety of real estate related disputes. These include eminent domain proceedings (condemnation), real estate tax appeals, quiet title actions, disputes over easements, boundaries, access, roads, liens, zoning, assessments, commercial eviction proceedings and disputes involving development agreements, partnership agreements and property management agreements.

Breach of Fiduciary Duty

A “fiduciary” is someone who has a relationship of trust and confidence with another person. This relationship may arise as a matter of law or may be implied under certain circumstances. There are many instances in which a fiduciary fails to act with the requisite degree of care and loyalty that is owed to another person and this failure leads to damages suffered by the other person.
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