When your Arizona business is involved in a lawsuit, you need an experienced, common-sense, litigator to protect your business's bottom line. The litigation attorneys at Venditti Law in Phoenix are experienced trial lawyers with the knowledge and track record to effectively and efficiently handle your case.
Arizona Business Litigation Services
Venditti Law offers comprehensive business litigation services, whether you are the Plaintiff or Defendant in a lawsuit.
Partnership Disputes
When you formed your Arizona business, the partners may all have had the same vision. However, over time, relationships can sour, and partners don't always see eye-to-eye. Your business may experience disputes regarding the direction the partnership is heading or a dispute over the interpretation of the partnership's governing documents. Perhaps, one of the partners has neglected their obligations, stole from the company, breached his/her fiduciary duties, engaged in conversion of the partnership's assets or committed fraud.
Under certain circumstances, the partners to a business have a duty to act in the best interest of the business and the other partners. This duty that is owed is called a fiduciary duty. The most common fiduciary duties are the duties of care, loyalty and good faith. One who owes a fiduciary duty must not do anything to harm the business, nor act for his/her own personal benefit to the detriment of the business or its partners. If this occurs, the breaching partner may be subject to dissociation from the partnership and liable for damages as well.
Contract Disputes
Even with clear, written agreements, individuals and business may encounter contract disputes. When one party does not adhere to the agreed-upon terms, improperly interferes with a contract, or prevents the other party from receiving the benefit of their bargain, the result is a claim for tortious interference or breach of contract, and you may need an experienced business litigation attorney to enforce or defend your rights in court.
Typical remedies available in a contract dispute include: canceling the contract (rescission) and receiving restitution; compelling the breaching party to perform the obligations listed in the contract (specific performance); or, if the breaching party is unable to perform the obligations listed in the contract, receiving damages for the breach.
If you are involved in a contract dispute, the attorneys at Venditti Law have the knowledge and experience to successfully protect your interests and/or your business's bottom line.
Payment Disputes
Your business relies on its vendors and suppliers to uphold their end of the agreement, so when disputes with your vendors or suppliers occur, you need an experienced business litigation attorney to protect your rights. Typical disputes include:
- Delivering unacceptable or substandard goods or services
- Failure to deliver goods or services as specified
- Failure to make timely payment
Your business may also encounter customers who fail to pay for your goods or services, or a borrower who defaults on their payment obligations specified in a contract or promissory note in connection with a loan. Often times, when this occurs, the customer may argue that your goods or services were substandard or not provided within the timeline specified in your contract and, therefore, the contract was breached.
Whether your payment dispute involves a vendor, supplier, borrower, or customer, the business litigation attorneys at Venditti Law will fight to defend and protect your rights and collect all payments rightfully owed. While most payment disputes can be resolved out of court through informal settlement discussions, mediation or arbitration, others require a judge or jury to decide the outcome. Regardless of the forum, the attorneys at Venditti Law know how to effectively represent your interests.
Unfair Trade Practices
Unfair trade practices are any deceptive or fraudulent business practices. These may include deceptive pricing, false representation of a good or service, or false advertising. To be liable, a Plaintiff must prove that the business "willfully and knowingly" committed the unfair trade practice.
Unfair Competition
Unfair competition is a broad term that covers a variety of torts. These include, but are not limited to:
- Misappropriation: When a competitor takes a party's information or work product and uses it as their own.
- Palming Off: When one party knowingly makes a false representation that "tends to induce" consumers to believe that the first party's goods or services are those of another party.
- False Advertising: When a party makes a literally false claim, or literally true, but misleading, claim.
Violation of Trade Secrets
Your business's trade secrets give it an economic advantage over its competitors. A violation of trade secrets occurs when a party misappropriates or knowingly acquires a trade secret by improper means, or discloses a trade secret without express or implied consent. Under Arizona's Uniform Trade Secrets Act (AUTSA), A.R.S. 44-401 et. seq., your business may be entitled to injunctive relief to protect your trade secrets, monetary damage for economic harm, and attorneys' fees.
Under the AUTSA, Trade secret" is defined as: information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique or process, that both:
(a) Derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use.
(b) Is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.
Note: A claim under the AUTSA does not preempt claims for misappropriation of confidential information not rising to the level of a trade secret.
Remedies and Relief
In any lawsuit, one or both parties asks the Court to grant them specific relief. There are various types of remedies and relief available, including:
Compensatory damages (money to compensate one for the harm suffered, such as to pay another person to provide the service that the Defendant did not provide);
- Rescission;
- Restitution;
- Punitive damages;
- Attorneys' fees;
- Injunctive Relief (a court order requiring the Defendant to perform or cease an action).
The particular relief that you may be entitled or subjected to depends upon the circumstances of your unique case.
Contact an Experienced Arizona Business Litigation Attorney
Whether you are the Plaintiff or Defendant in a lawsuit, your business deserves the highest quality legal representation. Who you choose to represent your business MATTERS. Choose WISELY!
Call us today at (480) 771-3986 or contact us online.
