BUSINESS & CONTRACT DISPUTES

Representative Cases

• Decorative ironwork company brought action against homeowner for breach of a contract to build and install decorative ironwork at home.
  

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• Savings and loan sued payors for nonpayment of promissory note. Payors petitioned for arbitration. Court ordered parties to arbitration, and following award against savings and loans association, confirmed award and also awarded attorney’s fees and costs. Affirmed.
  
  
• After entry of judgment approving settlement agreement between Phillippine government-owned entity created to guarantee loans and United States corporations, entity moved to set aside stipulated judgment. Order denying motion reviewed by writ, motion for production of additional evidence, or for writ of error coram nobis. Trial court judgment affirmed.
  
  
• State brought unfair business practices action against mobile home park owners, alleging that they violated city ordinance by requiring tenants to accept long-term leases in order to avoid rent control. Following bench trial, judgment for state requiring restitution and disgorgement of unauthorized rents and to restore that money to affected tenants, and payment of penalties, affirmed.
  
  
• DVD association brought action against home entertainment system manufacturer for breach of contract and breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, alleging that system did not comply with encryption specifications in licensing agreement between the parties.
  
  
• Prior to filing for dissolution, a law firm with secured debt obligations assigned various client accounts to a newly-formed entity and simultaneously entered into an agreement allocating fees between the two firms. The secured creditor sued the new law firm for, among other things, conversion, common count, and breach of contract under a third party beneficiary theory.
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• Plaintiff and several other investors bought over $6 million of stock in a video compression technology company. As the main investor, plaintiff became CEO of the company. Over the next few years, the company’s stock did not perform as well as the investors hoped. Claiming economic damages, plaintiff, on behalf of the other investors, sued the company’s principal for negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and fraud. Plaintiff claimed that the company did not disclose all of the company's financial needs before the $6 million investment, and that those problems caused the stocks to perform poorly.