Your Newport Beach Business Litigation Attorneys Serving Orange County, California Residents

As a director or officer of a company, you are a fiduciary. As a fiduciary, you have a fiduciary duty to your corporation, to shareholders, including minority shareholders, and even creditors of the corporation. You have an “utmost good faith” as your obligation and duty to fulfill. Therefore, build into all documents a thread of ‘dispute resolution mechanisms’ to fend off having to go to court and litigate.

Within your partnership agreement, you will want to build mechanisms to communicate with your partner(s). You want to ‘force’ meetings, whether monthly and no less than quarterly meetings with your partner(s) to go over corporate matters. Moreover, the meeting is not a day-to-day discussion but delineates strategic organizational topics vs. everyday operating issues. Once again, the objective is to fend off ill will and possible litigation.

Before we discuss mediation, arbitration, and litigation, there is a period before these steps where you want to have had a section within the agreement of a ‘formal resolution meeting.’ You build into your partnership agreement a formal notice of dispute that states we have an issue, and the letter states there is a severe issue, and a face-to-face meeting has to be held to fend off any litigation.

Here at Hess-Verdon & Associates, we are well versed in the following:

1. Estate Planning – Advanced Estate Planning
2. Business Law – Corporate formations
3. Real Estate Law

The reason is simple. If litigation occurs, your other assets can be in jeopardy should you not have all your documents reviewed by a business and estate planning attorney.

In most instances, business law and litigation influences one’s family estate plans and real estate that is owned. Hess-Verdon ensures you are well protected to mitigate any cross litigation matters. Click here to receive a no-obligation case review.

Now, it’s ‘crucial’ to build in dispute resolution mechanisms with each operating agreement, partnership agreements, etc.. If you, however, are passed this step, and you are at a crossroads, contact us today.

Shareholder Disputes Law

It’s important to understand, arbitration and litigation can be a costly path. Let cool heads prevail. Mediation is the best choice if business partners are still on speaking terms. Better yet, you would have pre-planned for litigation and keep multiple paths of communication open.

You have primarily three options at your disposal. They are the following:

1. Mediation
2. Arbitration
3. Litigation

What Should I Consider in Achieving Good Counsel?

You need comprehensive, results-driven legal counsel to drive this issue to an amicable negotiation through the litigation process. And if you desire mediation or arbitration, whichever benefits your situation, our firm has been representing business owners and family businesses for over 30 years.

With that said, if there is no alternative, then protect your rights through the legal system!

What are the Differences Between Litigation and Arbitration?

Concerning litigation and arbitration, the arbitration process is private, while litigation is a formal process conducted in a public courtroom. There are many other factors, as well — the speed of the process is an example. With arbitration, once an arbitrator is selected, the case can be heard immediately. In civil litigation, you will have to wait until the court has time to listen to it, which can take several months and even years.

What is the Difference Between Mediation and Arbitration?

While both mediation and arbitration take the negotiations out of the courtroom, they have their differences. What they do have in common is both use a third-party to oversee them.

A breakdown of the differences is below to assist you better understand the differences between mediation and arbitration.

Here at Hess-Verdon, we counsel clients on various aspects of business disputes. We review such things as investigating potential claims, evaluating the merits of bringing a claim, filing or defending a claim, and, when necessary litigating a claim through trial, mediation, or arbitration.

With our expert team of business litigators, in many instances, we can settle such proceedings without going to trial after taking into account the merits of the positions advanced by the respective parties.

Here are some basic overview:

How Does a Business Arbitrator Make their Decision?

You can view the arbitration hearing similar to a mini-trial. Both sides will present their evidence and make arguments to support their position. And unlike meditation, where there may be a suitable compromise from both sides, the arbitrator has no duty to find understanding.

ARE THE RULINGS FROM THE ARBITRATOR BINDING?

Well, there are two basic types of arbitration:

1. Binding arbitration: This means the decision from the arbitrator is final. No appeal.
2. Non-binding arbitration: This means that both parties have to accept the arbitrator’s decision, and if not, the case proceeds to trial.