The Trial Law Offices of Bradley I. Kramer are happy to announce the settlement of a business fraud case in Los Angeles, California for $450,000. We represented the plaintiff, who was ‘injured’, or suffered a financial loss, as a result of the fraud his business partners were determined to have engage in. In the business context, fraud is any business activity which resorts to deceitful practices or devices with the intent to deprive another of property or other rights, or to cause economic injury. A skilled Los Angeles business fraud lawyer can explain this definition of business fraud in California in further detail.
This particular Los Angeles business fraud case centered around a startup energy business with zero profits and zero revenues and only a $300,000 series A financing round. As many entrepreneurs are aware, Los Angeles has become quite the hub for technology and innovation lately, earning itself the nickname of ‘Silicon Beach.’ Our claim was that one of the co-founders diverted corporate opportunities and assets from the startup to his own company, and thereby destroyed any chance for my client’s startup to succeed.
Our business expert was prepared to testify, based on his knowledge and experience, that a startup without any revenue or profit can still have a value greater than zero. Experts are often necessary to explain detailed facts and figures to the judge or jury, and at BIK Law we believe in giving our clients every advantage to succeed in the courtroom. In this case, our expert testified that the business was in fact worth $7 million dollars based on the price per share in the series A round and a capitalization table that the diverting co-founder had himself generated. The defendant also hired an expert, and according to the defense, this expert’s testimony would be that the company was worth zero. Defense was prepared to move to disqualify our expert on the basis that the damages were purely speculative, but we never got there.
Furthermore, defendants moved to continue the trial three times in the last two months as well as transfer it to San Francisco twice (common stall tactics), but we prevailed on all motions and kept the case moving forward. The defense also produced absolutely zero documents in the litigation and completely stonewalled us in every other regard, but we kept their feet to the fire at all times, even foregoing taking key depositions to keep our trial
On the day of the trial, the defendant clearly understood that this case was fully prepared to be tried by the skilled BIK Law team. Two days earlier, they were willing to settle at a firm $150,000. They knew that we were ready, willing and able to try this case, as we believed in our client and our ability to prove the injuries suffered. And for good reason: our aggressive legal team was able to recover $450,000 for our client in the settlement.
If you believe that you have been the victim of business fraud or another type of injustice relating to your business, contact the experienced Los Angeles business litigation lawyers at BIK Law today.