Business

Business Litigation

• Reggie C. Giffin – An Alternative to how Business Litigation is Handled

Litigation is a fact of life. If you are in business, lawsuits cannot be avoided. As a business owner you have to enforce your contractual rights, enforce your statutory rights, protect your customer base, lists and trade secrets; resolve disputes with other businesses and resolve disputes between shareholders.  However you can avoid the inefficient and costly way large firms handle these cases.

Many business owners have taken their litigation to a large firm and soon found that they have employed a “team” of partners and associates at high billing rates. This will not happen with Reggie C. Giffin. He has a proven record of more 35 years of experience in representing small and large companies in all types of business disputes. He works with business owners to craft fee arrangements that work best for each particular case.

If you are the victim of a business wrong or need to enforce your rights, he will consider taking your case on a contingent fee basis. This means that you pay a fee only if there is a recovery or value created for your company. In these instances you are responsible for paying the expenses such as expert fees, filing fees and costs of depositions and discovery, which entails obtaining information from the other party and producing information to them.

Reggie C. Giffin will be candid and forthright with you. If he thinks you do not have a case or a defense worth pursuing he will tell you. If he takes your case, he will skillfully and vigorously handle it. Mr. Giffin knows the law and he knows business. He has extensive experience as a trial and appellate lawyer and as a mediator and arbitrator in complex business, securities and employment litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants.

He has handled all kinds of cases involving businesses both large and small, including:

• Breach of contract disputes
  
  
• Breach of contract cases are often complex. A contract is formed when one person accepts another person's offer to do something and consideration is given. Contracts can be either written or oral, but statutes require that specific kinds of contracts be in writing. Sometimes, written contracts are unenforceable and sometimes oral agreements can be enforced. Disputes can arise when one person claims that:

• There was no mutual assent or agreement
• His or her assent or agreement was fraudulently induced
• There was insufficient or no consideration which is the money or act bargained for
• The other person did not perform as expected
• The contract terms at issue are unclear and ambiguous. In this event evidence relating to the parties' discussions and conduct becomes important.

• Breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing

• In addition to the specific rights contained in the contract, every contract has an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. This means that a party must perform the agreement according to its agreed common purpose and consistently with the justified expectations of the other party. Subterfuges, evasion of the spirit of the bargain, lack of diligence, willful rendering of imperfect performance, abuse of a power to specify terms and interference with or failure to cooperate in the other party’s performance violates the this covenant of good faith and fair dealing and may give the other party a right to sue to enforce his or her justified expectations.

• Enforcement and defense of non-competition agreements
  
  
• Customer lists and trade secrets are the life blood of any company. These can be protected by the use of non-competition agreements for your employees. These agreements are enforceable if they are intended to protect a legitimate interest of the employer and have reasonable time and geographic limitations. Reggie C. Giffin has more than 35 years' experience in drafting, enforcing and defending against non-competition agreements.

• Trade Secrets

• Both Missouri and Kansas have laws that give broad protection to a company’s trade secrets. Missouri law defines a trade secret as information including technical or non-technical data, a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique or process that:

• Derives independent economic value from not being generally known and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by other persons who can derive economic value from its disclosure; and

• Is the subject of reasonable efforts to keep it secret.

Kansas defines a trade secret as information including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique or process and adopts generally the same standard as to the economic value and efforts to keep secret. Both states prohibit the misappropriation of trade secrets and give the owner of the secret the right to obtain an injunction prohibiting the disclosure or use of the trade secret and the right to recover damages. Both states have recognized the existence of, but have not clearly adopted or applied, the inevitable disclosure doctrine. This doctrine holds that an ex-employee who had access to his employer’s confidential information will inevitably misappropriate trade secrets when taking a similar job with a direct competitor and the new employer and ex-employee fail to demonstrate a sufficient ability to prevent improper disclosure. The previous employer is not only entitled to a prohibition of disclosure but may be able to obtain an injunction prohibiting the ex-employee from accepting the job even in the absence of a non-competition agreement.

• Corporate governance disputes
  
  
• Shareholder oppression and expulsion disputes
  
  
• The good will, cooperation and shared opportunity of start up companies often dissipate as the company becomes more profitable. The controlling shareholder or shareholders may use their power to deny the minority shareholders income from the business by reducing salaries or denying the payment of dividends or they may withhold other advantages to which the minority shareholders are entitled. Sometimes, controlling shareholders will attempt to force or squeeze out minority shareholders. In these cases the minority shareholders have certain statute and common law rights to protect their interests. Reggie C. Giffin has prosecuted and defended these types of cases. If your company is embroiled in a shareholder dispute, put his experience to work for you.

• Breach of Fiduciary duties by offices and directors
  
  
• Officers and directors of corporations owe fiduciary duties to the shareholders. These include the duty of loyalty to act in the shareholders’ best interest, the duty not to usurp or take advantages of opportunities that rightfully belong to the corporation and the duty to exercise care in running the business of the corporation. If an officer or director violates these duties, the shareholder may be able to sue him or her directly or the shareholders may be able to sue in the name of the corporation in what is known as a shareholder’s derivative suit.

Because of the many nuances and complexity of these cases, it is essential that you retain a lawyer such as Reggie C. Giffin who has more than 35 years experience in business litigation to protect your interests.

Reggie C. Giffin, P.C.
200 NW 47th Street
Kansas City, Missouri 64116
Telephone: (816) 453-2253
Cell: (816) 588-6596
Fax: (816) 453-2496
Email: rgiffin@kc.rr.com

Contact us about your legal matter today!