Business and Civil Litigation Attorney Serving Orange County & Los Angeles

Business and civil litigation is a "Catch all Phrase" that includes a myriad of several different types of lawsuits.

In reality, business and civil rights litigation can be broken into several main principles:

• Principles of Contract

• Principles of Tort

• Principles of Rights given to you by the government or Regulations given to you by the government.

• Trademark

• Unfair Business Practices or Unfair Competition

When two companies enter into a transaction no matter how complex, that is a contract. If one party violates the terms of the contract, or does not do he or she promised to do under the contract that is called a breach of the contract. If one of the parties, perhaps the seller, made false statements to induce one party to enter into the contract, that is fraud and is a tort. There are laws that give a person or a business certain rights in trade names, trade secrets and trade names. There are laws whereby the government dictates how you treat your employees or elects directors of a homeowner's association.

Regardless of what bundle of regulations or laws are being disputed, the method of dispute and dispute resolution is roughly the same:

• First one side makes an accusation that the other party did something wrong,

• Second, the other side either agrees denies that they did something wrong,

• Discovery, which is a system of written and oral questions as well as requests for documents and the examination of expert witnesses is undertaken, which is intended, among other things, to:

  • Assist the parties and the trier of fact in ascertaining the truth,

  • Encourage settlement by educating the parties as to the strengths of their claims and defenses

  • Expedite and facilitate preparation for trial

After discovery is complete, the matter organized and presented to either a court or a jury through testimony, expert testimony and documents who decides the matter and awards judgment in monetary terms.

The art of business litigation is the art of trial practice, which requires:

• Knowledge of the law and procedures, and

• Credibility with the judges. You have to be reasonable and a person that people like and can get along with, but not a wimp or a push over.

• You have to be able to go to trial if you must. When you are about to get into a barroom brawl, if you can work yourself out it gracefully, great. If your back is up against the wall, you better be able "Fight like hell".

• You must have that sixth sense about when the time is right to "Grab the deal and run like hell" and when to wait and let the case develop. Part of any trial lawyer is a bet of a "River boat gambler". "Know when to hold em and when to fold em."

Again, any lawyer who brags about having a "90% success rate" is probably full of crap. The number of variables in any civil case are too numerous and too subjective so that even a person with a Ph.D. in statistics would not attempt to quantify them or come up with a success rate. I have won cases that I should have lost.

Charles M. Farano is a litigator with 32 years of experience.

• He has had spent a significant amount of time in the trenches and had a significant amount of trial experience.

• He can explain the client’s options in a straight forward and honest manner.

• He spends the time to analyze every case and prepare thoroughly for trial.

• He has a good presence – friendly and self-assured but not arrogant and has character and a good reputation amongst the legal community.

• He is ready willing and able to go to trial if necessary.