Orange County Litigation Law Blog

Going into business with a partner may have seemed like a no-brainer to you. You and your partner may have collectively come up with the business idea and took the startup steps together to allow the company to go from an idea to reality. At no point did either of you think that going at it alone would be for the best.

Unfortunately, as time has gone on, you and your business partner find yourselves disagreeing more often than not. At first, the issues may have seemed small, and one or the other may have conceded without much fuss. However, the issues now revolve around major business operations or even your partner not pulling his or her weight.

As a small business owner, you have likely had many ups and downs. You may have experienced numerous challenges just getting your business up and running, and it may always seem like there is another difficulty around the corner. However, you feel confident in your abilities and work hard to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible.

Of course, a significant portion of businesses face some type of legal claim or lawsuit during the course of their business operations. You may have recently found yourself facing this type of predicament for the first time, and understandably, you may worry what it could mean for your company. Luckily, you have options.

Buffington Law Firm's Trust Litigation attorneys have been keenly following the key trust litigation case of Barefoot v. Jennings.  This case, when originally decided by the Court of Appeal, had a far-reaching and downright disruptive effect upon trust litigation in California.  The reason is simple.  The decision in Barefoot held that if a plaintiff was challenging a trust, where there was an amendment that disinherited the plaintiff, that this meant that the plaintiff lacked standing to challenge the very amendment that disinherited him or her.  This gave rise to an obvious circular dillemma -- if a defendant procured, by improper means such as  undue influence or the like, an amendment that disinherited another beneficiary, not only was that beneficiary disinherited, but the amendment caused the beneficiary to lose standing to challenge the amendment in probate court under Probate Code Section 17200!  This was a surprising decision, to say the least, since many trust litigation cases involve this precise scenario.

Purchasing a home in California can be complicated and expensive. Before investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into a residence or property, you want to be certain you are getting what you pay for. This is where property disclosures can help.

The laws governing real estate transactions in this state generally protect the buyer. The same is true for disclosure statements. While each state has its particular requirements for the things a seller must reveal to a potential buyer, California's requirements are among the most stringent. Nevertheless, you may have purchased a home based on the disclosure of the seller only to find that the seller may not have been entirely truthful. Does this mean you have a legal claim?