Phone: 619-238-4900

Business Litigation

  • Contract disputes
  • Lender disputes
  • Partnership disputes
  • Shareholder disputes

Businesses of every size and nature have disputes. We have handled disputes between owners, between owners and investors, with and on behalf of vendors, lenders, contractors, for individuals, for small companies and Fortune 100 corporations; you name it, we’ve handled it. When we are involved early, we often can resolve a dispute before litigation is filed. At a minimum, when we are retained before a matter is already in litigation, we are able to better position the case in a way that will make a favorable outcome more likely if litigation does occur. When possible, settlement is usually the best alternative for most clients. But often it’s just not possible, at least not until after litigation makes the parties more realistic.

What sets the lawyers at Mazzarella Law APC apart from most “business litigators,” and leads to both better settlements and better results at trial, is the extent of our trial experience, and the remarkable results we consistently have obtain for decades. There are a lot of business “litigators.” But these days very few have any significant amount of trial experience. The attorneys at Mazzarella Law APC are the exception. We have tried in excess of 125 cases to conclusion before judges, juries and arbitrators in federal and state courts from San Diego to Washington D.C. As a result, the attorneys at Mazzarella Law APC have well deserved reputations, with both the bench and bar, not just as excellent “litigators,” but as “trial lawyers,” who are not afraid to go to trial, and who win when they do.

Our well-deserved reputation as experienced and highly successful trial lawyers serves our clients well in every case—even though 95% of the cases filed in San Diego settle or are dismissed before trial. Our reputation has established us as worthy opponents who are not afraid to take a case to trial, and who win when we do. That reputation routinely leads both to better and quicker settlements and better results in trial.

REPRESENTATIVE CASES

  • We represented the plaintiff in an insider-trading case in which our client recovered $123,367,000—the most ever recovered in an insider trading case.
  • In a federal court jury trial, we successfully defended a maquiladora that was sued by a cell phone manufacturer for $560,000,000 in damages allegedly cause by defective batteries provided by our client, which plaintiff claimed lead to the plaintiff’s loss of its contract with one of the major cell phone service providers.
  • We have sued many prominent hotel management companies, including Marriott, Hilton, Doubletree and Wyndham, on behalf of the owners of full-service hotels for damages and/or rescission of management or franchise agreements. One case resulted in a settlement valued at $70 million. Another ended in a settlement worth $50 million. Others resulted in termination of management contracts or franchise agreements.
  • We have obtained judgments on behalf of lenders from borrowers and/or guarantors for as much as $27 million.
  • We have successfully defended borrowers in suits by lenders to recover as much as $40 million in damages for breach of guarantees. Most recently, we not only obtained a defense verdict on behalf of our client in a suit on his personal guarantee, the jury awarded our client $3.5 million on his cross-complaint against the lender for wrongful foreclosure and fraud.
  • We have successfully prosecuted or defended dozens of actions brought by the owners of businesses against one another, ranging from a real estate development company with 30 commercial and industrial properties throughout Southern California, to high-tech companies, to closely held family corporations.
  • We obtained a defense verdict in a law suit for fraud filed against a local bank, its General Counsel, and the head of its Trust Department.
  • We obtained a defense verdict on behalf of the 4th largest brewing company in the U.S. which was sued when one of its route salesmen ran head-on into another vehicle after getting drunk on the job.

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS

  • Manchester Financial/”Papa Doug” Manchester
  • The Douglas Wilson Companies
  • The Heileman Brewing Company
  • C. R. Bard, Inc.
  • Buck Knives
  • Beal Bank
  • Fuller Ford
  • Ron Baker Chevrolet
  • Heritage Golf Group
  • Michael Angelo’s Gourmet Foods
  • Edward James Olmos/Olmos Marketing
  • CloudBreak Capital LLC
  • Spencer Johnson
  • Kelly Capital/Kelly Investments
  • Shield Pro LLC