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A key employee resigns to join a competitor, taking years of customer relationships and knowledge of your business. Can you stop them from competing? In California, most employee non-competes are void, but trade secret laws can protect confidential source code, pricing information, and qualifying customer data. Limited non-compete exceptions exist for business sales and certain ownership transitions.

Businesses invest significant time and resources developing proprietary information that gives them a competitive advantage. Customer lists, pricing strategies, product designs, manufacturing methods, marketing plans, and confidential business processes often represent years of work and substantial financial investment.

If you suspect business partner fraud, your first step should be to preserve financial records and other evidence you can lawfully access, while reviewing your company's governing agreements to understand your rights and options.

A dispute with your business partner may reach the point where you can no longer agree on how the company should operate or what should happen to its assets. In California, a partner can ask a court to dissolve a partnership on specific legal grounds. If the court orders dissolution, the partnership's affairs must then be wound up, which can include paying obligations and distributing remaining assets.

Your business has been sued, and now the insurer is questioning coverage. That can raise an immediate concern: will your company have to pay its own defense costs while fighting the lawsuit? Under California law, the duty to defend is broader than the duty to indemnify.

A California breach of contract claim may turn on two questions: What did the agreement require, and what financial harm did the breach cause? When language is ambiguous, courts examine the contract as a whole and may consider evidence of the parties’ intent.

Your company's name, logo, slogan, or other branding helps customers recognize your business and distinguish it from competitors. When another business begins using a mark that is similar to yours—or you receive allegations that your own branding infringes someone else's trademark—the dispute can quickly become more than a marketing concern.

For many businesses, some of the most valuable assets are not physical property or equipment but the confidential information that gives them a competitive advantage. Customer lists, pricing strategies, manufacturing processes, software code, research data, proprietary formulas, marketing plans, and business methods can all represent years of investment and development.

Shareholder derivative actions occupy a unique place in business litigation. Unlike traditional lawsuits in which a plaintiff seeks compensation for personal harm, a derivative suit is brought by a shareholder on behalf of the corporation itself.