When a situation is urgent for a client, the choice of lawyer can be the difference between success or failure. Many attorneys simply don’t have the experience in using the litigation tools to make their case. What do I mean?
Our judges in Houston have a tremendous amount of experience in dealing with complex, commercial litigation disputes involving fraud, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, shareholder oppression, and partnership issues. When our Houston judges are confronted with a party needing a temporary restraining order because of an urgent issue, lawyers tend not to ask them for additional relief in the forms of attachments, garnishments, or sequestrations.
For example, if a brazen partner swipes all or a substantial amount of the partnership’s money out of the bank account, a temporary restraining order to get the money back is vital, but a more complete approach will also include a writ of attachment to get the money in the hands of a third party like a financial institution. In a recent experience, the partner who breached his fiduciary duty by taking all of the money was ill-advised to defy the court’s temporary restraining order. I had a writ of attachment in-hand, and after posting the bond for the attachment, I was able to trace and lock down the money in a bank. The breaching partner was check-mated, and he had no choice at that point but to give up control of all of the money.
Even though the partnership agreement sets out the duties and obligations of each partner, the partnership agreement is disregarded and the breach of contract ramifications are not considered when things go wrong. That is why experience in choosing a commercial litigation or business disputes attorney is critical.