Jason Anderson

Stradling successfully defended its clients, a software development company and its founder, in a three-day trial in San Bernardino Superior Court. The company is seeking to commercialize proprietary software designed to monitor and adjust computer users' eyes to address digital vision syndrome. In an effort to unwind her investment, the plaintiff alleged the founder made misrepresentations to her to induce her to invest in the company. The plaintiff also asserted derivative claims on behalf of all shareholders claiming the founder breached fiduciary duties and misappropriated corporate assets. The court bifurcated our affirmative defense of the statute of limitations and ordered the affirmative defense to be tried first. The jury returned a verdict in favor of our clients.

Our team successfully represented a family member in her petition to be appointed successor trustee of a family trust, as well as her opposition to a counter petition by an institutional trust company for control of the family trusteeship. Following the death of the first trustee, the decedent’s representatives failed to provide notice to our client and erroneously contacted the institutional trust company to fill the vacancy. The institutional trust company accepted the trusteeship over our client’s objections, immediately filed a petition to force a sale of the family home and, thereafter, refused to cede control of the trust to our client. Following our discovery and submission of briefs and evidence, the institutional trust company voluntarily resigned as successor trustee before the hearing on our petition, and our client has been appointed the successor trustee.

Secured a full victory in a business divorce/real estate case which will have major implications in other, ongoing disputes in a highly profitable, family business in Orange County. At issue in the dispute was whether our client or another family member is the General Partner of a real estate partnership which owns and manages industrial property leased to the business.  As a result of presenting substantial evidence that family members had not followed partnership and corporate formalities in terms of noticing meetings, voting records, and maintaining meeting minutes, the judge found our adversary had abandoned and waived her role as a General Partner, was estopped from now claiming she was a General Partner, and voided a bogus, one-sided commercial lease she and other siblings had caused the real estate partnership to enter into with the company.  Our client was also awarded the attorney’s fees and costs he incurred in this arbitration.