Vancouver Mandarin Chinese Corporate Litigation Lawyer

Running a business means that you’re likely to be embroiled in a dispute sooner or later. While sometimes disputes can be smoothed over and worked out without involving the court system, litigation is nevertheless a part of doing business.

If English is not your first language, you can get legal support from our firm in Mandarin Chinese. We have helped many Chinese business owners in Vancouver navigate all manner of lawsuits and court cases. We are responsive, keep you in the loop, and have the skills to give you the information you need without any risk of misunderstandings.

Types of Corporate Litigation

Our firm handles all types of disputes, including:

• Contract disputes
• Partnership disputes
• Shareholder disputes
• Minority oppression
• Securities litigation
• Real estate litigation
• Construction litigation
• Employment litigation
• Class action suits
• Product liability 
• Debt enforcement
• Municipal disputes
• Environmental litigation
• Intellectual property disputes
• Libel and slander cases
• Directors and officers liability
• Antitrust cases
• Bad faith cases
• Breach of fiduciary duty cases
• Derivative actions
• Fraud actions
• Insurance coverage cases
• Misrepresentation actions
• Tortious interference
• Tax disputes
• Trade secret lawsuits
• Unfair competition actions
• International arbitration

Any business of any size can find themselves involved in any number of these cases, but we have helped some of the largest concerns held by Chinese investors here in the city of Vancouver. You can rest easy knowing we have the skills to help you as well.

How We Help

If you need to launch a lawsuit, we launch it on your behalf. If you need to respond to one, we move quickly to avoid missing crucial deadlines. Because we take the time to get to know your company we can often dive deep into the issue without a lot of delay. 

We then move fast to subpoena all relevant information. We are well versed in the types of data, files, and evidence might be required to bring your commercial litigation to a successful conclusion, and we don’t wait to get our hands on that information. We work tirelessly to prepare a thorough case.

This preparation often helps us to negotiate an appropriate settlement for both parties out-of-court, which is usually a preferable outcome. When this is not possible, we fight hard to help the courts see your side of the story, and to protect your interests.

We also take proactive steps to help you prevent litigation from arising in the first place. For example, we make sure you are in compliance with provincial securities laws, health and safety laws, environmental laws, employment laws, advertising laws, packaging laws, and more. This can prevent lawsuits both from customers and from the government. We help you develop contracts and agreements that can prevent suits, such as shareholder and partnership agreements. And we advise you at a strategic level to ensure that the moves that you make do not put your business in danger.

FAQs

What are Some Examples of Corporate Lawsuits?

You can pluck dozens of examples from the headlines. 

• Recently, Iceland’s national airline sued a Kelowna, BC aircraft maintenance company, claiming the shop failed to install a plane’s landing gear properly, holding it responsible for a collapse during a landing, damaging the plane.
• Media company Rogers is suing the Crown for $4.6 million in over-taxation.
• Frank Giustra of Lionsgate Entertainment has filed a defamation lawsuit against Twitter.
• Pfiizer is being sued over Alesse birth control pills that were issued at half the proper size, which resulted in several customers becoming pregnant.
• The Scotch Whiskey Association took a Victoria distillery to court over the name of one of their whiskeys.
• Canada Dry paid $200,000 over claiming that their ginger ale offered health benefits.

Lawsuits can come from consumers, from clients, from partners, from shareholders, from vendors, and from employees. They can come from the Crown itself. 

There is a complex web of laws binding businesses and failing in even one of those duties can result in litigation. In addition, companies often enter into complex contracts with one another, only for those contracts to fail when one party or another fails to live up to their obligations. 

We’ve seen lawsuits over all of the following issues, and more:

• Whether or not companies were deceptive over one another over the terms of contracts or future contracts, or negotiated with one another in good faith.
• Whether companies failed in their duties to disclose certain information to minority shareholders.
• Class action lawsuits over deceptive advertising. 
• Mistreatment of employees.
• Deception of shareholders.
• Breach of contract claims worth millions of dollars.
• Lawsuits over failed loans.
• Allegations of fraudulent business transfers. 
• Breach of joint venture agreements.
• Wrongful termination lawsuits.
• Contaminated site lawsuits.

Any one of these lawsuits can put your company out of business if you are unprepared for them. There are only two ways to prepare: securing adequate insurance to cover certain problems and working closely with a corporate litigation lawyer.

In addition, there are times when you will need to stand in as the plaintiff to protect your own business interests. We can advise you on the times when launching such a lawsuit is ultimately the best way to protect your company, and we will fight hard for you when the time comes.

What Should Business Owners Do When Their Company Gets Sued?

It is imperative to stay calm and to contact your corporate litigation lawyer right away. Preserve any and all evidence that you might have that will pertain to your case. Your lawyer might have to seek a preservation order that directs the other party to do the same. 

Avoid communicating directly with the other party: always let your lawyer do the talking. We deal with these issues day in and day out. We know what to say and what not to say. 

In many cases you will also need to inform your insurance provider of the complaint. As your lawyers, we can do this for you. 

Finally, work with your lawyer to decide how to respond. There are some cases where it is better to simply give the plaintiff what they are asking for. There are some where it is best to fight with everything you have. Much depends upon the strength of your case. In some cases, you may even be able to countersue, simply because the plaintiff has caused you time, money, and stress by launching the lawsuit in the first place.

Can Directors and Officers be Held Liable for Corporate Issues?

There are instances that allow directors and officers to be sued for actions they take on their company’s behalf. Each director and officer has obligations to shareholders, customers, and employees. They even have responsibilities to the public.

First there are the fiduciary duties they have to their shareholders, who have the right to launch litigation against them. Directors and officers must avoid conflicts of interest, and they must deal honestly with investors and shareholders. They are also required to exercise a minimum standard of care when operating their company. 

Directors and officers may also be held personally liable for environmental offenses. This can mean being held personally liable for the costs of cleaning up contaminated sites, or for damages that the public suffers as a result of a company’s actions.

Directors and officers may also be held liable if the company commits a tax offense. Government regulators may also hold them accountable for failing to comply with certain environmental, securities, or human rights standards.

Finally, directors and officers may be held personally liable if they distribute incorrect information to the public, fail to comply with certain disclosure requirements, fail to file financial statements or misrepresent information in public financial statements, or conduct insider trading. 

There are methods to limit this liability. One way is to consult with your lawyer. We conduct due diligence on your behalf to help you make decisions that will be defensible in court. We also help you develop the legal structures that can limit this liability.

Why Choose Us?

Our firm has extensive experience navigating complex business lawsuits. We have cross-border and international experience, which means we can help you even if your business is a global concern, as is the case for most of our Chinese clients. We also have extensive experience with class action work, making us the perfect firm to defend your company’s interests in that regard. 

We have worked with a wide variety of companies in a wide variety of industries, and we are known for both our negotiation skills and our litigation skills. We can either help you settle your lawsuit amicably or fight the matter out in court. 

Call to set up an appointment today. You’ll be matched to one of our skilled Mandarin Chinese-speaking lawyers. We’ll sit down with you to discuss your current and future contract needs, and the steps we will need to take to protect your interests.

Chinese Lawyer Vancouver serves clients in Vancouver, Abbotsford, Langley, Surrey, and White Rock. Call to set up an appointment today.