Litigation Threats

When Litigation Threatens Your Business, All Options Need to Be On the Table. An Immediate and Effective Response is Required, and You Must Be Prepared to Fight to Protect Your Company if Necessary.

Litigation is a part of doing business, but companies can – and should – control their risk when litigation threats arise. At Corporate Investigation Consulting, we help companies control their risk by investigating and evaluating internal and external litigation threats swiftly, cost effectively, and discretely. If your company is facing a potential lawsuit or government enforcement action, you need to act prudently, and you do not have time to be indecisive. We can help you make informed decisions focused on protecting your company and its shareholders by all means available.

Our team of former federal agents, including former Supervisory Special Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), brings unparalleled experience to helping our clients uncover and assess litigation threats in real time. Relying on decades of federal investigative experience, our litigation consultants are able to quickly identify issues and assess both the likelihood of litigation and the likelihood of a lawsuit being successful given the evidence that is available.

We Help Companies Avoid Unnecessary Risk When Litigation Threats Arise

When facing the prospect of litigation, companies must focus their efforts on avoiding any and all unnecessary risks. This means identifying the issues that are at play in the litigation, identifying any issues that might come into play, and promptly assembling an effective pre-litigation defense strategy. Our former federal agents help our clients gather the intelligence they need and then help them develop strategies for fending off potential liability due to matters including:

Shareholder Derivative Litigation

Discontent among small or large groups of shareholders can breed contentious disputes that eventually lead to shareholder derivative litigation. If you have concerns that a group of your company’s shareholders – even a small minority – may be considering a derivative action, you must gain the insights required in order to address their concerns before they resort to the judicial process. While it may ultimately prove impossible to dissuade them from moving forward, your company owes an obligation to its other shareholders to protect its financial interests in the most cost-effective way possible.

Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Other Internal Matters

Breaches of fiduciary duty by executives, board members, and other corporate insiders can cause significant financial losses and place a stain on the company’s reputation with vendors, customers, and the public at large. In order to prevent the situation from worsening, and in order to protect any corporate opportunities that may be at risk of being lost, companies must promptly investigate instances of possible fiduciary breaches and take appropriate remedial action immediately. The same holds true for other similar types of internal litigation threats as well.

License, Franchise, and Distributorship Disputes

Disputes with licensees, franchisees, and distributors can present a number of different risks depending upon the specific issue (or issues) involved. Our litigation consultants can determine the underlying cause of licensees’, franchisees’, and distributors’ issues, and we can determine whether these issues are isolated to a particular subset of entities or present a litigation threat on a system-wide basis.

IP Infringement and Breach of Confidentiality

Instances of intellectual property (IP) infringement and breaches of confidentiality can present immediate and substantial risks to companies’ valuations. On the same token, allegations of IP infringement or failure to protect another company’s confidential information can create the risk for substantial civil liability. We help our clients quickly get their arms around issues involving third-party infringement and confidentiality breaches; and, when necessary, we help our clients gather the evidence needed in order to build strong cases against allegations of IP infringement or breach of confidentiality.

Vendor Disputes

Disputes with vendors can not only be costly in terms of direct expenditures on litigation, but they can also threaten to disrupt companies’ day-to-day operations and prevent them from meeting their obligations to their customers. If your company is facing a potential dispute with a vendor, our former federal agents can work to quickly gather the information you need to assess the vendor’s claims as well as any potential counterclaims that your company may be able to leverage in order to achieve an efficient pre-litigation resolution.

Customer Complaints

Customer complaints present obvious risks for companies of all sizes, but they present some not-so-obvious risks as well. These litigation threats require a unique and particularly-sensitive approach, and companies must gather intelligence and make strategic decisions without engendering unnecessary hostility that could unduly threaten the customer relationship.

At Corporate Investigation Consulting, we are sensitive to the unique aspects of customer-related litigation, and our litigation consultants are skilled at helping companies protect their bottom lines while also protecting their relationships with their customers. Whether your company is facing a complaint from a single high-value customer or you are facing the prospect of multiple claims in multiple jurisdictions across the country (or around the world), we have the tools you need to make the right decisions moving forward.

Employment Litigation

Employment-related litigation presents particular challenges for companies as well. While companies must protect themselves, they must also take adequate steps to demonstrate that they are taking their employees’ complaints seriously. While they must investigate and arrive at a substantiated conclusion regarding the merits of employees’ allegations, they must also be prepared to put the full weight of their resources behind defending against allegations of harassment, discrimination, wage and hour violations, contract breaches, and other alleged corporate wrongs. Our former federal agents utilize their vast investigative experience to assess the veracity of employee complaints and then help our clients strategize accordingly.

Contract and Deal Disputes

Disputes arising out of mergers, acquisitions, and other business deals can present risks for substantial exposure, and these disputes also require a unique, strategic, and nuanced approach. We represent companies facing litigation threats as buyers, sellers, financiers, third-party service providers, and in other capacities in relation to large-scale transactions with the potential for significant financial losses. As with all types of litigation threats, prompt investigation and assessment are critical, and our former federal agents can make themselves available immediately if a failed transaction is threatening your company’s viability as a going concern.

Product Defect and Consumer Claims

Product defect, consumer fraud, premises liability, personal injury, and wrongful death claims can present significant liability risks; and, although these claims will generally be covered under companies’ insurance policies, companies must still defend against them in order to protect their finances and maintain their standing in the marketplace. If your company is facing potential litigation due to an alleged product defect or other consumer-level claim, our former FBI agents can examine the facts involved and determine to what extent your company’s leadership needs to be concerned about the prospect of facing judgment liability.

Class Action Litigation

Consumer and employee class action litigation can threaten the viability of companies of all sizes and in all industries. We help our clients assess class action litigation risks through intensive, detail-oriented investigations and effective risk management consulting. If your company is facing the potential for class action or multi-district litigation, you have no choice but to respond to the threat immediately. At Corporate Investigation Consulting, we can help you assess the threat from all angles and choose the best path forward.

Whistleblower Claims

Whistleblower claims under the False Claims Act (FCA) and other federal statutes present two litigation threats: The government can choose to intervene in the case and prosecute directly; and, if the government declines to intervene, the whistleblower can proceed with its case independently in federal district court. As former federal agents, our consultants have deep experience in federal whistleblower matters, and we can utilize this experience to your company’s advantage.

Civil Enforcement Litigation

With prior federal government experience, our consultants also offer unique insights for civil and criminal enforcement matters. On the civil side, we advise companies in all industries facing civil monetary penalties (CMP), treble damages, government attorneys’ fees, loss of registration, loss of federal program eligibility, and other penalties due to alleged violations of the FCA and other statutes. When our clients are targeted in federal investigations, we take a proactive approach focused on achieving a favorable result prior to the commencement of formal civil enforcement proceedings.

Criminal Enforcement Litigation

We advise corporate clients, company owners, company executives, and board members that are facing criminal federal investigations as well. For obvious reasons, criminal enforcement matters require an immediate and highly-strategic response, and our former federal agents have the knowledge and insights our clients need in order to make informed decisions from day one of the government’s investigation. We can help you regardless of the specific allegations at hand, and we can utilize our consultants’ past federal government experience to ensure that your company’s (and your personal) risk of facing criminal enforcement litigation is as minimal as possible.

Speak with a Litigation Consultant at Corporate Investigation Consulting

Regardless of the specific threat against your company, if you are facing the prospect of costly litigation, you must respond appropriately. At Corporate Investigation Consulting, we have the experience, insights, acumen, and business savvy your company needs in order to make informed decisions focused on cost-effective litigation avoidance. To discuss your situation in confidence, call 214-692-2171 or tell us how we can help online now.