Getting sued
Served with a business lawsuit: the first days
The answer is due sooner than most owners expect. What to gather, what not to send, and why the first letter you write matters.
Colm Vesterholm6 min read
Business litigation in Seattle
The dispute is about money. The case is about what you can prove.
I’m Colm Vesterholm, a trial lawyer working on my own in Pioneer Square. I take contract, co-owner and insurance coverage disputes for owner-run companies and the people who own them, on either side of the caption.
Who calls
The businesses these disputes come from
- Restaurants and cafés
- General contractors
- Software studios
- Family manufacturers
- Dental and medical practices
- Shops and showrooms
Practice
Three kinds of dispute, taken from either side
Each one starts with a document: the contract, the operating agreement, the policy. I read it before I tell you anything about your chances.
Suing or defendingContract and vendor disputes
Unpaid invoices, a delivery that never came, a non-compete one side thinks has run out. I bring these claims and defend them, in court or in arbitration.
Contract and vendor disputes
Partners and membersCo-owner disputes
When the people who started a company together stop agreeing about it: a buyout, a deadlock, a partner who leaves and takes the clients along.
Co-owner disputes
Policyholders onlyInsurance coverage for businesses
Your own insurer denies a claim or won’t defend you in a lawsuit. In these cases I act only for the business that bought the policy.
Insurance coverage
Sample matters
What the record carried
Defense paid
Coverage, a roofer’s liability policy
The insurer refused to defend a roofing company against a homeowner’s suit, then took up the defense once a coverage action was filed.
Sample matter
The insurer paid the defense costs; no damages were awarded either way.
$41,300
Judgment, a software studio’s unpaid milestones
A client accepted three app releases and paid for one. Judgment followed a two-day bench trial.
Sample matter
Judgment before fees and costs; collecting it took four more months.
Claims withdrawn
Defense, a co-owner of a two-store bakery
A departing partner sued over who kept the second store’s lease. He withdrew his claims after his deposition.
Sample matter
Withdrawn without any payment; each side paid its own lawyer.
These are invented sample matters, shown to illustrate the work. Past results don’t guarantee a similar outcome; every case turns on its own documents, witnesses and judge.
Insights
Notes written before you need them
Short pieces on the questions owners ask in the first week of a dispute.
Co-ownersRead the operating agreement before you sue your partner
Most co-owner fights are decided by a few pages nobody has opened since the company was formed. Here is what to look for in them.
Colm Vesterholm5 min read
Call before your answer is due
The time to respond to a lawsuit is short, and a court won’t stretch it for a busy month. Tell me who sued whom and when the papers arrived, and we’ll talk it through.