The following is a sample of the commercial and business fraud litigation cases handled by our lawyers:

Business Fraud, Minority Owner Freeze-Out.Gateway USA, Inc. v. ESC, LLC, et al., District Court, City and County of Denver, Colorado. Ross Pulkrabek and Dan Wartell represented the plaintiff, which merged its profitable parking valet business with another valet business owned and operated by the defendants. The plaintiff alleged that the defendants purposefully concealed financial and other information both before and after the merger. The plaintiff also alleged that, after freezing it out of management and cutting off its access to financial information, the defendants manipulated the merged company's books and diverted the company's profits to themselves and their family. Following a four-day trial, the jury found that the defendants had committed fraud and engaged in a civil conspiracy to commit fraud against the plaintiff. The jury awarded the plaintiff over $1.5 million in damages, including $340,000 in punitive damages assessed against each of the three defendants for their fraudulent and malicious conduct. Before going to trial, Mr. Pulkrabek and Mr. Wartell first secured the dismissal of claims asserted against the plaintiff and its owner.

Business Fraud, Purchase of Business.K-Boys, Inc. v. Discovery Valley Home Development LLC, et al., District Court, City and County of Denver, Colorado. Ross Pulkrabek and Dan Wartell represented the purchaser of a retail business who had been defrauded by the sellers. The jury found that the sellers, Discovery Valley Home Development LLC and Zbigniew ("Greg") Mania, together with Greg Mania's father Marian Mania, misrepresented the business's inventory, sales, and profitability. The jury awarded $680,000 in actual and punitive damages against the defendants.

Consumer Fraud and Unfair Trade Practices.Affa v. Med Ops Medical Management, Inc., et al., District Court, City and County of Denver, Colorado. Michael Mihm and Ross Pulkrabek represented clients in fraud and unfair trade practices lawsuit against a company that arranges independent medical examinations for the insurance industry. Relying on the "whistle blower" testimony of the company's former employees, we established that the defendant company had fabricated a medical expert witness opinion in a related personal injury lawsuit, to the detriment of our clients, and had routinely altered medical expert witness reports in other cases. The case was settled for a confidential amount shortly before trial.

Breach of Fiduciary Duty - Oppression of Minority Shareholders.District Court, City and County of Denver, Colorado. Mr. Mihm and Ms. Hyatt represented one of Colorado's leading business law firms in a lawsuit filed by a minority member of a technology company alleging that he was squeezed out of the company, and that the defendant law firm aided and abetted the majority owners' breach of fiduciary duty. The jury found in favor of our client after a 9-day jury trial.

Breach of Fiduciary Duty.District Court, County of Pitkin, Colorado. Michael Mihm represented a prominent Colorado real estate law firm in a three-week jury trial in which the plaintiff, an Aspen real estate developer and art dealer, alleged that the firm breached a fiduciary duty concerning a commercial real property. The jury returned an inconsistent verdict, finding no proximate cause, but awarded modest damages against our client. The Colorado Court of Appeals partially reversed the verdict.

Embezzlement - Negligence.District Court, El Paso County, Colorado. Michael Mihm represented a Colorado employment agency that placed a Chief Financial Officer in a construction company. The employee later embezzled from the company, was convicted and sent to prison. The plaintiffs accused the defendant of not conducting a sufficiently thorough background investigation. After a 6 day trial, the jury found in favor of Mr. Mihm's client.