Business Litigation

• Breach of Contract
• Property & Lease Disputes
• Corporate & Partnership Disputes
• Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act (“DTPA”)
• Covenant Not to Compete

At The Law Offices of Sherin Thawer, P.C., we are equipped to successfully address all business disputes that may arise from the beginning of the start-up until the winding up of the operation of businesses across Texas.  We are offering sound business consulting services to review policies, procedures and agreements in order to identify and correct potential disputes before they develop into costly litigation. Once in litigation, our attorneys handle disputes that are as varied and complex as today's business world.

The firm's Business Litigation attorneys understand business, and understand that strategy and procedures in litigation will always be subject to business decisions. We have experience, skill, depth and record of success in business litigation. We offer an aggressive and confident litigation capability in the following areas of law:

Breach of Contract; Covenant not to Compete; Property & Lease Disputes;
Mediation & Arbitration; and Deceptive Trade Practice Act (“DTPA”).

Please contact us online or at the Law Offices of Sherin Thawer, P.C., so the firm's Business Litigation attorneys may assist you.

Breach of Contract

Breach of Contract is a violation of the terms of a legal agreement which allows the nonbreaching party to rescind the contract, sue for damages, or sue for performance of the contract.

Example: Brooke contracts with owner Sara to purchase a real estate property. When the closing date arrives, Sara simply changes her mind and refuses to Brooke the title to the property. Sara’s action is not supported by any special condition in the sales contract and therefore constitutes a breach of contract. Brooke may rescind the contract and recover her earnest money, sue Sara for any expenses and damages incurred, or may sue to force Sara to sell.

The above example is a simple illustration of breach of contract to perform by one party to a contract to another; a failure to exercise that care which a reasonable person would exercise under similar circumstances.

The basic rule is that parties to any type of contract must perform as specified in the contract unless (1) the parties agree to the change in the contract's terms, or (2) the actions of the party who deviates from the terms of the contract are implicitly accepted ("ratified") by the action or non-action of the other party.

At the Law Offices of Sherin Thawer, P.C., our experienced Contract attorneys can assist you. Please contact us online or at the Law Offices of Sherin Thawer, P.C. to obtain an advice regarding any contract law questions you might have.

Property & Lease Disputes

At The Law Offices of Sherin Thawer, P.C., we will help you to interpret, prepare, revise and/or explain the following:

• Commercial Lease
• Landlord's Rules and Regulations
• Residential Lease
• Landlord or Tenant’s Demand Letter
• Contracts for Sale
• Contracts for Deed

At the Law Offices of Sherin Thawer, P.C., our experienced business attorneys can assist you. Please contact us online or at the Law Offices of Sherin Thawer, P.C. to obtain an advice regarding any business law questions you might have.

Corporate & Partnership Disputes

At the Law Offices of Sherin Thawer, P.C., our Business attorneys will help you to interpret, prepare, revise and/or explain the following:

• Partnership Agreement
• Certificate of Incorporation
• Bylaws
• Written Consent of Directors
• Corporate Secretary's Certificate
• General Proxy
• Action by Incorporator
• Bill of Sale
• Limited Warranty

Any partnership, corporation, limited liability company, sole proprietorship, or joint venture may one day need a civil trial attorney. Disputes leading to litigation and the process of litigation not only may consume a company’s financial resources, but also interfere with day-to-day operations, damage relations between business partners, and threaten stability and future of the business.

Once served with a complaint, the sued party (“defendant”) must reply to the petition within a strict deadline. If you or your company has been served with a complaint, it is extremely important that you seek advice from an attorney immediately. If you fail to respond in a timely manner, a default judgment (a final judgment granting the plaintiff all relief requested) will be granted to the plaintiff.

At the Law Offices of Sherin Thawer, P.C., our experienced Business attorneys can assist you. Please contact us online or at the Law Offices of Sherin Thawer, P.C. to obtain an advice regarding any business law questions you might have.

Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act (“DTPA”)

The underlying purpose of this Act is to protect consumers against false, misleading, and deceptive business practices, unconscionable actions, and breaches of warranty and to provide efficient and economical procedures to secure such protection. This Act is intended to be liberally construed and applied. A consumer is defined as one who seeks or acquires by purchase or lease any goods or services.

UNLAWFUL ACTS UNDER THE DTPA:

BREACH OF WARRANTY

1. Express Warranty: Written or verbal warranty.
2. Merchantable: Good can do what good is ordinarily used for.
3. Fitness: Good can do what the sales person said it would do.

UNCONSCIONABLE ACTS

Seller takes advantage of "consumers" lack of knowledge, ability, experience, or capacity to a grossly unfair degree.

ANY FALSE, MISLEADING OR DECEPTIVE ACT

The following acts must also be relied on by a consumer to the consumer's detriment:

1. Passing off goods or services as those of another;
2. Causing confusion or misunderstanding as to the source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or services;
3. Causing confusion or misunderstanding as to affiliation, connection, or association with, or certification by, another;
4. Using deceptive representations or designations of geographic origin in connection with goods and services;
5. Explicit or implicit representation that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits or quantities which they do not have or that a person has a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation, or connection which he does not;
6. Representing that goods are original or new if they are deteriorated, reconditioned, reclaimed, used, or secondhand;
7. Representing that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality or grade, or that goods are of a particular style or model, if they are of another;
8. Disparaging the goods, services, or business of another by false or misleading representation of facts;
9. Advertising goods or services with intent not to sell them as advertised;
10. Advertising goods or services with intent not to supply a reasonable expectable public demand, unless the advertisements disclosed a limitation of quantity;
11. Making false or misleading statements of fact concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amount of price reductions;
12. Representing that an agreement confers or involve rights, remedies, or obligations which it does not have or involve, or which are prohibited by law;
13. Knowingly making false or misleading statements of fact concerning the need for parts, replacement, or repair service;
14. Misrepresenting the authority of a salesman, representative or agent to negotiate the final terms of a consumer transaction;
15. Basing a charge for the repair of any item in whole or in part on a guaranty or warranty instead of on the value of the actual repairs made or work to be performed on the item without stating separately the charges for the work and the charge for the warranty or guaranty, if any;
16. Disconnecting, turning back, or resetting the odometer of any motor vehicle so as to reduce the number of miles indicated on the odometer gauge;
17. Advertising of any sale by fraudulently representing that a person is going out of business;
18. Using or employing a chain referral sales plan in connection with the sale or offer to sell of goods, merchandise, or anything of value, which uses the sales technique, plan, arrangement, or agreement in which the buyer or prospective buyer is offered the opportunity to purchase merchandise or goods and in connection with the purchase receives the seller's promise or representation that the buyer shall have the right to receive compensation or consideration in any form for furnishing to the seller the names of other prospective buyers if receipt of the compensation or consideration is contingent upon the occurrence of an event subsequent to the time the buyer purchases the merchandise or goods;
19. Representing that a guarantee or warranty confers or involves rights or remedies which it does not have or involve, provided, however, that nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to expand the implied warranty of merchantability as defined in Sections 2.314 through 2.318 and Sections 2A.212 through 2A.216 of the Business & Commerce Code to involve obligations in excess of those which are appropriate to the goods;
20. Promoting a pyramid promotional scheme, as defined by Section 17.461;
21. Representing that work or services have been performed on, or parts replaced in, goods when the work or services were not performed or the parts replaced;
22. Filing suit founded upon a written contractual obligation of and signed by the defendant to pay money arising out of or based on a consumer transaction for goods, services, loans, or extensions of credit intended primarily for personal, family, household, or agricultural used in any county other than in the county in which the defendant resides at the time of the commencement of the action or in the county in which the defendant in fact signed the contract; provided, however, that a violation of this subsection shall not occur where it is shown by the person filing such suit he neither knew or had reason to know that the county in which such suit was filed was neither the county in which the defendant resides at the commencement of the suit nor the county in which the defendant in fact signed the contract;
23. The failure to disclose information concerning goods or services which was known at the time of the transaction if such failure to disclose such information was intended to induce the consumer into a transaction into which the consumer would not have entered had the information been disclosed;
24. Using the term "corporation," "incorporated," or an abbreviation of either of those terms in the name of a business entity that is not incorporated under the laws of this state or another jurisdiction; or
25. Taking advantage of a disaster declared by the governor under Chapter 418, Government Code, by:
1. Selling or leasing fuel, food, medicine, or another necessity at an exorbitant or excessive price; or
2. Demanding an exorbitant or excessive price in connection with the sale or lease of fuel, food, medicine, or another necessity.

1. Covenants not to compete must be in writing.
2. Covenants not to compete must be part of a contract;
3. A covenant not to compete, like any other contract, must be supported by consideration to be valid;
4. A covenant not to compete must be reasonable, both as to the time and the territory;
5. Covenants not to compete must be fair to the parties; and
6. An anti-competitive agreement must not violate public policy.

Even though covenants not to compete are commonly enforced by the Court, it must be shown that all the requirements of the covenant were fulfilled; or to invalidate a covenant one should be prepared to show that a required condition is lacking.

At the Law Offices of Sherin Thawer, P.C., our experienced Business attorneys can assist you. Please contact us online or at the Law Offices of Sherin Thawer, P.C. to obtain an advice regarding your possible Covenant Not to Compete claims.