Business Litigation - Kent Carnell

Sly- Alright, joining us now from Lawton and Cates, Kent Carnell. He is an attorney at Lawton and Cates. Alright, normally you hear business litigation and people don’t jump for joy. But it’s probably the most practiced law there is, right?

Kent- Well statistically there are many more business cases in court than there are other kinds of cases. Business varies to a great extent to what areas of law may be involved.

Sly- So what is business litigation if you were to sum it up?

Kent- For the most part it is a dispute between two businesses. It could be an individual and a business, but somebody has said they will do something or provide a product and something has happened. Whatever they agreed to do hasn’t happened so then it goes to court over what was supposed to happen in their particular agreement.

Sly- The People’s Court or what people see on TV usually makes it very simple. One side is wrong and the other side is right. The law spells out clearly what the remedy is, but the fact is- that just isn’t reality. There is a lot of gray area and sometimes the law doesn’t perfectly spell out the remedy so a judge has to make a decision, right?

Kent- Correct. And for the most part you’re dealing with an agreement whether it’s a written contract or an oral agreement. One party says well this is what it means and the other party says no read this, this is what it means. If they can’t agree, then ultimately a judge or jury has to sort out that dispute.

Sly- If one side, one business, isn’t acting in good faith, that’s when they really get themselves in trouble, right?

Kent- Well they can, yes, because the law implies that you have to act in good faith both in terms of negotiation and in terms of carrying out the contract. In other words you can’t try to find some super technicality to avoid doing what you’ve already agreed to do. You always act in good faith.

Sly- So you deal with business litigation. What are some of the different parts of law, whether it be torts or others that you learned what you went to law school? What do you use the most in business litigation?

Kent- Well probably contract law is the most used. But as I said business litigation can vary across the board on the types of law you may have to know. It might be antitrust it might be patens, it might be trademark infringement.

Sly- I’ve been in federal court on that and it is no fun. That Barbara Crabb runs a tight ship.

Kent- She sure does. And trademark infringement is a very succinct area of the law, very precise. And it is generally in federal court.

Sly- Kent, I know this is going to come as a shock to you, but I’ve been in court over libel law as well. How about that? Now that can be between businesses too.

Kent- That could be between businesses and again that’s a whole separate area of the law in what you can and can’t do. And it always involves the First Amendment.

Sly- What’s the phone number at Lawton and Cates?

Kent- 282-6200

Sly- Alright. And you guys specialize in a number of different areas but this is a pretty significant part of your practice?

Kent- Well in terms of my practice it is. Lawton and Cates does litigation of various kinds. I tend to do business and construction litigation for the most part.

Sly- Construction, that’s got to be a nightmare, dealing with when something isn’t done on time or isn’t done properly because you have so many tangibles, or intangibles.

Kent- It is a nightmare and what I’ve been seeing lately is contractors that get partially done and then don’t finish a house for instance or don’t pay their sub contractors and then the home owner is in a mess.

Sly- How is this state when somebody takes somebody to court and they don’t prevail? Loser pays legal costs?

Kent- No the general rule is that each party pays their own costs. There are certain court costs like subpoena fees, court filing fees, things like that that the loser may have to pay. But your own attorney’s fees, each party pays their own unless your contract says otherwise or there are specific areas of the law that allow you to get attorneys fees.

Sly- Lawton and Cates website?

Kent- www.lawtoncates.com

Sly- We have a link to that at Sly’s office that you can go to because I want to remind people that the consultation, the questions that they have about whether they should bring a suit, usually that consultation is free. The first meeting right?

Kent- Usually we will do the first consultation for free. We’ll talk to them about whether they have a law suit, give them their options without charge.

Sly- People are frightened to go to court. People are frightened to bring legal action especially if they’re up against somebody bigger than themselves.

Kent- Everybody has that fear. Often throughout the course of Lawton and Cates and my career we’ve gone up against big companies like General Motors so we’re not afraid of them, but you have to know what you’re getting into.

Sly- We have those small dealerships with Chrysler going up against a big corporation. Of course once you go into bankruptcy that raises a lot of questions. That’s the great thing about Lawton and Cates, you’re not afraid to represent the little guy.

Kent- That’s right. That’s generally what we do. It’s the little guy, the small business against the bigger guy.

Sly- There are other law firms in town that focus on the other side, right?

Kent- There sure are.

Sly- Some of them even have lobbying operations. They do. Big lobbying operations. Alright well that’s Lawton and Cates, thanks again for coming out today Kent. What’s your phone number again?

Kent- 282-6200

Sly- That’s Kent Carnell from Lawton and Cates. Don’t be afraid to call Kent if you think you have a business litigation case.