These are 7 common commercial litigation matters that justify bringing a lawsuit.

When parties come together to engage in business transactions, create a new legal entity, start a partnership or take any number of other business-related actions, there’s a strong chance that at some point a dispute will arise.

Here are 7 of the most common:

Conversion
When something has been intentionally stolen or converted and the party refuses to turn over possession. It’s essentially the civil law equivalent to criminal theft.

Abuse of Process
Abuse of process happens when a party uses the legal process improperly and maliciously to cause intentional harm without merit in order to obtain a collateral goal.

Unjust Enrichment
When parties do not have a contract and one party mistakenly receives a payment, not correcting the mistake and repaying the amount may result in unjust enrichment.

Misappropriation of Trade Secrets
Misappropriation of trade secrets happens when a party discloses a business’s trade secrets without the owner’s consent. This party could have acquired the trade secrets by unlawful means or through employment. To be considered a trade secret it must be information exclusive to a business and it must give that business an advantage in it’s field.

Breach of Contract
A breach of contract occurs when two parties engage in a legal contract and one party does not perform and as a result the other party faces damages.

Defamation
Defamation occurs when one party injures another party’s reputation through libel (written defamation) or slander (oral defamation).

Fraud
There’s fraudulent misrepresentation, which happens when a party intentionally misrepresents the facts, and there’s fraudulent concealment, which happens when a party intentionally conceals the facts when they had an obligation to reveal them. In either case, relying on the information is must have caused the plaintiff damages.

For more information about common commercial litigation lawsuits, send us a message.