Fraud and misappropriation charges are always disruptive to a business, resulting in high-stakes litigation that can destroy a company before it even has its day in court. Spillane Trial Group client Restful Group Entities recently faced down such charges in multi-district, cross-country litigation that not only had the client praising the quality of their representation but also attracted the attention of the National Law Journal, which wrote about the litigation as a case study of how to handle such “bet-the-company” cases.
Legal writer Amanda Bronstad asked Jay Spillane, among other queries, to describe the complex proceedings.
“Including the two bankruptcies, there are seven actions that we’re handling,” said Spillane. “There are three lawsuits in the San Diego Superior Court, there is one … arbitration before the American Arbitration Association in Los Angeles, one state court action in Virginia and two consolidated bankruptcy actions in the bankruptcy court in San Diego.
“One investor group has a series of notes and guarantees they sued on and claim they’re due. Other claims … have been fraud, mismanagement, breach of fiduciary duty, things of that nature. There were contentions that my clients misappropriated monies, were not following accounting or appropriate procedures, and were mismanaging the company’s assets. Thus far, we’ve had a 100 percent success record in defeating all those claims.”
In response to the question about why the Restful Groups’ litigation has been so successful, Spillane answered, “The evidence shows my clients have done their best at all times and acted in the interests of the investors. The investors were unfairly blaming the lack of success or wrongdoing on behalf of my clients, when the evidence showed that despite their best efforts, things didn’t work out at least as everyone hoped.”