Litigation

The team of litigation attorneys at McDaniel, Wolff & Benca PLLC have extensive experience handling a broad range of complex business-related matters for both plaintiffs and defendants. Any business can become involved in a legal dispute. Your choice of a knowledgeable, experienced and practical attorney can be critical to resolving disputes favorably and as efficiently as possible.

A business operates for profit and litigation is rarely a source for profit. Because of this, most business disputes demand realistic and prompt resolution, minimizing loss or damage to the business and those that operate it. Our goal is simple: be prepared to aggressively litigate on your behalf, but if a reasonable and acceptable solution is available, to resolve your dispute as quickly and inexpensively as possible so you can get back to business and enjoy positive pursuits. When trial is necessary, our skilled and experienced trial teams have obtained numerous successful verdicts for our clients.

The outcome of any type of litigation depends on an experienced, knowledgeable and creative lawyer as well as an attorney who enjoys a reputation of hard work, reliability, integrity, and certainty to take all reasonable measures necessary to protect the client. At McDaniel, Wolff & Benca PLLC, we implement those necessary traits and use our experience to represent clients in business disputes to bring them to a successful conclusion.

Our litigation department is led by Bart Calhoun and Scott Richardson. If we can assist you, please call us today at 501-954-8000, or submit an inquiry via our contact form available here.

Business Disputes Come in Many Types

Commercial litigation comes in many forms. Business disputes can involve fraud, contract breaches, employee embezzlement, shareholder disputes, breaches of fiduciary duties by company officers, employment and labor disputes, product liability claims, unpaid debts, thefts of trade secrets, intellectual property infringements, and any number of other disputes. Whether the case is a complex contractual dispute, a class action claim, a regulatory issue or is industry-specific, we are fully equipped to handle almost any type of commercial litigation in Arkansas.

Employment Litigation

Labor and employment laws are often complicated and over-lapping. Legal disputes with employees can be highly emotional, embarrassing, and can cause serious financial exposure for the unwary. Employment litigation involves a large spectrum of laws and regulations often changed and amended at the state, federal, and administrative agency levels. The litigation team at McDaniel, Wolff & Benca PLLC are well-versed in employment law and frequently defends companies against claims relating to the following:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act - Protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - Civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) - U.S. labor law that forbids employment discrimination against anyone at least 40 years of age or older.
• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) - U.S. labor law that creates the right to a minimum wage, “time-and-a-half” overtime pay when people work over forty hours a week, and prohibits employment of minors in “oppressive child labor.”
• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) - U.S. labor law requiring covered employers to provide employees with job-protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons.
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) - Federal law that aims to protect investors by making corporate disclosures more reliable and accurate as well as providing whistleblower protections.
• Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) - U.S. labor law governing the federal law of occupational health and safety in the private sector and federal government.
• Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) - Federal tax and labor law that establishes minimum standards for pension plans in the private sector.
• Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) - A congressional act designed to prohibit some types of genetic discrimination.
• National Labor Relation Act (NLRA) - U.S. labor law guaranteeing the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take collective action, such as strikes.
• Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) - U.S. labor law that protects employees, their families, and communities. It requires most employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60-day advance notification of plant closings and mass layoffs of employees.
• Arkansas Labor Laws - Arkansas laws that regulate similar issues regarding the rights and responsibilities of workers and the relationship between employees, unions, and employers.

Breach of Contract

One of the most fundamental business disputes involves a breach of a contract. Well-drafted contracts are what keep businesses functioning, and typically, profitable. Most contracts spell out the parties’ obligations, compensation to be paid or received, conditions under which a contract is in force and even sometimes provisions for resolving disputes. Unfortunately, even the most carefully drafted contract can become the subject of litigation if one party simply refuses to abide by a contract provision, or if there is a disagreement about the meaning of the contract language. At McDaniel, Wolff & Benca PLLC, we have extensive experience handling complex contractual disputes before judges, juries, arbitrators, and mediators throughout Arkansas.

Business Torts

Arkansas law recognizes a wide variety of business torts which provide remedies to litigants even when a contract does not pertain to the situation. Business torts may arise under a number of circumstances, such as during or after the sale of a business, when one business unlawfully interferes with a contract or relationship, or when a former employee steals proprietary and confidential trade secrets. Liability for business torts can be severe; some cases involve not only significant financial exposure, but oftentimes, injunctive relief. Oftentimes, these disputes are hotly contested and factually-intensive matters, the outcome of which could make—or break—a business.

Business-related torts recognized in Arkansas include:

• Fraud
• Unfair competition
• Tortious interference with contractual relationships
• Defamation & libel
• Product liability
• Theft of trade secrets

These claims are usually accompanied by demands for injunctive relief, such as a temporary restraining order or temporary injunction. This occurs at an accelerated pace and requires immediate, strategic, and tactical analysis from an experienced litigation attorney.

Collections

When you loan funds or provide goods and services to other people or businesses, it is expected that you receive the full payment you are owed. While many people make the payments expected from them, not all fulfill this obligation, causing you and your company frustrating financial loss. Fortunately, there are ways in which you can pursue the payment that you are owed by other parties, preventing you from suffering long-term financial harm.

The litigation attorneys at McDaniel, Wolff & Benca PLLC are proud to serve numerous Arkansas financial institutions and other businesses with their collection needs. Our attorneys have the experience and knowledge necessary to help businesses obtain the money they are owed in order to minimize financial loss.

Trust Litigation

Trust litigation comes in many forms because it can occur before or after the settlor’s (the creator of the trust) death. Trusts also come in many different forms, which create greater material for a dispute. Trusts are often created to provide for a minor, protect against incompetence, provide tax benefits, creditor protection and/or privacy, or prevent a beneficiary from receiving a lump sum of money. Through a trust agreement, the settlor has a say in how and when money is distributed to the beneficiaries.

So why would there be a dispute over a trust? There are many reasons trust litigation arises, and there are many types of people that can initiate it. Typically, it begins with a beneficiary who has an issue with the trustee, the terms of the trust agreement, or the creation of the trust altogether. Our litigation team regularly assists clients with the following trust disputes:

• Trustee breach of fiduciary duty
• Trustee self-dealing
• Enforcement of distribution terms
• Trustee incapacity
• Asset mismanagement
• Trust creation disputes - lack of mental capacity, undue influence, lack of funding
• Excessive trustee fees

Our probate attorneys have extensive experience representing both trustees and beneficiaries in trust disputes. Our extensive estate planning practice enables us to be well versed in all areas of the law pertaining to trusts.

If our litigation team can assist you with any of the matters discussed above, please call us today at 501-954-8000, or submit an inquiry via our contact form available here.