Commercial Litigation

The practice

Litigation is the option when the other side will not talk, will not pay, will not perform, or will not stop. The process is slow and expensive by design. Civil procedure is built to push parties toward settlement, and most cases do settle. The ones that do not get tried.

Mustapha Daher leads the litigation practice. Before joining LegalSolv, he spent years at major Midwest and national defense firms running depositions, complex electronic discovery, and motion practice. That training is why the litigation work at the firm does not look like typical small-firm litigation.

Cases we handle

• Breach of contract. Plaintiff and defense work, in both business and personal contexts.
• Breach of fiduciary duty. Claims against officers, directors, managers, partners, and others who owed a duty and breached it.
• Commercial disputes and business torts. Partnership disagreements, tortious interference, unfair competition, and other inter-business claims.
• LLC member and shareholder disputes. Member oppression, deadlock, buyout fights, and shareholder derivative actions brought on behalf of the company.
• Restrictive covenants. Non-compete, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure enforcement and defense, including emergency injunctive relief.
• Employment disputes. Wrongful termination, discrimination, wage and hour claims, and non-compete enforcement or defense.
• Real estate litigation. Title disputes, boundary disagreements, easement claims, and landlord-tenant matters.
• Construction disputes. Defective work, contractor disagreements, and mechanic’s lien actions. See also the construction law page.
• Insurance disputes. Bad faith, coverage fights, and denied claims.
• Fraud and misrepresentation. Civil fraud, fraudulent inducement, and unfair dealing.
• Debtor and creditor matters. Collection actions, defending against collection, judgment enforcement, and post-judgment proceedings.

How a case actually moves

Litigation has a rhythm. Here is roughly what to expect:

• Case evaluation. The firm reviews the documents, identifies the legal theories, and tells you whether the case is worth filing. Sometimes the answer is no.
• Pre-litigation steps. Demand letter, settlement discussion, or mediation if the other party will engage. A meaningful number of cases end here.
• Filing and discovery. Once a complaint is filed, both sides exchange documents and take depositions. This is where most of the time and money goes.
• Motion practice. Motions to dismiss, summary disposition, and motions in limine. This is where the defense-firm training shows up.
• Trial. When the case does not settle through mediation or pretrial motions, it gets tried.
• Post-trial and appeals. Whichever side lost may appeal. The firm handles that work as well.

When not to litigate

Most disputes can be resolved without filing a lawsuit. The firm pushes toward settlement, mediation, or arbitration when those make sense, not because we are unwilling to try cases, but because they are often the right answer. A complaint is filed when negotiation has been exhausted, or when the other side is signaling that only a lawsuit will get their attention. Knowing the difference is most of the job.