No one wants to be party to a legal dispute. For a businessperson, legal disputes are painful, stress-filled distractions that interfere with the smooth operation of a gainful enterprise. At the same time, adversarial relationships in today's market place are inevitable.

Kirton & McConkie's Business Litigation Practice Section proceeds on these common sense premises. The section's goal is always to bring disputes to a prompt and favorable conclusion with minimum impact on the client. Though Kirton & McConkie's business litigators deal daily with matters in dispute, they recognize that the central interest of any business entity is to remain profitable by eliminating disputes and removing impediments to efficient business operations. Our services are geared to accomplish this end.

The Business Litigation Practice Section has experience in all facets of dispute resolution ranging in subject matter from simple contract enforcement to the complexities of shareholder derivative actions and business torts. Areas of specialty also include products liability, injunctions and extraordinary writs, personal injury defense, and land use issues. The section members have extensive trial and appellate experience in state and federal courts both in Utah and elsewhere. Section members have also participated in numerous mediation and arbitration proceedings outside the traditional litigation track. We are keenly aware that the primary goal of any non-litigator caught up in a legal action is to conclude any differences in a just manner and proceed forward with pursuits that add to, rather than detract from, the client's bottom line.

Kirton & McConkie's Business Litigation Practice Section views its role in a context broader than mere advocacy. Our business litigators seek to understand our clients' business interests and to anticipate how those interests are affected by existing and potential disputes. We undertake to give precise and timely guidance before small misunderstandings become big difficulties. Most importantly, our business litigators make every effort to preserve lines of communication with opponents so that neither obstinance nor ego prevents the resolution of a legal dispute. Further, we are in constant communication with other legal specialists in the office, including those with transactional and regulatory experience, to be certain that we have examined all sides of a problem in order to produce the optimal result for the client.

CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT

• Covenants not to compete
• Liquidated damages
• Landlord/Tenant

BUSINESS TORTS

• Intentional interference
• Fraud
• Unfair competition
• Trade secrets

SECURITIES AND COMPLEX LITIGATION

• Shareholders derivative
• Dissolution and alter ego
• Stock valuation
• Antitrust

CREDITOR'S RIGHTS

• Adversary proceedings
• Judgment enforcement
• Secured transactions

PRODUCTS LIABILITY

• Medical devices
• Class actions
• Design defects

TRIAL & APPELLATE ADVOCACY

• Extraordinary relief
• Administrative proceedings

Arlington Financial Group, D&N Bank, FMC Corporation/Jetway Systems, FirstMerit Corporation, Hamilton Finance, Inc., Ogden Remediation Services, Utah Festival Opera Company, Utelite Corporation, Wasatch Energy Corporation