LOS ANGELES, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Law Offices of
Steve Qi & Associates has won a lawsuit against Citicross Corp., a shoe
importer/wholesaler located in Los Angeles' City of Industry on behalf of four
exporters of lady fashion shoes from Guangdong, China, it was announced on
Monday.
The law firm said in a press release that it obtained
the full requested damage amount, plus interest totaling 3 million U.S. dollars
in a ruling rendered last week after a court trial in California Superior Court
in Pomona of Los Angeles.
More importantly, the law firm helped the plaintiffs
to prevail on fraud cause of action, in addition to other Breach of Contract
causes of action, a significant win for the plaintiffs, said the release.
The case started more than a year ago in September
2007, when the law firm was retained by four fashion shoe exporters from
Guangdong, China to file a lawsuit against the local importer/wholesaler.
After careful planning, the law firm successfully
obtained a pre-judgment writ of attachment against the importer/wholesaler
before the defendant corporation was even aware of the lawsuit, according to the
release.
The lawsuit alleged, among other things, breach of
contract and fraud.
After more than a year of legal battle, apart from
winning motions during discovery process, this firm went through a court trial
to win the lawsuit against the defendant corporation, said the release.
The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on all
counts alleged, including fraud, which is normally difficult to prove as the
legal standard is by proof of clear and convincing evidence, a much higher
standard than general civil liabilities.
The law office has played a major role in local
business community. In the past several years, the firm has handled numerous
business and civil litigation cases, and prevailed on almost all of them in
court judgments or pre-judgment disposition.
The firm also helps business clients in handling
intellectual property matters such as patent, trade mark and copyright.
