Callahan & Blaine Wins $45 Million Plus Sanctions in California “Creative Accounting” Case

When Fortune 500 company, Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America, Inc. (MCFA), faced a >>complex litigation<< against the owner of one of its dealerships, the company selected Callahan & Blain to head up its five law firm team in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (Santa Ana).

MCFA sued Harvard MBA graduate Clyde Richard Cowan, who had set up a forklift dealership in Southern California to distribute MCFA manufactured products. Over the years, Cowan had falsified books and records, backdated documents, and created a series of phony accounting records to hide his business operations. When MCFA became suspicious and sued Cowan, he hacked into the business computer system and destroyed thousands of business documents.

The legal team won a series of stunning victories culminating in a favorable judgment of over $45 million in addition to two separate $250,000 sanctions against Cowan for destroying documents pertinent to the case. The Callahan & Blaine-led team defeated Cowan’s claims against MCFA under various “lender liability” theories, with the court finding such claims totally without merit.

When you face complex business litigation, you need an experienced litigation specialist from a firm full of litigation specialists – not a junior attorney at a law firm whose primary focus lies elsewhere. At Callahan & Blaine, all of our attorneys are experienced, world-class litigators. Over the past 20 years, we’ve won over 95% of our cases through trial or settlement. Whether we’re successfully presenting your case in a courtroom or negotiating an advantageous settlement in a conference room, we play to win.

If your business is involved or considering becoming involved in complex business litigation, help yourself to some of the best litigation lawyers in the country – contact Callahan & Blaine right away.

Jake Gosselin