WHAT WE DO
Fiduciary relationships are built on trust and confidence, creating legal duties that go beyond ordinary contractual obligations. When fiduciaries breach these heightened duties, the consequences can be devastating for those who relied on them. These cases require understanding both the legal standards and the specific industry practices that define fiduciary conduct.
At The Pettit Law Firm, we understand that fiduciary breaches often involve sophisticated wrongdoing by knowledgeable professionals or business insiders. Our approach combines legal expertise with investigative capabilities to uncover breaches and present compelling cases that hold fiduciaries fully accountable.
Contact UsTypes of Fiduciary Relationships:
- Corporate directors and officers
- Business partners and managing members
- Investment advisors and financial professionals
- Real estate agents and brokers
- Insurance agents and representatives
- Trustees and estate fiduciaries
- Agents and representatives in business transactions
REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCES
Obtained $4.2 million fraud and breach of fiduciary duty judgment against LegacyTexas Bank – Successfully held major financial institution accountable for violating fiduciary duties to clients
Secured $3.6 million judgment for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty against CEO of national media company – Exposed executive self-dealing and conflicts of interest resulting in substantial recovery
Successfully resolved complex partnership dispute involving fiduciary breaches – Achieved favorable outcome for client accused of self-dealing and usurpation of business opportunities
Experience in director and officer liability cases – Representing shareholders and entities against corporate fiduciaries who breached their duties
Corporate Fiduciary Breaches: Corporate officers and directors owe fiduciary duties to the corporation and its shareholders. We pursue claims for self-dealing, usurpation of corporate opportunities, conflicts of interest, and breaches of the business judgment rule that harm the entity or its owners.
Investment and Financial Advisor Breaches: Investment professionals owe fiduciary duties to their clients including duties to provide suitable advice, avoid conflicts of interest, and act in the client’s best interest. We handle cases involving unsuitable investments, undisclosed conflicts, and breach of investment standards.
Partnership and Business Fiduciary Breaches: Partners and managing members of business entities owe fiduciary duties to each other and to the entity. These cases often involve self-dealing, competition with the entity, misappropriation of opportunities, and failures to disclose material information.
Professional Fiduciary Breaches: Accountants, real estate agents, and other professionals often have fiduciary duties to their clients. We pursue breaches involving conflicts of interest, self-dealing, breach of confidentiality, and failures to exercise reasonable professional judgment.
Remedies and Damages: Fiduciary breach cases can support various remedies including actual damages, disgorgement of profits, constructive trust, accounting, and in appropriate cases punitive damages. We pursue all available remedies to ensure complete compensation and deterrent effect.
Self-Dealing and Conflicts of Interest: Fiduciaries must avoid transactions that benefit themselves at the expense of those they serve. We investigate and expose self-dealing transactions, undisclosed conflicts, and situations where fiduciaries put their interests ahead of their duties.
Corporate Opportunity Doctrine: Corporate fiduciaries cannot usurp opportunities that belong to the corporation. We can represent you in cases where officers, directors, or key employees take business opportunities for themselves that should have been offered to the company.
Disgorgement and Accounting: When fiduciaries profit from breaches, we will seek disgorgement of all profits and benefits obtained through wrongful conduct. This remedy ensures that breaching fiduciaries don’t profit from their misconduct.
Complex Financial Analysis: Fiduciary breach cases often require sophisticated analysis to trace assets, calculate damages, and prove the extent of harm. We work with forensic accountants and financial experts to develop compelling evidence of losses and recovered amounts.
Derivative and Direct Claims: We handle both derivative actions brought on behalf of entities and direct claims by individuals harmed by fiduciary breaches, understanding the strategic differences and procedural requirements of each type of claim.
Our comprehensive approach to fiduciary duty litigation ensures that breaching fiduciaries face full accountability while we seek complete compensation for our client’s losses.
FAQs
Fiduciary relationships involve trust, confidence, and reliance where one party has superior knowledge, skill, or position and undertakes to act primarily for the other’s benefit. Examples include attorney-client, trustee-beneficiary, and corporate director-shareholder relationships.
Duty of loyalty requires fiduciaries to act in the beneficiary’s best interest and avoid conflicts, while duty of care requires reasonable skill, diligence, and prudence in performing fiduciary functions.
Yes, fiduciary duties exist independently of contractual obligations and often impose higher standards. You may have both breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty claims.
Remedies include actual damages, disgorgement of profits obtained through breach, constructive trust, accounting, and potentially punitive damages. The goal is complete compensation and deterrence.
Texas generally provides four years, but discovery rules and continuing breach theories can affect timing. Because evidence can be destroyed or dissipated, prompt action is important.
Disgorgement requires the breaching fiduciary to return all profits obtained through wrongful conduct, even if those profits exceed the harm to the beneficiary. It’s designed to eliminate any benefit from the breach.
Yes, directors and officers can face personal liability for breaching fiduciary duties, though business judgment rule and D&O insurance may provide some protection depending on the circumstances.
This doctrine prohibits corporate fiduciaries from taking business opportunities for themselves that belong to the corporation. They must first offer such opportunities to the company.
Proof requires establishing the fiduciary relationship, the specific duty breached, the breach of that duty, and resulting damages. This often involves expert testimony on industry standards and detailed financial analysis.
While resolution is sometimes possible, fiduciary breaches involve trust violations that may require court intervention. Having trial-ready counsel often leads to better outcomes because wrongdoers know we’re prepared to pursue full accountability.
Contact Us
Want to talk about your case?
Email jpettit@pettitfirm.com
Or contact us at:
The Pettit Law Firm
1900 Pearl, Suite 1740
Dallas, TX 75201
Phone: 214.329.0151
Fax: 214.329.4076