Marty Ready (Partner-San Diego | San Francisco, CA) and Sarena Kustic (Partner-San Diego, CA) secured a defense verdict in a two-week jury trial in San Diego Superior Court. The case involved a disgruntled shareholder seeking recovery of his $1 million investment lost due to a failed startup. The plaintiff alleged fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and rescission against our clients, the former chairman of the board and the failed startup. Although the claims in this trial were based on fraud in the inducement, the plaintiff sought to insert derivative issues (currently the subject of a derivative lawsuit pending in Delaware Chancery Court) in an effort to confuse the jury in the hopes of obtaining a favorable verdict. Fortunately, Marty and Sarena and their team were able to keep the record clean, and the jury focused on only the issues in this case. The jury deliberated for less than three hours and returned a verdict in favor of our clients, never getting past the first question for each cause of action. After the verdict was rendered, the jurors advised counsel that our cross-examination of plaintiff’s witnesses was very effective in demonstrating their lack of credibility and our trial presentation was highly persuasive and professional.