Damages
A like business of ours located a few blocks away have harrased us, stolen our business signage and was aressted and plead guilty. They also stipulated to a restraining order we had initiated.
We were forced to purchase self defense products (mase and a tazer). We have been forced to close our store earlier than normal because of fear, my wife keeps our store doors locked and is paranoid because of the individuals action.
We have these individuals on video and audio coming into our store, demanding that we take down and/or change our business signage or they would, this was captured several times on video tape just prior to them stealing, vandalizing them, then pleading guilty to it.
These individuals also tell customers that our store is also theirs, and to not go to it because they it is closed.
Can my wife and I bring a good cause of action against the both of them with seperate law suits ie. my wife file a claim against each individual for $7500 each, and I file suit against each for $7500? We reside and do business in California.
What are our damages besides the obvious (emotional, mental, some physical, loss of income due to having to close early and loss of business because they tell perspectives not to shop.
Re: Damages
I didn't realize the business world is so uncouth in M----- (the town your Zip code suggests). Looks to me as though you are trying to shoehorn a case that belongs in Superior Court into a Small Claims mold. I suggest that rather than try to handle claims of this kind yourselves, you should get the assistance of an attorney with a specialization in business torts. You also need hands-on legal counseling on how to de-fuse potentially dangerous situations. Your legal tactics cannot just focus on money. You also need to know about the upside and downside of acquiring and being ready to use weapons such as tazer guns and chemical mace.
These competitors of yours are obviously not much concerned about the law, and if you escalate matters by bringing random lawsuits and arming yourself, I can forsee a real danger of violence that maybe can be headed off if you get the right (local) legal assistance. It is more important to stay healthy than to extract a $30,000 judgment from four small claims suits that you probably can't collect without the assistance of Gen. Patton and the Fourth Army.
