Fraud • Business Litigation

The firm has substantial experience in litigation in various types of fraudulent business cases including:

• Bad Faith Insurance practices
• Fraud
• Mortgage lending violations
• Unfair competition
• Breach of fiduciary duty

Van Blois and Associates are civil trial lawyers with trial experience in over one hundred civil jury trials and court trials.  We are often brought into business cases by attorneys who do not have the trial experience necessary to win complex business cases.  Working closely with co-counsel, we have achieved many successful results.  We accept contingency fee cases which can be a great benefit to clients in high risk business disputes.

We have held insurance companies responsible for bad faith denials of insurance coverage for their insureds and for fraudulent and deceptive life insurance sales.

We have successfully pursued class action cases against banks, finance companies, savings and loan associations, insurance companies, contractors and suppliers for fraudulent business practices, misrepresentations and violations of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act and Truth in Lending.  In several cases a home improvement contractor or salesman engaged in deceptive and fraudulent sales to homeowners selling solar systems and vinyl siding.  Finance companies and banks then loaned money to the homeowners at excessive interest rates that the homeowner could not pay which resulted in attempted home foreclosures.  We brought an end to these deceptive business practices and saved the homes of our clients.  We recovered multi-million settlements from Great American Federal Savings and Loan Association formerly San Diego Federal Saving and Loan Association, Central Bank in Oakland, California, Chrysler First Finance Company, Finance America Company and First Alliance Mortgage Company.

Deceptive homeowner sales -- $29,069,856 Trial Judgment

We represented hundreds of homeowners in Northern California who purchased exterior vinyl siding for their homes as a result of deceptive sales practices.  The cost of the siding was misrepresented and high finance charges were added after the sale.  The defendant contractor prepared false credit applications to obtain financing that the homeowners could not afford and placed liens on their homes when the homeowners could not pay the high cost of the siding.  The contractor committed fraud by providing false warranties, and by installing defective vinyl siding.  We undertook extensive investigation and at trial proved that the defendants violated the Unruh Act, the Consumer Legal Remedies Act and the Federal Truth in Lending Act.  The homeowners were compensated and no one lost their home.

Mortgage lending violations -- Confidential settlement

We represented California homeowners who obtained loans from First Alliance Mortgage Company (FAMCO) secured by deeds of trust on their homes.  We alleged FAMCO misrepresented and concealed its fee for the loan, charged excessive fees and sold unnecessary fire insurance.  Plaintiffs claimed breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, conversion and unjust enrichment.  We obtained a favorable settlement at the beginning of the trial, the homeowners were compensated and there were no home foreclosures.

Fraud in homeowner improvements – $16,884,563 Trial Judgment

The defendants fraudulently sold and financed the sale of residential vinyl siding to homeowners, primarily in the Bay Area and Sacramento area.  We proved that the defendants misrepresented the product, sold defective products and arranged for financing in violation of consumer protection laws.  Loans were made to homeowners who could not afford to repay them that would have resulted in home foreclosures.  We achieved fair compensation for the homeowners and no one lost their home.

Solar heating fraud -- $9,777,000 settlement

This case involved fraudulent sales and business practices in the sale of solar heating systems to over 4,000 home owners throughout California.  The Dynasty Solar sales persons made misrepresentations about no out-of-pocket costs for the solar heating systems.  They did not include the finance charges in the cost benefit calculations and misrepresented how long the system could pay for itself.  We alleged the financing violated the Unfair Practices Act and the terms of the loans concealed the balloon payments and appraisal fees.  The products contained numerous defects and were misrepresented.  The homeowners were compensated and there were no lien foreclosures.

Life insurance fraud – $1,450,000

We represented several hardworking low to middle income families who had purchased whole life insurance policies from Metropolitan Life Insurance and expected that as long as they paid the fixed unchanging premium, the insurance would be available for their heirs when they died.  A Met Life insurance agent, working out of Modesto and Merced, California, engaged in an activity termed “churning” or “piggybacking” where the value in an older existing life insurance policy was taken to fund the purchase of a new Met Life policy.  The sales agent convinced the policy holders to roll the cash value built up in their policies to purchase new, more costly and less advantageous universal life policies.  The devastating result for each policy holder was the end of their insurance or a policy which required higher premiums to keep it in force.  The sales agent also falsely checked one of the boxes on the insured’s application, denying the existing policy was being used to fund the new policy and promised a higher interest rate than the actual rate.  Met Life attempted to avoid responsibility by claiming the insureds had the opportunity to read the policy and should not have relied on the salesman’s promises.  The case settled at a mediation before trial and the policy holders were compensated for their losses.

Insurance company denies coverage -- Confidential settlement

Our client had an insurance policy issued by Aetna Casualty & Surety Company for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.  He was involved in an accident with an underinsured motorist and when he made a claim under his policy, it was denied.  Aetna required an arbitration which caused a delay in payment over a year.  The claim was arbitrated and a judgment for his injuries and damages was obtained against Aetna.  This was paid by Aetna.  We then filed a lawsuit against Aetna for the bad faith failure to pay the claim and the delay in payment.  After we completed the depositions of the Aetna claims manager, supervisor and other claims persons, the case settled for a confidential amount at mediation.

Insurance Bad Faith -- $650,000

We represented a young San Francisco man who was injured when he fell from a second-story balcony at a residential home because of a defective balcony railing. The defendant homeowners were denied insurance coverage for the claim by their insurance company, Farmers Insurance, for failing to pay the insurance premium. We proved at trial that Farmers Insurance failed to meet the requirements of Insurance Code 678, the anti-lapse statute, and had not sent valid cancellation notices to their insureds.