The Law Offices of Steve Qi & Associates has won a lawsuit against Citicross Corp., a shoe importer/wholesaler located in Los Angeles' City of Industry on behalf of four exporters of lady fashion shoes from Guangdong, China, it was announced on Monday.

The law firm said in a press release that it obtained the full requested damage amount, plus interest totaling 3 million US dollars in a ruling rendered last week after a court trial in California Superior Court in Pomona of Los Angeles.

More importantly, the law firm helped the plaintiffs to prevail on fraud cause of action, in addition to other Breach of Contract causes of action, a significant win for the plaintiffs, said the release.

The case started more than a year ago in September 2007, when the law firm was retained by four fashion shoe exporters from Guangdong, China to file a lawsuit against the local importer/ wholesaler.

After careful planning, the law firm successfully obtained a pre-judgment writ of attachment against the importer/wholesaler before the defendant corporation was even aware of the lawsuit, according to the release.

The lawsuit alleged, among other things, breach of contract and fraud.

After more than a year of legal battle, apart from winning motions during discovery process, this firm went through a court trial to win the lawsuit against the defendant corporation, said the release.

The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on all counts alleged, including fraud, which is normally difficult to prove as the legal standard is by proof of clear and convincing evidence, a much higher standard than general civil liabilities.

The law office has played a major role in local business community. In the past several years, the firm has handled numerous business and civil litigation cases, and prevailed on almost all of them in court judgments or pre-judgment disposition.

The firm also helps business clients in handling intellectual property matters such as patent, trade mark and copyright.

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2008)