Lies. Fraudulent misrepresentation. Swindle; By any name, deceptive actions still amount to fraud.

* Contract Fraud

* Real estate fraud

Anyone who is in a position of trust -- even family members -- who violates or takes advantage of that trust must be held accountable.

recovered damages for clients who have been tricked or duped by deceitful or intentionally misleading statements.

Recovery may include money damages originally lost through intentional misrepresentation or breach of fiduciary duty, as well as compensatory damages, and, sometimes, attorney fees. able to prove "fraudulent intent," punitive damages may be recovered for some intentional misrepresentations. Treble damages also may be collected for federal RICO violations, under certain circumstances.

Contract fraud may occur when a party relies on deceitful or intentionally misleading statements.

If you suspect that a competitor has engaged in defamation by libeling or slandering your business, The purely "business" dimension of the relationship between parties is damaged, in some cases beyond repair, severely compromised, and breach also may impose hardship on third parties who depend on performance of breaching party.

But the essence of breach is the moral issue in failing to keep a promise, a loss of faith or trust.

The law attempts to ignore moral rationales under the guise of more neutral words. A broken promise is labeled a "breach," and "damages" is characterized as the secular equivalent of punishment. And by dividing damages into categories, the law compels the jury to identify specific losses rather than applying a variety of moral convictions among jurors. The moral issue is not eliminated, merely replaced objectively.

However, recharacterizing the breach as a loss of "trust," a close rhetorical ally of "morality," might be more suitable. A mediator who ignores the moral issue of "trust," at least to some extent, may forfeit the opportunity for settlement in, those cases where its appearance is recognized more easily. The world' of business regularly attempts to solicit vendors, ventures and customers in whom a contracting party has confidence. An entity embroiled in publicized litigation may not qualify as a reliable source of "trust" regardless of the merits of the underlying case, and mediation may offer an alternative to trial.

In tort law, negligence presupposes an injury legally caused by an act of one person who breaches a moral responsibility, that is, "duty," to avoid injury another person. Legal and moral duties parallel each other in most cases but not exclusively. The moral duty to assist another injured person does not equate with a legal duty, absent other circumstances.

How is it decided who is liable?

Who is liable will depend upon:

• who authorised an action and whether they were authorised to do so

• who carried out an action and whether they were authorised to do so

• who omitted to do something they had a duty to do

What does liability mean?

Liability means being held legally responsible for actions taken and for defaults (actions not taken which should have been).

• cause a tort to be committed

TORT

If contract includes breach of promise, tort incorporates breach of duty. American courts have struggled to define "duty" for decades, and appellate judges in California have attempted to establish bright lines enabling juries to understand this word and its applicable scope.

In tort law, negligence presupposes an injury legally caused by an act of one person who breaches a moral responsibility, that is, "duty," to avoid injury another person. Legal and moral duties parallel each other in most cases but not exclusively. The moral duty to assist another injured person does not equate with a legal duty, absent other circumstances.

Unlike contracts written between parties acquainted with each other, torts frequently involve conduct between strangers. In contracts, despite mutual disagreement, the parties may elect to maintain their business relationships but strangers in tort usually are uninterested in any future contact and seek resolution of an isolated event. In mediation, contract and tort invest the parties with different goals and means of achievement.

Whether the parties intend to maintain a relationship, sever it or are indifferent to it shapes the course of litigation and mediation alike.

In other categories, parties are strangers to each other, but secondary interests are at stake. A plaintiff may seek vindication of personal reputation in slander or libel litigation to remove the stigma of an allegedly defamatory statement. Similarly for the defendant in product defect litigation, the outcome of a trial to validate business reputation is as important as personal reputation of parties in a contract dispute.

In contrast to contract litigation evidenced by nonperformance or failure to properly perform an agreement causing a loss of "trust," negligently inflicted in engender remorse in the person whose conduct inflicted pain and suffering on an otherwise-innocent person. But the role of the injuring party may differ in mediation litigation.

If the injuring party is insured, a claims representative "stands in" for the defendant during mediation. Lacking personal involvement, the claims representative cannot act as an agent for the defendant to express an apology or sympathize with the injured party who might conceivably moderate financial demands in response to an expression of remorse. But in trial, the defendant usually must testify and more likely will minimize the injury or attempt to shift responsibility to the plaintiff.

 In tort litigation against the governmental agencies, public anger dominates the more conventional private world of civil litigations, and specific legal and factual disputes between the parties are ignored or subordinated in emotion. In civil rights litigation or agencies, regardless of merits of the case, plaintiffs often focus on allegations of past injustice ostensibly manifested in the present.