Legal Help for
Businesses Facing Conflict.
We help business owners understand their rights in the legal system.
- Foreclosure Defense, Real Estate Disputes, Business Challenges
- "Absolutely incredible law firm with fair representation."
- "Professional representation, kind and understanding!"
Business Litigation Lawyers
Doucet Gerling has helped over 1,400 consumers and businesses without bankruptcy.
Our top rated lawyers help with challenging legal issues to find peace of mind.
- BBB Accredited
- A+ Rating.
- Attorneys Doucet and Gerling are rated AV Preeminent by Martindale Hubbell
- "SuperLawyers" for several years
Why 1,400 homeowners and businesses have trusted us with their business litigation needs
- Cost-effective law firm
- 10+ years in business
- We negotiate on your behalf
- Value for your money
Where experience counts
- opened 2,052 legal matters through
- 1,480 client files
- 592 Common Pleas cases,
- 230 federal court cases
- 71 appeals before Ohio’s appellate courts and the federal Sixth Circuit.
Our Success Formula To Your Success
- We focus on your goals, the outcome you desire, and we work tirelessly to get you there.
- We are aggressive in court
- We hold firm, forcing your opponent to show their hand
- We file discovery and defending motions
- We do not assume judgment is a foregone conclusion
- We do not file empty threats
OH Business Litigation Attorneys
About Our Owners
Troy Doucet maintains an AV Preeminent rating with Martindale Hubbell® and is a SuperLawyer® in the area debtor/creditor law. He graduated magna cum laude from Capital University Law School in 2010 after working professionally in the mortgage business for several years. As an attorney, he has handled hundreds of trial-level cases and dozens of appeals. He has tried about a dozen cases in state and federal court, to the bench and also to a jury. Mr. Doucet has been practicing law in Ohio since 2010.
A couple of years ago, Troy was named a High Stakes Litigator for Ohio by America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators®. He represented a farming business in a $3 million dispute after the sale of the business went sideways. The firm litigated that case to conclusion through the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Read more about Troy Doucet's story.
Andy Gerling maintains an AV Preeminent rating with Martindale Hubbell and is ranked as one of the “three best consumer lawyers” in Columbus by ThreeBest Rated®. He has remained a SuperLawyer Rising Star for multiple years. Mr. Gerling is nearing 20 years in the legal industry. He graduated cum laude from Capital University Law School. Mr. Gerling works directly with new lawyers at the firm and has shaped a number of cases the firm litigates. Read about Andy Gerling.*
Value for Your Money
Doucet Gerling is efficient. We are probably much more efficient than many of the larger law firms in the area. As attorneys representing people facing major financial challenges, we have to be. Our clients do not have unlimited amounts of money to throw at lawyers. They need us to do a great job at an affordable cost. That means we must work hard while respecting our clients’ bottom line.
We accept business litigation cases on flat monthly payment arrangement, and others on a traditional hourly basis. Our business litigation fee agreements drive us to be as efficient as possible so that we can properly handle more cases than our opponents. We would rather be helping more clients than running up a bill. Our historical average time into each matter bears that out.
In the past five years, 52% of our closed matters were resolved in less than 36 billed hours. We resolved 82% of our clients’ matters in under 100 hours. That includes staff time.
Value For Your Money
Your bottom line is what truly matters to us. We are here to fight your case efficiently and cost effectively, helping you reach an outcome in the fewest billable hours.
Our stats speak for themselves:
- 52% of our closed matters were resolved in less than 36 billed hours.
- We resolved 82% of our clients’ matters in under 100 hours.
We help find the best payment solution for you, either by hour or monthly retainer.
We will have a pretty good sense of how much time your legal issue will take during our first phone call. Our estimation gets better after you deliver the first batch of documents for us to review. If you would like us to estimate a cost to handle your matter, give us a call today toll free at (888) 200-9824. Our initial consultation is free.
Business Lawyers who go the Extra Mile
In our area of law, having an attorney willing to go the extra mile can make all the difference. If you were the other side, you would think carefully about getting into a long, costly business litigation battle with opposing lawyers that were willing to fight tooth and nail for their client. It would probably make more sense to settle those kinds of business litigation cases and move on to easier prey. That is our perspective on aggressively defending our clients, and how we have gotten good deals. Past successes are never a guarantee of future results, but the following are some examples of how we have helped our clients by going the extra mile:
Pastry Shop Walk-Away
We helped a client negotiate a walk-away from her pastry shop after working unsuccessfully for several years to make it profitable. She bought the company by financing several hundred thousand dollars directly with the seller, and personally guaranteed the sale. We helped her negotiate an exit with a 75% reduction in the balance due. It protected her assets and helped her avoid bankruptcy while giving her a clean break from an unprofitable business.
Hotel Sublease Cancellation
In another case, we helped an innkeeper cancel a sublease on one of his properties that was costing him significant sums in unpaid taxes, insurance, and utilities. The other party had vacated the property but refused to acknowledge the termination of the lease. We negotiated the lease termination without having to file a lawsuit and recovered over $30,000 for our client.
Short Sale of CEO's Home
When one of our client’s income dropped 30% with losses to his business, we managed the short sale of one of the business owner’s homes. Our work allowed him to sell the property for less than the loan amount with a waiver of the deficiency. Our involvement turned out to be critical because the lender attempted to reinsert a damaging clause just before closing.
Landlord Lease Violation
Another of our clients was opening a nursery but his landlord failed to build out part of the space as promised. Our client lost substantial sums in reliance of the landlord’s promises. We sued to recover his losses. The case went to a trial, where a jury awarded our client more than his initial demand.
Doucet Gerling has hundreds of examples of helping people out of difficult legal challenges, both defending lawsuits and filing them. Some of our most cited appellate cases are those that we filed against banks on behalf of people. They include getting a payoff recognized, forcing overpayments to be properly credited, developing RICO precedent for robo-signing, and protecting a business from fraudulent checks under the UCC. We understand how to manage conflict and would welcome an opportunity to discuss how we can help you, too. Call us today at (888) 200-9824.
Business Lawyers Focused on Your Objective
We believe in keeping our clients’ objectives in mind at all phases of their cases. Our clients do not want us to bill hundreds of hours into a case that can be resolved quickly. If settlement is possible early, then it makes sense to talk settlement early. This does not mean we give up the farm to call it quits. Rather, it means we do not waste months of time fighting over silly things that run up a bill. As lawyers who fight against big firms every day, that kind of business litigation billing drives us as mad as much as it costs their clients money.
Our efficiency means big savings for our clients. 42% of our cases are resolved in six months or less, while 70% of all our cases are resolved in under one year. Our average time billed into each firm matter from start to close is only 69.01 hours. That time includes both attorney and staff time, all the way through settlement negotiations and closing. Compare that to some of the other big firms in town, and we are confident that we can comparatively save you money.
Business Lawyers
We Help Businesses Facing Legal Challenges
Our business litigation lawyers help solve businesses' problems with creditors, banks, lenders, and landlords.
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Business Litigation Attorneys who are a Good Match
Call us if you want to solve a challenging legal problem, or to save money. We can help on just about any legal matter, especially those that deal with documents, debt, or real estate. We would welcome a call to discuss your legal issue. Call us at (888) 200-9824 for a free consultation.
Since you may save money on business litigation with our firm, even if you are not in financial straits, it makes sense to talk to us about those matters, too. Call us to help with business litigation matters that would cost too much to send to a big firm. If you would expect to be charged $20,000 to get started with a case at a big firm, we can probably get it done for a fraction of their cost.
We are also a good fit as co-counsel for multiple-party lawsuits when other firms have a conflict. For example, we have represented a CEO in his personal capacity in business litigation involving several of his businesses. Rather than taking the lead in that case, we worked to protect his individual interests – likely at a considerable savings over a bigger firm.
If you are not sure whether we can help, give us a call at (888) 200-9824. Note that we won’t be able to help you sue individual people who are your customers (or your employees), but we can probably help with just about any other litigation matter.
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