Creative Strategies
Real World Solutions

We Are Gupta Evans & Ayres

Building partnerships and supporting our fellow lawyers in areas of Bankruptcy, Corporate Litigation, and Real Estate Law.

I came to Ajay with a complicated and stressful real estate case. I interacted closely with several lawyers during the course of this case, and I was exposed to a range of people in the legal profession. It was very apparent to me that Ajay and his team are at the better end of the spectrum, representing their profession with the utmost integrity.
-Nicole A., San Angelo, TX

Real Estate Litigation

While Gupta Evans & Ayres handles a wide range of general civil litigation matters, we have grown to create a specific focus on real estate disputes. Our significant experience in the representation of a wide variety of real estate clients, including real estate owners, landlords, tenants, developers, investors, borrowers, lenders, and other real estate-affiliated companies, make us the go-to referral for attorneys seeking outside counsel for their clients.

Real Estate Litigation

While Gupta Evans & Ayres handle a wide range of general civil litigation matters, the Firm has grown to create a specific focus on real estate disputes. Our significant experience in the representation of a wide variety of real estate clients, including real estate owners, landlords, tenants, developers, investors, borrowers, lenders, and other real estate-affiliated companies make us the go-to referral for attorneys seeking outside counsel for their clients.

Bankruptcy

Having been involved with over 500 bankruptcies over the last 10 years, Gupta Evans & Ayres’ experience with insolvency matters traverses a wide array of situations. From receiverships and structured dissolutions outside of bankruptcy to taking a corporation through Chapter 11 plan confirmation, we have likely been involved with almost every aspect of bankruptcy at some point in time.

Bankruptcy

Having been involved with over 500 bankruptcies over the last 10 years, Gupta Evans & Ayres’ experience with insolvency matters traverses a wide array of situations. From receiverships and structured dissolutions outside of bankruptcy to taking a corporation through Chapter 11 plan confirmation, the Firm has likely been involved with almost every aspect of bankruptcy at some point in time.

Business Litigation

Gupta Evans & Ayres’ expertise in bankruptcy law and civil litigation enable the Firm to adeptly navigate clients through the intricacies of the law in order to find effective, personalized solutions for each client’s particular legal needs. We have successfully litigated or reached favorable settlements for individual and entity clients in both federal and state proceedings, as well as alternative dispute resolution proceedings, among others.

Business Litigation

Gupta Evans & Ayres’ expertise in bankruptcy law and civil litigation enable us to adeptly navigate clients through the intricacies of the law in order to find effective, personalized solutions for each client’s particular legal needs. We have successfully litigated or reached favorable settlements for individual and entity clients in both federal and state proceedings, as well as alternative dispute resolution proceedings, among others.

Ajay Gupta

Ajay is one of 14 Bankruptcy Specialists certified by the State Bar of California in San Diego County and is widely regarded as an authority in real estate and business law. Ajay is a formidable trial attorney and has extensive experience that helps him craft unique solutions to impossible situations. While undoubtedly capable, Ajay’s late for most of his meetings — so please plan accordingly.

Ajay Gupta

Chris Evans

Chris focuses on the firm’s real estate and business litigation practice and has successfully obtained favorable judgments or settlements for his clients in a variety of matters. Clashes and disputes among the owners or principals of a business, often where one owner is alleged to have wronged the other, is an area in which Chris has a particular emphasis. Chris is highly punctual, a really fun guy, and has recently stopped making excuses for Ajay’s tardiness.

Jake Ayres

Jake has extensive experience in real estate, land use business litigation, including nondisclosure, writs of mandate, and matters in the burgeoning area of cannabis and hemp law. Prior to his time at Gupta Evans and Ayres, Jake practiced at a large national law firm in intellectual property and commercial litigation. He is delighted to add his name to the logo and would like to stop discussing the temporal habits of his co-workers.

Chris Evans

Jake Ayres

Meet the Rest of the Team

Case Stories

Like case studies but written in a way that they’re interesting to read.

At its core, our firm is about people. Our mission—and passion—is to respect, empower, educate, and advocate for our clients by providing them with our expertise and objectivity. While there isn’t 100% certainty with any litigation or transactional matter, by educating our clients, we help them appreciate the risks, understand the process, and make better decisions that allow for predictability of outcomes. Below is a small selection of matters where we were able to successfully shepherd our clients through thorny issues of law and fact.

Case Stories

Like Case Studies but written in a way that they’re interesting to read.

Our mission and passion is to respect, empower, educate, and advocate for our clients. While there is never 100% certainty with any litigation or transactional matter, by educating our clients, we help them appreciate the risks, understand the process, and make better decisions into the future. Below is a small selection of matters where we were able to successfully shepherd our clients through thorny issues of both law and fact.

Read Case Stories Here

Equitable Title / Real Estate Litigation

Ex parte filing in the 11th hour saves parents home from auction.

PA had been involved with a protracted legal dispute that spanned nearly 8 years. As part of that process, PA had received a judgment in excess of $300,000 (different law firm of course… ). Along the way, PA had purchased a property for the benefit of her parents. The property itself was titled in PA’s name, however, PA’s parents had acquired the property using their own funds, resided at the property, paid for maintenance and insurance, and they exercised exclusive dominion and control over the Property. The judgment creditor’s lien attached to PA’s parents’ property and the judgment creditor was moving for an order to sell that property. We were able to stop it at the 11th hour through an evidentiary hearing that showed that equitable title was properly vested in the name of PA’s parents.

Corporate Litigation Bankruptcy Adjacent Expertise

Bad actor tried to shield misdeeds behind bankruptcy.

Smarter is a private money lender with numerous investors. Smarter lent money to a Borrower to buy a large, 230-acre parcel in Alpine. Unbeknownst to Smarter, Borrower had been fraudulently taking funds from investors for years using forged financial statements. The house of cards that Borrower built fell apart within a year of Smarter’s loan. As Smarter moved towards foreclosure, Borrower then sought bankruptcy protection. With the firm’s help, Smarter was able to successfully and timely obtain relief from the automatic bankruptcy stay and foreclose on the fraudster Borrower’s property to recoup its investment, all while Borrower was under criminal investigation. The case involved multiple Chapter 11 filings by different entities.

Accusations of Fraud at Large Wireless Carrier

Manager dispute leads to litigation in fraud and capital contribution dispute

Client was sued by former Managers/Investors. Our office represented the entity and Dentons represented the current Managers. We were brought into this case because of our expertise with fraudulent transfers and skip tracing of funds. At the inception of the Company, Manager A suspected Manager B of stealing funds from the Company. Manager B had exclusive access to all the books and maintained a similar company covering a different territory in Los Angeles. Knowing that funds had been commingled and assuming that there was some wrongdoing, Manager A ousted Manager B and went on to build a very successful company. After 3 years, Manager B came back for his equity after Manager A had invested significant funds and grown the company significantly.

What We’re Doing Here

Great work with great people.

Gupta Evans and Ayres is happy to announce the opening of a new office in Los Angeles! You can find our new office at 555 West 5th Street, 35th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90013. We look forward to expanding our services and solutions to the Los Angeles area.

If you have any questions regarding the new location, you can contact us at (619) 866-3444. We are open from 9AM to 6PM.

Our events are a great way to get to know us and the best of the best in our business community. Join us next time or check out the upcoming SD Bar association, ProVisors and EO events in the San Diego and North County area

SD Events For Lawyers

What We’re Doing Here

Great work with great people.

SD Events For Lawyers

Articles & Insights

Down in Flames or Up in Smoke? Insolvency Strategies for Cannabis Businesses Zoom Webinar

May 31, 2024/in All Blog Posts/by Alexander Gomez

On May 21st, Jacob Ayres moderated a panel discussion on the cutting-edge topic of insolvency in the cannabis industry along with Ajay Gupta and other thought leaders in the burgeoning field. In case you missed this thought-provoking one-hour chat, it has been recorded in its entirety and is now available to view here!

Chapter 420, Part III: Pause for Good Cause – In re Hacienda Cracks the Door Open for Cannabis Chapter 11 Bankruptcies in Ninth Circuit.

November 30, 2023/in All Blog Posts, Bankruptcy, Cannabis/by Jake Ayres

In a previous article, I discussed the ultimately doomed effort by United Cannabis, a cannabis-affiliated company, to maintain its chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in the face of the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado’s sua sponte challenge on the basis of the plan requiring administration of federally illegal cannabis activity. Although that case did […]

An Offer You Can’t Refuse, Part III: The Dropped Dime and the Underlying Crime

October 23, 2023/in All Blog Posts/by Jake Ayres

In my first article on this topic, I discussed the blurred line between permissible prelitigation communications and constitutionally unprotected extortionate demands. In a subsequent article, I discussed that without payment by the extortionist to the victim, there is no claim for civil extortion. A relatively recent case has shed additional light on the blurry line discussed […]

The First Amendment, Bad Reviews, and You: So You’ve Been Smeared on the Internet – Part II

October 18, 2023/in All Blog Posts/by Jake Ayres

Part I of this article discussed the “threshold” issues to be analyzed when a business is on the receiving end of a negative, and potentially defamatory, online review. In so doing, Part I covered the quasi-legal options of proceeding via the online review platform’s dispute resolution process, and established the framework for a defamation claim—in […]

Out of the Frying Pan: AB 1200 and the New Online and Physical Labeling Requirements for California Cookware

February 22, 2023/in All Blog Posts/by Jake Ayres

AB 1200 – Client Update If there’s one thing lawyers love, it’s reporting on new laws that go into effect on January 1 of each new year—ourselves included. But one January 1 change that may have flown under the radar for many is the effective date of the first part of California Assembly Bill 1200 […]

The First Amendment, Bad Reviews, and You: So You’ve Been Smeared on the Internet – Part I

October 4, 2022/in All Blog Posts/by Jake Ayres

You are a hardworking business owner. You cherish your sterling reputation in the community—including your 4.5 star average on Yelp and Google reviews. But one morning you are woken up by the chime of your email notification on your phone and, to your infinite dismay, someone has left a scathing review of your business on […]

GEA’s Demand Letter to Union Bank Secures Release of Erroneous Loan

June 10, 2022/in All Blog Posts/by John Ahn

Gupta Evans & Ayres was successfully able to secure a release of a bank loan that was erroneously accounted for as due when the bank had previously discharged the loan years prior. All it took was a simple and effective demand letter, saving our client time and money. Our client obtained a $50,000 loan from […]

Gupta Evans and Ayres Confirms One of the First Contested Subchapter 5 Bankruptcies in the Southern District of California. In re: Eminent Cycles, LLC

June 10, 2022/in All Blog Posts/by The Gupta Evans & Ayres Team

On February 3, 2022, the Subchapter 5 plan for Eminent Cycles, LLC (Case #21-01006-CL11 filed in the Southern District of California) was confirmed over objection from the main secured creditor. The Debtor in this instance had financing ready but could not move forward because the secured creditor’s interest was substantially more than the value of […]

Ajay Gupta and Chris S. Evans Obtain Six-Figure Jury Verdict For Client in Property Dispute

June 10, 2022/in All Blog Posts/by The Gupta Evans & Ayres Team

Gupta Evans and Ayres is proud to announce they were able to secure another resounding victory and six-figure verdict for their client after over four years of litigation and a hard-fought jury trial in San Diego County. GEA represented a purchaser of a home in Oceanside that the purchaser later discovered to be littered with […]