COMMERCIAL LITIGATION & DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Multi-million dollar disputes, complex litigation and arbitration and jury trials across the country fill Fred’s resume.
EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS:
- Successfully tried a preliminary injunction hearing in the Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County. At issue was a dispute between shareholders of a closely held corporation that owns and manages real property. The firm’s client filed suit after the defendant shareholder attempted a hostile takeover of the company in contravention of corporate governance documents, including purporting to remove the firm’s client as a director and appointed officer, while also looting company bank accounts and freezing our client out from access to certain company software. At the conclusion of the four-day hearing that included multiple witnesses and expert testimony, the judge granted all relief sought by the firm’s client in its entirety, including restoring corporate governance positions, ordering the defendant’s name be removed from all company bank accounts, and ordering the defendant to restore complete access to all software accounts. The client said, “You told me exactly what you were going to do, you did it, and it worked out exactly like you said it should. I can’t thank you enough.”
- Successfully resolved multiple disputes involving a long standing client and government subcontractor on multiple government projects governed by the detailed obligations and requirements of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), where disputes developed involving design, defect, contract disputes such as cost overruns and those relating to the scope-of-work statement, all of which are inextricably linked to the FAR.
- Defended and resolved claims brought by billion-dollar conglomerate against a smaller competitor, asserting copyright, trade secret, and conspiracy and contractual interference claims arising out of the hiring of the conglomerate’s former employees. Resolved with limited exposure to the smaller consulting firm and in time to minimize potentially disastrous costs.
- Obtained favorable jury verdict for national health insurance company seeking an eight figure recovery, in claim brought by medical provider denied entrance to a medical network; jury granted further relief on amounts due our client by the owner of the medical provider.
- Litigated and obtained substantial damages and permanent injunction against consulting employee who sold company assets including valuable trade secrets to a competitor in which he held an interest, as well as a first-ever injunction against the United States Patent and Trademark Office, to protect client’s purloined trade secrets disclosed in patent documents.
- Obtained significant payment of commissions due a Canadian sales representative based upon the bad faith termination of the representative. This case settled midway through a weeklong jury trial in federal court in Boston.
- Successful defense and countersuit in patent and trade dress infringement case brought by international cosmetic supplier against private-label, middle market manufacturer/fulfillment house. Defeated supplier in its home state and successfully obtained declaratory relief so that the case resolved without any findings of liability for the client and without any exchange of meaningful consideration.
- Obtained a permanent injunction and seven-figure judgment against a gray-market operator who was illegally importing goods intended for other destination countries and who diverted sales of the subject equipment from authorized dealers of the manufacturer. Ultimately, the gray-market importer was put out of business, maintaining the integrity of both the market channel for the initial dealer and the supplier-dealer relationship for all of the channel partners as well as the infamous trade mark of the manufacturer
- Initiated litigation against a corporate target planning a $35 million ESOP transaction to effectively freeze out its minority shareholders. After obtaining temporary and preliminary injunctive relief on the heels of the purported ESOP closing, obtained a multi-million dollar payment for the client which well exceeded the value of that proposed in the ESOP transaction.
- Successfully resolved case involving a multi-million dollar dispute between a property owner, architect and general contractor, in arbitration, that involved AIA contract forms and the opinions of after-the-fact expert opinion witnesses retained to support the client’s position.
- Successfully mediated complex accounting claims alleging malpractice around sourcing and treatment of state revenue and improper reporting of related payments to insiders. Effected a voluntary disclosure agreement with applicable taxing authorities and averted seven-figure exposure for client.
- Settled disputes between OEM contractor and related client as to alleged design defects, which were demonstrated not to be the fault of the client, such that the case (involving design counterclaims and claims for amounts due for goods) was resolved, short of a two week international jury trial and that resulted in a shift in resolution payments from $1.7 million in favor of the OEM contractor to a substantial payment in favor of the manufacturing client.
- Successfully tried to award multi-million dollar dealer-distributor dispute, including franchise act claims against dealer, in week long arbitration trial. In addition, resolved multiple dealer disputes between wholly owned distributor avoiding multiple litigation claims and reportable violations of various state law dealer statutes relating to heavy equipment, such as excavators, wheel loaders and back hoe lifts.
- Successfully obtained arbitration awards in over a dozen cases for a client in labor disputes covered by applicable collective bargaining agreement. Further, obtained favorable results for client in defeating organizational efforts to certify union, defeated various claims to aggregate union and non-union facilities in hearings before the NLRB and in arbitration, and aided client to successfully obtain petition decertifying union in case where the client’s employees sought to terminate union representation.
