The litigation practice prosecutes and defends matters in arbitration tribunals, and federal and state trial courts around the country, frequently involving contract, partnership and corporate disputes, copyrights, trademarks, creditors’ rights, commercial law, unfair competition, lender liability, real estate, construction, insurance coverage, insurance bad faith and entertainment law. In its litigation practice, the Firm represents owners of intellectual property, corporations, financial institutions, real estate partnerships and ventures, entertainment companies and multinational corporations. A significant portion of the litigation practice involves resolution of disputes in a creative and efficient manner before formal litigation is initiated.
- Representative Litigation Matters:
- 8-figure settlement obtained for entertainer on eve of trial against major accounting firm, arising out of negligent business management.
- Represented major recording artists in high-profile copyright infringement action against peer-to-peer file sharing network Napster.
- Jury verdict against entertainer Michael Jackson for breach of oral contracts with former business associate.
- Jury verdict, including punitive damages, against major credit card processor on behalf of merchant whose funds were wrongfully frozen upon termination of processing contract.
- Summary judgment, upheld on appeal, on behalf of producer and songwriter sued for copyright infringement.
- Resolved numerous copyright infringement claims, both for and against clients, before formal litigation was commenced.
- Successful defense of a surviving bank after merger in a dissenting shareholder lawsuit seeking increased value for their shares in which the dissenting shareholders alleged that prior management and the board had violated their fiduciary duties to the target bank’s shareholders.
- Prosecution of a securities fraud claim on behalf of some 30 banks which had invested in a derivatives fund (9-figure settlement).
- Successful defense of a bank and its president sued by a senior manager on a whistleblower theory alleging his wrongful termination was in retaliation for his reporting of a bank-wide violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.
- Successful defense of several wrongful termination and sexual harassment cases against banks and their senior management and board members at trial level and appellate level.
- Defense verdict following jury trial for major entertainer sued for failure to honor personal management agreement.
