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In the cases we have tried, we have worked with a great many expert witnesses from numerous professional disciplines and are skilled at distilling sometimes complex business and transactional subject matters so that they are easily understood by juries. Our business litigation practice covers:
Breach of contract. The fundamental type of dispute involved is, one way or another, the classic breach of contract or agreement, with its many permutations. We have prosecuted and defended this type of claim, from the simple to the complex, in virtually every business context: manufacturing, distribution, communications, high tech, services, real estate, etc.
Business torts. We handle a variety of business torts claims, including negligent misrepresentation, fraud, concealment, conversion, and breach of fiduciary duty.
Class actions. Class actions are an increasingly popular mechanism for courts to use when classes of individuals have been injured or aggrieved in a similar manner. We have substantial experience defending businesses in state and nationwide class action litigation.
Construction dispute resolution. We have substantial expertise in preparing, presenting and defending construction disputes involving liability for defective design, delay and disruption claims, terminations for default, interference claims, backcharges, change orders, bidding and award disputes, protests, labor, lost productivity, cost escalation, construction failures, warranties, insurance claims, and mechanics' liens.
Financial. We have handled all of the various types of litigation in which banks and other financial institutions may become involved, both as plaintiffs and as defendants, including numerous lender liability cases.
Governance. We have substantial experience representing all forms of business entities in governance and ownership disputes. We represent corporations and boards of directors in securities litigation, shareholder derivative litigation, and special litigation committee matters. We represent partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and joint ventures in disputes regarding fiduciary duties, valuation, misappropriation, and dissolution. Our lawyers have tried dozens of these cases to successful verdicts. As important, working in conjunction with our transactional lawyers, we also counsel clients in governance matters in an effort to avoid threatened litigation.
Real estate litigation. We represent buyers, sellers, developers, landlords, tenants and owners in a wide variety of real estate disputes.
Securities litigation. We are involved regularly in class action litigation involving securities disclosure issues and in securities arbitrations involving individual investors. We also have experience in litigation relating to registration, issuing and underwriting of securities. Corporate governance, shareholder derivative and similar actions for publicly held companies and valuation and related claims for closely held businesses are also areas in which we have been actively involved.
Intellectual Property Litigation. Our intellectual property litigation practice covers a wide variety of issues, including trademark, copyright, and patent infringement and enforcement actions.
Experience
Business Torts
We successfully defended Scott's Liquid Gold in a jury trial in which the plaintiffs sought $21 million for alleged breaches of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment. Plaintiffs claimed, among other things, that they had entered into a joint venture with Scott's Liquid Gold to develop and market an alpha hydroxy acid based line of skin care products known as Alpha Hydrox. Plaintiffs claimed they were not fairly compensated for their role in creating and developing the product line, that they were entitled to royalties on product sales, and that repeated promises of multi-million dollar payments were unfulfilled. The case was all the more difficult because plaintiffs named their father/father-in-law, who is chairman of Scott's Liquid Gold, as a defendant and asserted separate fiduciary duty claims against him. Following a two week trial, the jury deliberated about an hour and a half before returning a complete defense verdict.
We successfully appealed and obtained reversal of a multimillion-dollar judgment entered against our client in a commercial breach of fiduciary duty case in which we were retained solely for purposes of the appeal.
We succeeded in obtaining a favorable verdict for a minerals company facing a multimillion-dollar business fraud claim.
Financing Issues
We defended and prosecuted counterclaims for Xerox Credit Corporation in a case involving the tail end of a $172 million securitization agreement. Plaintiff claimed it was not liable for the $3 million balance owed under the securitization agreement under which it executed a management buyout of a subsidiary of Xerox Credit Corp. Ultimately, the court held plaintiff liable for the outstanding securitization of $3 million. We demonstrated that plaintiff had improperly manipulated its tax withholdings and therefore underpaid the securitization and that plaintiff had the resources to repay the securitization and was unfairly attempting to shift the burden to Xerox Credit Corp. as guarantor.
Insurance Coverage
We successfully represented FMC Corporation in major litigation against its insurers Liberty Mutual and Lloyds of London. In five trials in San Jose, California, we established insurance coverage for FMC up to the policy limits plus attorneys' fees -- worth tens of millions of dollars. These were the first environmental jury trials concerning insurance liability in which the insured prevailed.
Partnerships and Joint Ventures
We represented Gold Fields Mining Company in litigation concerning the dissolution of a joint venture for exploration and mining of property in Eagle County, Colorado. Gold Fields' former venture partner brought claims against Gold Fields in state court for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty, among others. The venture partner alleged damages in excess of $2 billion, largely based on the property's value because of its proximity to Vail ski resort. After a six-day trial to the court, judgment was entered in Gold Fields' favor on all claims. On plaintiff's appeal to the Colorado Court of Appeals, the judgment was affirmed in all respects.
We represented Gold Fields Mining Corporation in litigation regarding ownership of a remote, waste-by-rail landfill being developed to serve the greater Los Angeles area. The landfill, which had been permitted but had not begun operations, was potentially valued at more than $40 million. Three entities had contributed equally to the development and permitting costs, with a plan to eventually share equally in ownership of and profits from the landfill. One of the companies withdrew, and a dispute arose as to reimbursement for contributions and ownership of the project. Working closely with our client and California counsel, we obtained a result whereby shortly before trial the matter settled with Gold Fields owning all of the assets of the project, and paying pennies on the dollar for the buy-out of the other companies.
Contract Disputes
We represent clients in all types of contractual disputes. Where possible, we take proactive steps to prevent large losses for our clients. For example, we successfully enjoined an opposing party from terminating a sales contract with one client, where the termination would have resulted in our client paying an additional several million dollars for substitute products in the future. Our client was the purchaser in a multi-year contract for the sale of dynamite. The seller declared its intention to terminate the contract at the end of the calendar year, based upon a provision allowing it to do so if our client did not purchase a certain minimum volume. Our client disputed that it had not purchased the required amount. We obtained a temporary restraining order, and later a preliminary injunction, prohibiting the seller from terminating the contract as threatened. The continuation of the contract's favorable pricing provisions saved our client approximately $2.5 million in the following contract year, and the contact continues in effect today.
We represent a Northwest Colorado coal mine, Colowyo Coal Company, involved in a dispute with a utility regarding a long-term coal contract. The utility challenged the enforceability of the contract, under which the mine receives revenues of about $50 million per year. We aggressively defended the utility's lawsuit, and also filed counterclaims against the utility for certain coal not taken pursuant to the contract. On behalf of the mine, we filed motions seeking a judgment in the mine's favor on the utility's claims, as well as a ruling as to liability on the mine's counterclaims. The court granted the coal mine summary judgment as to all of the utility's claims, thereby preserving the contract which is the lifeblood of the mine. Additionally, the court entered judgment in the mine's favor on liability on the majority of its counterclaims, leaving the amount of damages to be determined at a trial.
We secured a multimillion-dollar verdict from a federal jury in unique coal contract price litigation, enabling our client to continue its operations.
We obtained a jury verdict and judgment in federal court against a director and officer insurance company for breach of contract and bad faith in refusing to honor policy obligations, which resulted in an award of several million dollars for our client.
Protecting Trade Secrets and Intellectual Property
Our intellectual property litigation practice covers a wide variety of issues, including trademark, copyright, and patent infringement and enforcement actions.
We have successfully enjoined departing employees from misappropriating trade secrets in a number of cases where a former employee left a sales position, began work for a competing company, and started soliciting the customers that he or she called on while working for our client, despite contractual prohibitions from doing so. In each case, within days of receiving the initial call from the client, we filed suit and obtained preliminary injunctions preventing the former employees from further violating their employment agreements and misappropriating our clients' trade secrets. We also have been successful in obtaining an award of attorneys' fees incurred in several actions.
In one of the largest verdicts ever awarded in a computer software piracy case, we won a multimillion-dollar judgment for our client in misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract litigation.
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