Practice Areas & Industries: Winston & Strawn LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Winston & Strawn regularly represents clients in all segments of the automotive industry, including automobile manufacturers, tire manufacturers, engine manufacturers, auto dealers, auto parts manufacturers, and related businesses. The firm’s work for these clients spans a range of legal disciplines, including litigation (both trial and appellate work), intellectual property, labor and employment, corporate and financial, tax, bankruptcy and insolvency, and environmental law.

Representative Matters

Securitization Transactions - Loans and Leases Secured by Vehicles
Winston & Strawn attorneys have represented clients in transactions that have involved the securitization of every major asset type, including loans and leases secured by vehicles.      
 
Chamberlain Group v. Lear Corporation
Lear Corporation
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous opinion reversing and vacating a preliminary injunction issued by the Northern District of Illinois against Winston & Strawn client Lear Corporation. The preliminary injunction had prohibited Lear from making and selling its Car2U universal garage door opener device, except under its existing contracts with General Motors.      
 
Diaz-Ramos v. Hyundai
Hyundai Motor Company
A Winston & Strawn appellate team obtained an important ruling for client Hyundai Motor Company in a consumer class action brought under the laws of Puerto Rico.      
 
Caterpillar, Inc. Case No. 13-CA-43506 (National Labor Relations Board)
Caterpillar Inc. Corp. Office
Winston & Strawn represented Caterpillar in a matter brought before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in which the General Counsel alleged Caterpillar violated its duty to bargain in good faith by unilaterally implementing a change to prescription drug benefits for bargaining-unit employees.      
 
The Boler Company and Hendrickson Truck Suspension Systems v. Cooper Tire and Cooper Standard Automotive
Boler Company The
Winston & Strawn represented client The Boler Company in a dispute with Cooper Tire related to component parts Cooper provided to Hendrickson Truck Suspension Systems, a Boler subsidiary. Our client claimed that the components failed to meet the warranty requirements and contract terms. Prior to filing a lawsuit, the parties mediated the dispute, and a favorable settlement was obtained for our client.      
 
Lear $900 Million Senior Notes Issuance
Lear Corporation
Winston & Strawn represented Lear Corporation in connection with its private placement of an aggregate principal amount of $900 million of senior notes. We also represented Lear in closing an exchange offer for the notes, pursuant to which the original notes were exchanged for notes registered under the Securities Act.      
 
In re Automotive Refinishing Paint Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1426
PPG Industries, Inc.
Winston & Strawn was retained by PPG Industries as national counsel in numerous antitrust class actions around the country involving allegations of price-fixing in the automotive refinishing paint industry, including 68 cases that were consolidated in federal court in Philadelphia, as well as class actions filed in state courts in California, Maine, Tennessee, Vermont, and Massachusetts. The complaints generally alleged that PPG engaged in a price-fixing conspiracy with other manufacturers of refinishing paint, including The Sherwin-Williams Company, BASF Corporation, DuPont Performance Coatings, Inc., and Akzo Nobel Coatings Inc. The class plaintiffs sought hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Winston vigorously defended the claims      
 
Mikolajczyk v. Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company hired Winston & Strawn as appellate counsel in Mikolajczyk v. Ford, one of the 100 largest verdicts of 2005.      
 
Sale of Lear Stock to Carl Icahn Affiliates
Lear Corporation
Winston & Strawn represented Lear Corporation in connection with the sale of $200 million of common stock in a private placement to affiliates of and funds managed by investor and financier Carl Icahn.      
 
Sale of Lear Corporation's European Systems Division to WL Ross & Co.
Lear Corporation
Winston & Strawn represented Lear Corporation in connection with the sale of its European Interior Systems Division to International Automotive Components Group, LLC, Lear's joint venture with WL Ross & Co. LLC and Franklin Mutual Advisers, LLC.      
 
Daimler Chrysler Class Actions
DaimlerChrysler Corporation
Our attorneys are defending DaimlerChrysler in consumer class action matters pending in various states involving contract, warranty, and common law as well as statutory fraud claims.      
 
TMB Industries Acquisition of Whitley Products
TMB Industries LLC
Winston & Strawn represented TMB Industries in its acquisition of Whitley Products, Inc., a premier supplier of precision tubular products to the diesel engine, agricultural equipment, off-highway, construction equipment, and HVAC markets.      
 
Katz, et al. v. Midas International
Midas International Corporation
Winston & Strawn obtained a significant victory for Midas International Corporation when a Montgomery County, Maryland Circuit Court judge denied a motion for class certification, finding that the plaintiffs had failed to meet the legal prerequisites to maintain a Maryland class action. This was the latest in a series of plaintiff attempts to obtain class action status. The original complaint was brought in December 2001 as a putative nationwide class action that was later withdrawn and amended to a statewide motion. The plaintiffs claimed they were entitled to money damages because Midas had devised a corporate scheme to deceive its customers by purportedly replacing lifetime warranties for labor with more limited warranties. In its ruling      
 
Midas International $110 Million Credit Facility
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
Winston & Straw represented JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent, in connection with a new five-year $110 million unsecured revolving credit facility for Midas International Corporation, one of the world's largest providers of automotive services.      
 
Evitts v. DaimlerChrysler Corporation
DaimlerChrysler Corporation
The Illinois Appellate Court for the First District affirmed the dismissal of this putative national class action upon a motion on the pleadings for failure to plead knowledge of the alleged omission as of the time the named plaintiffs purchased their automobile.      
 
Lear Corporation $1.7 Billion Senior Credit Facility
Lear Corporation
Winston & Strawn represented Lear Corporation in connection with a $1.7 billion revolving credit facility with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent.      
 
MacLean Fiberglass v. Former Employees and New Employer
MacLean-Fogg Company
Our attorneys obtained a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in South Carolina state court for MacLean Fiber Glass, a subsidiary of client MacLean Fogg, against a former MacLean employee and his new start-up company.      
 
Caterpillar Inc. v. Lyons, et al.
Caterpillar Inc. Corp. Office
We represented Caterpillar in connection with a complaint it filed in the Central District of Illinois seeking a declaration that the Illinois Employment of Strikebreakers Act (ESA) and its recent amendments violated our client’s rights under the NLRA and was preempted by federal labor law.      
 
In Re Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Inc. Corp. Office
Winston & Strawn represented Caterpillar in all litigation that arose in connection with the eight-year labor dispute between Caterpillar and the United Auto Workers.      
 
Appellate Cases - Automotive Industry
Our attorneys have handled appeals involving a variety of legal issues, including those related to the automotive industry.