Complex Commercial Litigation

Energy & Sustainability

• Representing a commerce-centric EV charging provider in a commercial dispute involving an underlying personal injury lawsuit and a related breach of contract and indemnity claim.

Healthcare

• Represented a manufacturer of cleaning devices for continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines in a false advertising suit brought in the Southern District of New York by a multinational competitor which dealt with complex Lanham Act claims.
• Represented a national health care services company following a $125 million acquisition in post-transaction litigation brought by seller in United States District Court in Massachusetts and obtained a favorable summary judgment and an award of full attorney’s fees for client.
• Successfully defended a portfolio company of a large health care-focused private equity fund in an action brought in the Southern District of Florida. We won the summary judgment dismissing all of plaintiffs’ claims that they effectively were the owners and inventors of our client’s products. Following this dismissal on summary judgment, we obtained a ruling proposing one of the largest legal fee awards ever granted in Florida.
• Represented over 100 chain and independent pharmacies and, following a bench trial, obtained a judgment from the Massachusetts Business Court overturning the state’s pharmacy assessment tax and ordering the Commonwealth to refund $18 million in taxes collected from the pharmacies. The court enjoined any further collection of the tax, resulting in a savings to our clients of over $36 million annually. This case was reported by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as one of the largest trial verdicts awarded in Massachusetts in that year.

Individual

• Secured a unanimous jury verdict at November 2021 trial in New York State Supreme Court on behalf of an investment banker client after his decade-long battle with his former fiancée over an investment property in the Hamptons. After a 7-day jury trial, the jury needed only about 1 ½ hours to find for our client, to agree that the two Defendants had been unjustly enriched at our client’s expense, and to award the full amount of the $2.5 million in damages that he had sought at trial.

Insurance & Financial Services

• Representing Like New Home Warranty, a provider of Residential Home Insurance Services, in an ongoing case brought by competitor Old Republic Home Protection, alleging unfair competition claims as well of violations of the Lanham Act, or misleading marketing practices.
• Representing a client in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in the enforcement of a $300 million award issued in an arbitration in Singapore.
• Successfully represented bondholders who owned a majority stake of bonds used to finance a continuing care retirement community in Illinois, in a dispute with the debtor and Unsecured Creditors Committee connected to the property and its plan of reorganization.
• Achieved summary judgment for a multinational corporation in a dispute regarding the sale of certain bankruptcy claims it held in the Delphi Bankruptcy proceeding. The court’s decision in this matter is significant, as it provides a guide for the operation of the multibillion-dollar trade claim market and interaction of parties in this industry.

Life Sciences

• Successfully opposed a motion for preliminary injunction in a case alleging trade secret misappropriation under federal and state law.
• Represented large medical supply company in connection with a whistleblower action alleging that the resolution of certain rebate disputes with a managed care company resulted in illegal kickbacks and violation of the federal False Claims Act.
• Represented Leading BioSciences, a privately held Delaware corporation headquartered in California, in a suit brought by its largest shareholder. Plaintiff shareholder sought to impose California’s cumulative voting requirements, which, if granted, would have given plaintiff significant control over our client’s board of directors. At issue was the internal affairs doctrine—whether California law mandating cumulative voting would pre-empt Delaware law, which would prevent cumulative voting based on the bylaws of the company. With no case law to draw upon, we successfully settled the novel case.
• Won an arbitration award, following over a week of trial, completely dismissing all claims of material breach of a collaboration agreement that would have deprived our client, an international biotech company, of its fifty percent interest in a billion-dollar drug.

Professional Services

• Obtained multi-million dollar judgement on behalf of Sandy Alexander, Inc., a marketing communications firm, in a bet-the-company litigation against a manufacturer for breach of contract.
• Represented a multinational professional services firm in a month-long jury trial in which our client admitted employee breach but denied claims of supervisory liability. The jury found no supervisory liability, and rejected claims for punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
• Won a judgment of dismissal at the close of plaintiff’s evidence in the trial of an eight-figure accounting malpractice claim brought against a Big Five accounting firm.
• Represented two of the plaintiff law firms in a contract action against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to enforce a contingent fee agreement relating to the nationwide tobacco litigation. After a six-week trial in the Business Litigation Session, the jury entered a verdict in favor of plaintiffs estimated to be worth approximately $100 million.

Real Estate, Construction, Hospitality & Infrastructure

• Acting as litigation avoidance and risk mitigation counsel for developer DivcoWest in the construction, development and leasing of the Cambridge Crossing (“CX”) Project in Massachusetts, which is currently the largest mixed use development underway on the East Coast.
• Represented the Expedia Group and its subsidiary HomeAway (now known as Vrbo) in a Massachusetts enforcement action brought by the Division of Professional Licensure and the Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers, defeating the agencies’ bid to regulate Expedia as a real estate broker.
• Successfully arbitrated a complex partnership dispute involving claims of breach of fiduciary duties in connection with the management of 3 mixed-use buildings in midtown Manhattan. Secured a $31 million award on behalf of the client, which directed that the partnership be dissolved and that there be an open market sale of the three properties.
• Won a complete dismissal with prejudice of a $3 billion RICO case filed against our client, Wynn Resorts in the District of Massachusetts. The case was brought by Sterling Suffolk Racecourse as part of an ongoing legal battle with Wynn over competing casino projects in the greater Boston area. The matter involved a collection of salacious allegations cutting across multiple jurisdictions, but our team was ultimately successful in arguing that Suffolk had failed to prove a pattern of racketeering activity, a necessity in a RICO case.
• Secured summary judgment and leveraged successful settlement for joint venture fund client in a dispute over ownership rights associated with an $80 million+ hotel property.
• Obtained first-of-its-kind victory for landlord client in the seminal case interpreting Massachusetts’ COVID-19 Eviction Moratorium and its impact on commercial landlords’ remedies.

Retail & Consumer Products

• Representing Zoppas Industries de Mexico in an ongoing trade secrets and breach of contract case filed in the District of Delaware Court against Backer EHP. Secured a partial denial of the defendant’s motion to dismiss.
• Representing an American beverage supplier in a breach of contract case against a global equipment manufacturer relating to the termination of the contracts for cause due to safety and reliability issues.
• Represented international multi-billion dollar diversified supplier to the foodservice industry in complex, multi-jurisdictional breach of contract case against a global supplier of food processing technology. Obtained favorable multimillion dollar settlement for our client.
• Achieved a significant victory for our client Manischewitz, a leading brand of kosher food products, in a dispute before the New York State Supreme Court. The plaintiff alleged our client excluded him from the koshering process and that Manischewitz products did not meet the Orthodox Union (OU) kashrut standards required to be sold with the OU symbol. The New York State Supreme Court granted Manischewitz and the Orthodox Union’s motion to dismiss all causes of action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim.
• Represented SpinMaster, a leading global children's entertainment company, in a patent infringement case related to the company's Zero Gravity® Laser toy vehicle, which was named "Best Toy" by Popular Mechanics at the 2019 Toy Fair. Obtained a preliminary injunction in December 2019 enjoining the sales of the infringing toys by defendant, which was appealed. The parties settled their dispute and the case was dismissed by stipulation.
• Won a $6 million jury verdict against an unauthorized Internet reseller of our client’s products. The jury found the Internet reseller liable for tortious interference with contract and trademark infringement. This victory was extremely important in protecting our client’s distribution system.
• Represented a large distributor of pharmaceuticals and health and beauty care products in a case involving the interpretation of a side-letter entered into in connection with the making of a Delaware LLC Operating Agreement for a separate entity.
• Won a verdict of dismissal representing a multibillion-dollar grocery chain and its president following a trial in the US District Court in Massachusetts in a case alleging violations of ERISA.
• Won a five-week jury trial in which our client, the co-founder and CEO of a very successful private company, was sued by stockholders on three $1.5 billion RICO claims arising out of alleged unfair business practices and breach of fiduciary duty. Two of those claims were defeated on pretrial motions to dismiss and for summary judgment, and the third was rejected by the jury.
• Served as counsel for a national beverage supplier in class actions alleging fraud and breach of contract in connection with the marketing and sale of one of its products. The claims in this matter were compromised on favorable terms.
• Represented a public company defendant in a four-week jury trial that successfully defeated a $30 million punitive damages claim brought in the Business Litigation Session of the Massachusetts Superior Court.
• Represented the seller of an e-commerce business that was being acquired by a multinational mass media corporation. Our representation included the negotiation of competing offers and the terms of sale of the company as well as employment and other agreements for the key executives with the acquirer.

Sports & Entertainment

• Defended a French video game production studio in a breach of contract claim brought by a film production company seeking to recover the entire contract amount. Negotiated a successful resolution on behalf of client, thus avoiding a costly trial.
• Secured a rare, complete dismissal of an ADA lawsuit on behalf of BDG Media Inc. d/b/a Elite Daily, which alleged that the company lacked a closed caption option on the website’s videos.
• Served as co-counsel for for an American global communications company in a highly-publicized lawsuit brought by a Boston television affiliate seeking injunctive relief to compel the renewal of its affiliation beyond its scheduled expiration at the end of 2016.
• Represented an internet gaming company in an action for breach of contract against a software developer that demanded equity interest in our client.
• Represented a national telecommunications company in an appeal from a state agency ruling that threatened to prevent the sale of a major product. A week before trial, the state Attorney General acknowledged that the agency had no defense and consented to the entry of a declaratory judgment in favor of the client.

Technology

• In complex civil RICO case, represented Taiwanese creditor in claims against 34 foreign and domestic defendants. Successfully defeated over 30 motions to dismiss, managed millions of pages of written discovery, over 40 depositions on two continents and hundreds of discovery disputes before two court-appointed Special Masters. Defeated summary judgment and in limine motions. Favorably settled case at commencement of trial.
• Defeated 27 trade secret misappropriation claims on behalf of Volcano Corporation relating to medical technology, following a two-week trial and related hearings.
• Represented the founder and former CEO of a telecommunications company in an action arising out of allegations concerning the backdating of employee stock options.
• Represented the ousted founder of an automation company in a fiduciary dispute.
• Served as lead trial counsel for a well-known public company in a corporate governance, breach of fiduciary duty, and contract dispute against former company officers. Case was settled on client-favorable terms following jury selection.
• Successfully prosecuted alter-ego arbitration. Navigated complex array of obstructive discovery tactics to recover documents from off-shore shell companies. Obtained order from US Bankruptcy Court lifting stay on arbitration and remanding case to tribunal following defendant's bankruptcy filing. Obtained positive finding of alter-ego liability against CEO of defendant corporation and judgment of over $26 million.

Transportation

• Won an award of $10 million from a three-member arbitration panel after three weeks of trial in a manufacturing dispute in Pennsylvania.
• Obtained a verdict after a two-week jury trial in favor of a small family owned business that had been sued for breach of contract and engaging in unfair business practices.