Example Business Litigation Cases

• Nilan Johnson attorneys obtained a defense verdict for Lyondell Chemical—the world’s third largest chemical company—after a 24-day federal jury trial in which plaintiff claimed hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for breach of contract, promissory estoppel, and misappropriation of trade secrets claims;
• Our team also led the University of Minnesota’s investigation into allegations of academic fraud by members of the men’s basketball team.  The extensive and highly-visible investigation found numerous violations of NCAA rules, including a lack of institutional control of the program, and led to the resignations of the university’s athletic director and basketball coach.  The findings were
  shared with the NCAA enforcement office and presented by Nilan Johnson Lewis at hearings before the NCAA infractions committee.
• The Nilan Johnson Lewis commercial litigation team defended an international energy company against multi-million dollar claims alleging violation of state and federal antitrust law, fraud, and breach of contract.  The antitrust claims were dismissed on a Rule 12 motion.
• We have also worked on various antitrust matters, including antitrust class actions. and have successfully opposed class certification efforts in the antitrust context.
• The commercial litigation team secured a judgment as a matter of law in favor of Siemens Westinghouse after a two-week jury trial in federal court in Wisconsin on misappropriation of trade secrets claims;
• In our capacity as lead national counsel for a former manufacturer of lead pigment, we successfully defended claims of industry-wide conspiracy, fraud, and misrepresentation by obtaining numerous defense verdicts and, in one case, successfully reversing an adverse Rhode Island jury verdict in one of the most closely watched cases in the country;
• We also recently defended a major medical device company in multi-million-dollar breach of contract arbitration.  The arbitrator found completely in our client’s favor, providing the client with a significant precedent affecting other claims against the company;
• Our commercial litigation attorneys obtained a successful outcome for Capitas Financial, LLC when an arbitration panel denied plaintiffs all relief on claims alleging millions of dollars in damages for an alleged breach of an LLC agreement, defamation and tortious interference;
• The commercial litigation team obtained a multi-million dollar award in favor of Kelmoore Investment Company after a 10-day arbitration of a breach of contract claim;
• We negotiated a favorable settlement for Harrah’s Entertainment on the first day of trial in breach of contract case alleging damages of $400 million;
• Our attorneys were recently part of a multi-state legal team that achieved a swift and complete victory in California federal district court, which dismissed in its entirety a patent infringement claim against the nation’s second largest manufacturer of infrared industrial furnaces.  In addition to the complete dismissal, the court also awarded our client $360,000 in attorneys fee as a sanction against the competitor and its attorneys for subjecting our client to a procedurally and substantively frivolous lawsuit.
• Our commercial litigation team obtained summary judgment in favor of defendant, Siemens Energy, in a multi-million dollar contract dispute related to the supply of wind turbines;
• Our team also obtained summary judgment for Higher Education Service Corporation in putative class action brought on behalf of 550,000 persons alleging loss of personal information stored on hard drive of stolen laptop computer.
• We also secured a favorable decision for defendant, Medica Health Plans, in a five-week, two-phase arbitration hearing on breach of contract claims with $65 million in dispute.
• Our commercial litigation attorneys obtained a reversal of lower court’s decision in a patent suit for our client, Wagner Spray Tech.
• The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s decision dismissing a putative class action complaint alleging breach of a warranty of future performance on behalf of our client, PPG Industries.
• As national counsel to ING on its ERISA and disability claims litigation, our attorneys have handled cases nationwide in state and federal courts involving ERISA-governed plans, class actions, and stop-loss and reinsurance disputes.