Thursday, December 15, 2005
SUPER LAWYERS AT SANDBERG, PHOENIX & VON GONTARD IN MISSOURI
The Network congratulates Teresa D. Bartosiak, Kenneth W. Bean, Michael E. Bub, Warren W. Davis, Kevin P. Krueger, Anthony L. Martin, G. Keith Phoenix, John S. Sandberg, Rodney M. Sharp, Lyndon P. Sommer, Anthony J. Soukenik, Stephen M. Strum and Reed W. Sugg, who were named 2005 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers. Mary Anne Mellow was named one of the top 50 Female Lawyers in Missouri & Kansas by Super Lawyers for 2005.
Super Lawyers names the top lawyers in Missouri and Kansas as chosen by their peers and through the independent research of Law & Politics. The list of 2005 Missouri/Kansas Super Lawyers is based on surveys of more than 17,000 active lawyers across the two states. The goal was to select as Super Lawyers the top 5 percent of Missouri and Kansas attorneys in more than 60 practice areas. The list of Missouri/Kansas Super Lawyers is published annually in the November issues of KC Magazine and Missouri/Kansas Super Lawyers.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
SANDBERG PHOENIX & VON GONTARD WINS $50 MILLION SETTLEMENT FOR OMNIPLEX
Rick Desloge
St. Louis Business Journal
Former executives of Omniplex Communications and their attorney, John Sandberg, are celebrating a $50 million settlement from Lucent Technologies Inc., according to people familiar with the deal.
The settlement comes more than four years after Omniplex, a competitive local exchange telephone carrier (CLEC) providing local service to 21 states and long-distance service in 24 states, filed for bankruptcy and sold off its assets.
Omniplex's chairman and chief executive at the time of the bankruptcy, Mike McKay, said in 2001 that Lucent sold his company obsolete switches which led to the bankruptcy filing.
Omniplex maintained that position throughout a prolonged legal battle, according to court records in the case. A group called the Official Plan Committee of Omniplex Communications Group pursued Lucent in St. Charles County Circuit Court, up to U.S. Bankruptcy Court and back to St. Charles County Circuit Court before reaching a settlement last month. As part of Omniplex's bankruptcy settlement in 2001, the company sold rights to sue Lucent to the Plan Committee, which set up a separate company to finance the litigation. That business, Omniplex Service Co., includes McKay and some Omniplex creditors, according to court records.
The settlement came as Sandberg, a principal and founding member of Sandberg, Phoenix & von Gontard, prepared for a long court battle next February with Lucent attorneys at Bryan Cave, led by Louis Bonacorsi. Circuit Judge Nancy Schneider blocked out six weeks for a trial, her court clerk said.
Sandberg declined to comment on the settlement, saying he was a party to a confidentiality agreement.
The St. Louise Business Journal reports that McKay praised Sandberg's work on the case, but McKay, too, said he was bound by a confidentiality agreement and could not discuss the settlement.
Law firms typically take speculative cases such as Omniplex's on contingency and retain a third of any settlement, lawyers said. Sandberg and other attorneys at Sandberg Phoenix declined to discuss their fee arrangements.
Bill Price, spokesman for Lucent Technologies in Murray Hill, N.J., said the company will not be divulging the settlement with Omniplex. He said Lucent had reserves to cover a settlement, and it would not have any impact on the company's financial results.
The Omniplex case is one of at least three lawsuits against Lucent for alleged technology shortcomings, Lucent said in its most recent quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In that document, filed Aug. 4, Lucent said the Plan Committee for Omniplex was seeking more than $80 million and punitive damages based on allegations of fraud.
CORR CRONIN WINS 9TH CIRCUIT DISMISSAL IN TRADE SECRET CASE
Corr Cronin's efforts on behalf of an employee of Applied Materials, Inc. a high tech company that hired a former employee of competitor Lam Research Corporation were rewarded with a total victory in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week.
Lam Research had obtained an injunction against its former employee while the employee was represented by another law firm. The employee had worked for years in the dielectric etch area at Lam Research, a major manufacturer of semiconductor chips.
That employee left Lam and immediately went to a direct competitor, Applied Materials, to do the same type of work. Lam sued in federal court in Tacoma, Washington and obtained a preliminary injunction against the employee based on the “inevitable disclosure” of trade secrets doctrine.
After the injunction issued, Corr Cronin was retained. Corr Cronin appealed to the Ninth Circuit and convinced the Ninth Circuit to dissolve the injunction and dismiss the entire case based on a choice of law argument. Kelly Corr argued the appeal; Laurie Thornton and Kelsey Joyce wrote the brief.
Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT), based in Santa Clara, California, is the world's largest supplier of products and services to the global semiconductor industry, and is one of the leading information infrastructure providers.
As a core information infrastructure company, Applied Materials innovates and commercializes the processing and manufacturing technology that helps semiconductor manufacturers produce the world's most advanced chips.
To support customers around the world, Applied Materials employs approximately 13,000 people in over 65 locations throughout China; Europe and Israel; India, Malaysia and Singapore; Japan; Korea; Taiwan; and the United States.
Monday, December 12, 2005
AIG PICKS NETWORK FIRMS FOR D&O (SECURITIES CLAIMS), FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, ERISA and EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES LITIGATION
AIG has selected the following Network firms for several panels of counsel to whom AIG will look to handle insured litigation in the following areas:
D&O (SECURITIES):
Akerman Senterfitt:
Stanley H. Wakshlag, Miami, FL
Stanley.Wakshlag@Akerman.com
J.Thomas Cardwell, Orlando, FL
Tom.Cardwell@Akerman.com
Beirne Maynard & Parsons:
Jeffrey R. Parsons, Houston, TX
JParsons@BMPllp.com
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS:
Rome McGuigan:
Jeffrey L. Ment, Hartford, CT
JMent@RMS-law.com
Beirne Maynard & Parsons:
Jeffrey R. Parsons, Houston, TX
JParsons@BMPllp.com
Deutsch Kerrigan & Stiles:
Robert E. Kerrigan, New Orelans, LA
RKerrigan@DKSlaw.com
Nixon Peabody:
Joseph Ortego, New York, NY
JOrtego@NixonPeabody.com
ERISA:
Snell & Wilmer LLP:
Thomas R. Hoecker, Phoenix, AZ
THoecker@SWlaw.com
EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES LIABILITY:
Wheeler Trigg & Kennedy, LLP:
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Raymond W. Martin, Denver, CO
Martin@WTKlaw.com
Nixon Peabody:
Joseph Ortego, Boston, MA
JOrtego@NixonPeabody.com
Dykema Gossett, LLP:
Robert L. Duty, Lansing, Ann Arbor, Bloomfield Hills and Detroit, MI
RDuty@Dykema.com
Stephen S. Muhich, Grand Rapids, MI
SMuhich@Dykema.com
Nixon Peabody:
Joseph Ortego, New York, Garden City, Albany, Rochester, NY
JOrtego@NixonPeabody.com
Akerman Senterfitt:
James S. Bramnick, Miami, FL
James.Bramnick@Akerman.com
Bruce S. Liebman, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Bruce.Liebman@Akerman.com
Jeffrey E. Mandel, Orlando, FL
Jeff.Mandel@Akerman.com
Patricia J. Hill, Jacksonville, FL
Patricia.Hill@Akerman.com
Richard N. Margulies, Jacksonville, FL
Richard.Margulies@Akerman.com
Thursday, December 08, 2005
NIXON PEABODY OBTAINS DIRECTED VERDICT IN FAVOR OF FORD MOTOR COMPANY
Attorneys from Nixon Peabody's Products Liability, Mass & Complex Tort practice group obtained a directed verdict in favor of Ford Motor Company Wednesday, December 7. At the close of the plaintiff's case after four days of a jury trial in Supreme Court, Suffolk County, before Justice Howard Berler the good news came. Plaintiff sued Ford for negligence, strict products liability, and breach of warranty alleging that he was injured as a result of the failure of his driver's side airbag to deploy in a collision involving an impact to the front of his 1997 Ford Escort.
After a Frye hearing, Ford was successful in precluding plaintiff's expert witness from testifying at trial. The airbag was deemed to not be defective. Following the close of plaintiff's case, Ford argued that plaintiff failed to establish a prima facie case under the crashworthiness doctrine. Justice Berler agreed and dismissed plaintiff's case in its entirety. Ford was represented by Joseph J. Ortego, James W. Weller and Santo Borruso of the Garden City office. Paralegal Laura Dorsey of the Garden City office also assisted as a member of the trial team.
