Litigation

Our trial and appellate practice focuses on real estate and complex commercial matters. Particularly effective is our critical motions practice, whereby we dispose of and/or substantially narrow issues before trial – thus significantly limiting our clients’ litigation risk – or increasing that of our adversaries. Recent representative cases and experience include the following:

• LNV Corporation v. River East Plaza, LLC. We represented the lender in one of the largest commercial foreclosures in Illinois. The Circuit Court of Cook County confirmed the judicial sale to our client after we had defeated various counterclaims, obtained a $40 million judgment, and led discovery and depositions in related bankruptcy proceedings, which were ultimately dismissed in our client’s favor.


• Cook County Board of Review 2012 Undervaluation Litigation. We served as lead trial counsel in defending undervaluation complaints brought by local taxing districts, who sought a significant increase in our client’s property’s market value. We obtained a “no change” ruling after a March 2012 hearing.


• Non-Compete Litigation. We have both prosecuted and defended employees and independent contractors in non-compete litigation in the state courts, seeking to have non-compete and/or non-solicitation provisions declared null and void in order that our clients may be free to move on to new affiliations. In two recent cases, we’ve been successful in negotiating a “walk away” compromise favorable to our clients’ interests before trial.


• Mercatus Group LLC v. Lake Forest Hospital. We represented the appellant in a multi-million dollar antitrust appeal in the Seventh Circuit, which resulted in an important opinion on the contours of the so-called Noerr-Pennington doctrine. Reported decision: 641 F.3d 834 (7^th Cir. 2011).