Complex Litigation
Folger Levin & Kahn LLP ’s outstanding record of success in complex litigation matters is reflected in our ongoing relationships with clients of stature and sophistication, for whom we have achieved noteworthy results. The cases we have handled for these clients vary widely and include contract disputes, commercial class actions, multi-party environmental litigation, securities lawsuits, complex construction litigation, insurance coverage disputes, and a variety of other matters involving a large number of parties or a multiplicity of factual and legal issues. Our firm’s capabilities in these matters are demonstrated not only by our clients’ repeated decisions to entrust us with their most important and difficult cases, but also by the decisions of clients to seek our assistance on the eve of trial, when the efforts of other firms have proved insufficient. We have a proven track record of positive results, achieved through pre-litigation settlements, alternative dispute resolution, strategic discovery resulting in settlement, dispositive motion practice, and successful trial and appellate advocacy.
Our practice is unusual in that we have had tremendous success representing both plaintiffs and defendants. On the plaintiffs’ side, we have represented clients in a wide variety of matters, including disputes over failed mergers, insurance coverage, apportionment of liability for environmental cleanups, dissolved partnerships, and trade secret and copyright matters. On behalf of such clients, we have recovered over $2 billion.
- Prosecution of PeopleSoft’s $2 billion claim in its anti-takeover litigation against Oracle. We were retained as trial counsel after PeopleSoft filed a state law unfair competition lawsuit early in its defense of Oracle’s hostile takeover. Over the course of more than a year of intensive litigation, we developed theories and evidence to support a multi-billion dollar claim against Oracle and on the eve of trial, the judge announced a ruling that permitted PeopleSoft to present its $2 billion claim to the jury. Along with a wide variety of other measures and defensive tactics, PeopleSoft’s lawsuit contributed to an outcome in which Oracle’s ultimate offering price, 18 months after its initial offer, was raised from $16 per share to $26.50 per share
- We won a defense verdict after trial in a trade secret lawsuit brought by our client’s competitor in which the competitor sought injunctive relief in connection with the hiring of former employees and an award of an approximately $100 million contract from a common customer.
- We have defended Yahoo! Inc. and other clients in copyright litigation involving defenses under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
- The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art negotiated with the heirs of a wealthy art collector for the purchase of a painting by Picasso for $45 million. The heirs eventually decided to auction the painting rather than sell it to the Museum. The Museum sued. We represented the heirs and obtained summary judgment dismissing all of the Museum’s claims.
- We represented Coram Healthcare Corporation in a breach of contract and fraud action arising from Coram’s purchase of a home healthcare business. After two years of litigation and the commencement of a jury trial, the defendant, Caremark International, returned $165 million to our client in a settlement.
- Our client NorthPoint Communications Group, Inc. sued Verizon Communications, Inc. for improperly terminating a merger agreement pursuant to which the companies’ DSL businesses were to be combined. Verizon contended that it was entitled to terminate the merger because NorthPoint’s business had suffered a “Material Adverse Effect.” On the eve of trial and after 1½ years of intensive litigation, the case settled with Verizon agreeing to pay $175 million, and releasing over $30 million of debts owing from NorthPoint to Verizon.
- We won summary judgment for Louisiana-Pacific Corporation in a ruling upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, defeating a $250 million claim alleging breach of a joint venture agreement, fraud and trade secret misappropriation and recovering $1 million on a counterclaim.
- We served as lead trial counsel for more than a dozen industrial aerospace companies in the Stringfellow hazardous waste Superfund cases involving liability for between $500 million and $1 billion in clean-up costs. Following a nine-week federal jury trial and an eleven-week federal bench trial, the State of California was found to have 100% of the responsibility for the environmental contamination at the site.
- We won a $64 million judgment on behalf of Ford Motor Company and its affiliates in a breach of contract action involving real estate partnerships.
- We won specific performance of a $25 million contract to acquire a radio station for Entercom Communications Corp. Entercom’s judgment, entered after a three-week trial, was sustained on appeal.
- We won a jury verdict following a three-month trial for the realty
arm of The Prudential Insurance Company of America in a suit brought
by a national real estate developer seeking over $50 million in
damages.
- We won a $17 million jury verdict against Pacific Gas & Electric Company on behalf of United States Windpower, an alternative energy supplier that contended PG&E had improperly curtailed energy deliveries.
- In an insurance coverage case, we won a verdict after a three-week jury trial for full recovery of costs and a judgment that an insurer had acted in bad faith in refusing to defend our client in an environmental lawsuit.
- We recovered over $34 million, primarily from Merrill Lynch, on behalf of a group of 14 California municipalities with claims arising from the Orange County bankruptcy, a result that provided complete compensation for all losses.
- We represented Martin Gruber (a world-renowned high-end jewelry designer) and his company, Valjean Manufacturing, Inc., in a breach of contract and fraud litigation arising out of the mishandling of monies during the course of a ten-year relationship with the defendant. After a bench trial in New York and significant post-trial briefing, the court awarded our clients over $10 million in cash and credits. The case is now on appeal to the Second Circuit.
Representative Clients: Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company; Yahoo! Inc.; DPR Construction, Inc.; The Deutsch Company; Prudential Insurance Company; Ford Motor Company; Entercom Communications Corp.; PeopleSoft, Inc.
For more information, contact:
Gregory D. Call, Chair of Litigation Department, gcall@flk.com
Wesley D. Hurst, Managing Partner of the Los Angeles Office, whurst@flk.com
Return to Practice page.