Our
Case Studies
In the substantive areas of law in which we practice, there are few client issues that we haven't already run across. Below are some case studies, each illustrating a particular legal issue faced by a client and the outcome achieved as a result of our representation of the client's interests. Click on any case study heading for more information about that particular matter.
Our client was the painting contractor under a multi-prime delivery system for the construction of an athletic facility at a large Midwestern university. The client was owed several hundred thousand dollars in contract money and extras, and after negotiations failed, filed suit. The university contended that there were significant paint failures, and asserted a multi-million dollar counterclaim. Although we were reasonably confident about our position, we also recognized that the cost of proceeding to trial, when combined with the risk of an adverse judgment, made this case an obvious candidate for settlement. But we needed to decide how to position the case for settlement, particularly in light of the fact that some of the paint was in fact failing. So we decided to take a very aggressive posture in discovery, hoping that we could quickly and efficiently move to settlement discussions.
Not every dispute needs to be resolved through an extended arbitration or trial. That's not a very "deep thought", and shame on us as your attorneys if we didn't recognize that fact. But figuring out how and when to resolve a case short of a full blown trial often requires out of the box thinking. Here is an example of how we handled one such engagement.
Sometimes an effective prelitigation presentation of the strength of your case will bring opponents to the bargaining table where litigation otherwise appears inevitable. Read about how the combination of a well-developed claim and a clearly delivered message had the desired effect of facilitating a successful settlement of a complex multi-party contractor dispute.
True representation of a client means knowing more than the law – it means knowing their business and having an intimate knowledge of their specific work at issue in the case. Read a case study that illustrates the complexities of construction litigation, and the legal strategies that led to a successful defense of our client against a claim of engineering malpractice filed during the construction of a prominent community college.