Business Litigation

$300,000 In Additional Workers Compensation Premiums Saved

Before the client came to us, their insurance company had obtained a default judgment against them for additional workers' compensation premiums in excess of $30,000. We aggressively negotiated and had the default judgment vacated by consent and the insurance company agreed to dismiss its lawsuit and exchange mutual releases. Our client did not have to pay any additional premiums.

$4+ Million "Family Farm" Estate Litigation

When the patriarch of the family farm passed away, he willed the property equally to his three grown children. One wanted to work the farm with her husband, but could not afford to buy out her siblings at market value. So she negotiated a contract for a below-market purchase and very favorable mortgage terms in exchange for sharing the profits of any eventual sale of the property down the road. Over time the farmland became very valuable. The farmer sibling secretly transferred ownership of the property to a private holding company and sold the development rights without sharing the profits promised to her other siblings. Our business litigation attorneys uncovered this scheme and built a case that led to a quick, favorable settlement for our clients.

Convinced Health Insurance Company HMO to Pay for Medical Treatment

A young woman who worked for the State of New Jersey had been through several treatments for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer. Her last hope was a bone marrow transplant of her own marrow. Her HMO would not pay for the treatment. Our insurance claim litigation attorneys convinced the HMO to pay.

Director/Officer Sued for Breach of Fiduciary Duty in Corporate Governance Litigation

A director of a charitable foundation sued our client, also a director and the CEO of the foundation, alleging that he breached his fiduciary duty to the foundation by making unwise investments. The plaintiff sought to surcharge our client personally for millions of dollars of losses sustained by the foundation’s investments. Our defense was that there was no negligence, rather the investments were proper and losses sustained as a result of market declines. After a lengthy trial, the judge found no wrongdoing on the part of our client and dismissed the lawsuit.

Required Insurance Company to Represent Real Estate Homebuilder in Litigation Dispute

A dissatisfied homebuyer claiming emotional distress caused by mortgage rate information provided by a residential developer sued. But the homebuilder’s insurance company refused to provide legal representation – even though the homebuilder had paid premiums for this very type of business insurance coverage. Our business litigation attorneys filed suit to enforce the insurance policy. We won a “declaratory judgment” from the court that the insurance company should have defended the lawsuit and requiring that insurance company to reimburse the insured for the monies he paid to a lawyer and the amount the insured paid to settle the claim.

Reversed Denial of Occupation-Specific Disability Insurance Claim

When a radiologist could no longer read medical images due to progressive cataracts, he filed a claim on his INDIVIDUALLY OWNED occupation-specific professional disability insurance policy – a common type of income-replacement coverage held by doctors, dentists and other professionals whose income is directly tied to their physical acuity. The insurance company aggressively fought his claim asserting that (1) the occupation specific disability insurance policies were governed by U.S. federal ERISA law, and (2) asserting that he was not disabled. Our business litigation attorneys won a settlement very favorable to our client. To help prevent or prepare for claim challenges, read the article “Think you’re covered if disability strikes? Think again!” by Ann P. McHugh, Esq. and E. Elizabeth Sweetser, Esq.

Trustee Removal Litigation

Our lawyers were hired by a number of beneficiaries of two multi-million dollar trusts to obtain the removal of one of the three trustees on the grounds of conflict of interest, breach of duty of loyalty to the beneficiaries, partiality to one beneficiary over others, failure to communicate with the beneficiaries, and that the other trustees had lost confidence and trust in their fellow trustee. After being hard fought for approximately one year, this case settled with an outcome favorable to our clients.