Commercial and Bankruptcy Cases Steve represented the following in significant cases:
- a media company in an action to enforce a $10 million financial guarantee
- a major bank as indenture trustee in the bankruptcy proceeding of one of the nation's largest home loan mortgage origination and servicing companies
- a major bank as securities intermediary in a bankruptcy proceeding relating to life insurance policies that were part of a life insurance securitization
- a not-for-profit institution in connection with its investment in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and the related Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) liquidation proceedings
- TD Securities and TD Bank in the Adelphia securities class action and bankruptcy action
- TD Options and TD Bank in defense of an action by minority equity holders arising out of TD’s acquisition of equity options trading firms
- TD Bank in defense of an action brought by ING regarding letters of credit
- a manufacturer of disposable plasticware for the food industry in defense of a breach of contract action brought by its financial adviser
- Webhelp and its principals in securing the dismissal of derivative claims for over $100 million in damages for fraudulent conveyance and for breaches of fiduciary duty the directors, officers and affiliated companies of a bankrupt manufacturer of communications towers in defense of an action by the debtor trustee seeking $20 million in damages and asserting claims for fraudulent conveyances, preferences and breaches of fiduciary duty; after moving to dismiss, we settled the matter for a fraction of the claim and negotiated a substantial contribution by the D&O carrier to the settlement
- the Creditors Committee of a telecommunications company in an action for breach of fiduciary duty against its directors for which we recovered $2 million
- Brascan Energy Marketing in defense of an action by Enron in a bankruptcy court adversary proceeding for breach of an electricity price Swaps agreement
- a foreign individual regarding applications in U.S. federal courts for evidence for use in a $16 million U.K. action for fraud
- the Canadian Football League and the Saskatchewan Roughriders in a case in which we secured the dismissal in six days of a preliminary injunction action commenced by a U.S. player seeking to jump to an XFL team, and had the restrictive covenants in the CFL’s standard player contracts upheld
- a major manufacturer, importer and distributor of alcoholic beverages in an action for payment for goods sold and delivered, and in defense of claims for breach of contract and promissory estoppel arising out of the termination of a distributor relationship
- a musical instruments insurance broker in a case of first impression in which we secured a preliminary injunction preventing an insurance wholesaler from soliciting the broker’s customers on grounds of customs in the industry and notwithstanding the absence of any written agreement
- a major French bank in defense of an action arising out of an erroneous $40 million international wire transfer
- a senior finance executive in the negotiation and drafting of a new employment agreement, including guidance on non-compete restrictions under his existing employment arrangement
Intellectual Property Cases Steve represented the following in significant cases:
- a large pharmaceutical company in defense of an action for breach of a trademark license agreement and related trademark infringement claims
- a major distributor of nutritional supplements in action for trade dress infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets
- an owner of a famous Italian designer clothing brand against a major international retail chain for trademark infringement in which we successfully obtained
- a TRO and expedited discovery that led to the termination of the infringing conduct
- a leading provider of seafood products in defense of an action for trademark infringement in which we defeated a motion for a TRO and preliminary injunction
- a major international manufacturer and distributor of alcoholic beverages in a successful opposition to a trademark registration before the TTAB (now on appeal to the Federal Circuit)
- a leading provider of interactive voice-response technology for the transportation industry in an action for declaratory judgment of non-infringement of a patent
- an advertising company in an action for false advertising, defamation and related claims against a competitor that made false and misleading statements regarding its pending patent applications; we secured expedited discovery, a consent injunction that stopped all such statements, and other relief sought by the client