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The litigation attorneys at Roeser Tanner & Graham have significant experience representing clients in the courtroom as well as in mediations and arbitrations. For many disputes, businesses find nonjudicial methods of resolution increasingly beneficial as these avenues are often more cost-effective and less time-consuming than conventional court proceedings.
The speed, flexibility, finality and confidentiality of these alternative settings are appealing and can serve to maintain or strengthen business relationships with adversaries.
Our litigators have proven experience enforcing contested arbitration clauses and resolving cases in alternative dispute settings, including the following:
Contamination Claim (Private Mediation)
We represented a global food ingredient supplier that was threatened with a suit for allegedly supplying contaminated ingredients in a complex, multiparty mediation involving tens of millions in potential damages against our client. We successfully guided the case to voluntary mediation and ultimately settled the case without our client paying anything in settlement. Instead, our client received payment from one of the other parties for damages suffered from ingredients our client purchased.
Defective Manufacturing Equipment (JAMS Arbitration)
We represented a Fortune 500 food company against a manufacturer in claims for breach of contract and warranty arising out of the sale and installation of equipment used in a multimillion-dollar renovation project. The claims were successfully resolved in our client’s favor.
Breach of Contract and Non-Compete Agreement (AAA Arbitration)
We represented an executive before the American Arbitration Association against his former employer in a dispute over the alleged violation of a noncompete agreement and the employer’s failure to pay severance under a separation agreement. Shortly before the arbitration was scheduled to begin, the employer abandoned all its affirmative claims against our client and agreed to pay 92 percent of our demand.
FINRA (Financial Services)
We have represented numerous financial advisors in Financial Industrial Regulatory Authority arbitrations. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, we defeated Merrill Lynch after it sued a former employee of the Merrill Lynch Private Bank and Investment Group for upwards of one million dollars on an allegedly unpaid promissory note. The FINRA arbitration panel not only dismissed Merrill Lynch’s claims, but it also found in favor of our client on his counterclaims for damages against the company. (FINRA 2013).
Court Mediations
We have successfully resolved numerous matters in court-ordered mediation settings, including cases before magistrate judges in the Northern District of Illinois and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit mediation office.