Commercial and Automotive Litigation

Michael has extensive experience in litigating complex commercial matters, routinely achieving outstanding results in an efficient manner. His representative experience includes the following:

• Lead counsel in successfully obtaining a “no cause” arbitration award on behalf of health care providers facing a $6.5 million claim for tortious interference and defamation.
• Lead litigation counsel for automotive finance company and responsible for all commercial litigation in the Eastern United States.
• National litigation counsel for large parts supplier, successfully prosecuting and defending suits throughout the United States.
• Lead counsel in obtaining multimillion-dollar summary disposition in plaintiff’s favor in supply chain pricing dispute.
• Lead litigation counsel in successfully representing automotive supplier in suit involving misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of fiduciary duty by a former employee.
• Lead counsel in numerous supply chain matters including, among other things, pricing disputes, breach of warranty claims, terms and conditions disputes, and injunction actions.
• Lead counsel in successfully obtaining dismissal of plaintiff’s suit seeking rescission of life insurance settlement contract. Harahan v FairMarket Life Settlement Corp., 2006 WL 3103717 (ED Mich Oct31, 2006).
• Successfully persuaded Wayne County Circuit Court and Court of Appeals to dismiss administrative appeal challenging state construction permit for multimillion-dollar disposal facility. City of Romulus et al v MDEQ and EDS, 260 Mich App 54 (2003); successfully persuaded Ingham County Circuit Court and Court of Appeals to invalidate state construction permit that was incompatible with disposal facility. EDS v Fitch et al, 2005 WL 2864240 (Mich App Nov 1, 2005); successfully persuaded U.S. District Court to deny plaintiff’s request to enjoin operation of disposal facility. Sunoco Partners Marketing Terminals, L.P. v US EPA et al, 2006 WL 156394 (ED Mich Jan 20, 2006).
• Counsel for one of the daily Detroit newspapers in successfully obtaining dismissal of a multimillion-dollar defamation suit.
• Lead counsel in successfully obtaining favorable judgment at trial in a case involving a customer’s failure to make all payments due under a requirements contract.
• Counsel for major banking institution in successfully defeating the plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction in trial court, Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court in a case involving claims of misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, and tortious interference with contract.
• Lead counsel for title insurance agency in successfully obtaining dismissal of all claims in a equitable conversion/breach of contract case.

Class Action Litigation

Michael has considerable experience in defending class action lawsuits, consistently achieving excellent results for his clients. Some of his representative cases including the following:

• Lead counsel for financial institutions in shareholder class action cases arising from a corporate merger, and successfully obtained a dismissal on all claims against all defendants. The trial court ruling was upheld on appeal in a published decision. Kevin Nicholl et alv Talmer Bancorp, Inc. et al, ____ Mich App____; 2019 Mich App LEXIS 6413 (Mich Ct App, Oct17, 2019).
• Lead counsel for home health care provider in defending against consumer protection act claims and obtained favorable settlement.
• Lead counsel in successfully defending class action brought against insurer claiming violations of insurance policies, Ile v Foremost Ins. Co., 493 Mich 915; 823 NW2d 426 (2012).
• Lead counsel for banking institution in successfully obtaining dismissals of various shareholder class action lawsuits challenging mergers.
• Lead counsel for private home care companies and obtained very favorable settlement of class action lawsuit alleging consumer protection act violations.
• Lead counsel for Cerberus Capital Management in successfully obtaining dismissal of class action lawsuit brought by former Chrysler executives alleging that their supplemental pensions should have survived bankruptcy.
• Lead counsel for Mercedes-Benz Financial Services in successfully obtaining dismissal of consumer class action lawsuit claiming violations of Maryland consumer finance and consumer fraud laws.
• Lead counsel in obtaining summary judgment of class action case alleging that client’s video games constituted illegal gambling under Michigan law.
• Counsel for title insurance company and obtained very favorable settlement in multimillion-dollar class action alleging the company’s rate structure violated federal law.
• Counsel for major banking institution in successfully obtaining dismissal of plaintiff’s federal court class action complaint involving the assessment of garnishment fees in Ohio.
• Counsel for title insurance company and obtained “nuisance value” settlement in class action alleging the company’s rate structure was illegal.

Antitrust

• Counsel for clients in multi-national antitrust investigations.
• Counsel for clients in antitrust training.
• Counsel for clients in ongoing antitrust guidance and advice.
• Counsel for clients in antitrust litigation proceedings.