Business Details
My practice covers business and transactional work as well as litigation for businesses and individuals.
On the business side, I help individuals and entrepreneurs with their business issues. I prepare contracts, leases and loan documents for them, advise them on the issues and problems they encounter, and I protect their rights and property when they are threatened.
My litigation practice and experience covers business issues involving a range of subjects, on both the plaintiff and defense sides. Over my years of practice, I have handled cases in a variety of subjects, including oil and gas, fraud, real estate, commercial contracts and transactions, lending transactions, intellectual property, theft of trade secrets, employee theft and embezzlement, unfair competition, libel, slander and defamation, toxic torts and environmental damage, common law and statutory fraud, Ponzi schemes and investment fraud, stock broker negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, consumer fraud and deception, invasion of privacy, wrongful death and negligence, insurance coverage, property tax litigation and class action securities and derivative cases. I have handled arbitrations, trials in state and federal courts and bankruptcy courts, and appeals to the state and federal appellate courts. As examples, I have litigated cases in the following areas:
• Successful defense, through trial, of claims of fraud, conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duty in an international export business, and successful defense of complex claims involving foreign businesses and properties and the application of foreign law and legal procedures.
• Successful defense of complex, multi-party mass toxic tort claims involving a Superfund site and claims of surface and ground water contamination.
• Pursuit and defense of several cases involving misappropriation of intellectual property including trade secrets, copyright, website design and other proprietary information.
• Successful defense of claims of theft of trade secrets, conspiracy and RICO violations involving semiconductor manufacturing equipment and design information.
• Recovery of substantial sums in numerous cases involving fraud and misrepresentation in lending transactions, oil and gas transactions, falsification of records and Ponzi schemes.
• Successful pursuit of several claims for employee theft, embezzlement, forgery and dishonesty, including trial of non-dischargeability in bankruptcy.
• Successful litigation of claims of fraud, misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, partnership disputes and attorney misconduct.
• Successful defense, through trial, of wrongful death lawsuit for manufacturing defects, and trial of wrongful death claim based on inadequate security.
• Successful defense of insurer in bad faith insurance practices claim involving accidental shooting, and forcing insurers to pay significant claims for premises liability.
• Successful pursuit and litigation of claims against major telephone company for breach of contract for information technology services.
• Successful defense of bank president on claims of defalcation and dishonesty and successful pursuit of his counterclaims for libel and slander (defamation) and other damages.
• Successful litigation of claims for breach of unusual insurance policies insuring against major losses in oil well drilling and completion activities, involving collecting from foreign insurer in Lloyds of London syndicate and discovery in the United States, England and Australia.
• Successful litigation of numerous oil and gas cases, including claims for both cancellation and enforcement of oil and gas leases, oil and gas ownership disputes; disputes involving oil and gas purchase and sales agreements, indemnity provisions, gathering systems, drilling and well service contract disputes; "downhole" equipment and service failures resulting in lost or damaged wellbores and equipment lost downhole; disputes involving joint operating agreements; suits among working interest owners; disputes involving allocation of production as between working interest and royalty owners in the class action context; disputes involving gas purchase contracts, surface damage claims, “take or pay” provisions, contracts for the sale of royalty interests, surface and subsurface damage disputes, accounting and operating cost disputes; injunctions; and fraudulent oil and gas ventures and scams.
• Successful pursuit of claims and defense of claims involving construction disputes, both commercial and residential.
• Successful litigation and trial of claims involving commercial real estate and leases, including injunctions to prevent waste, disposal and hiding of collateral.
• Successful litigation of numerous cases involving non-compete, non-solicitation and non-disclosure agreements and related injunctions in employer/employee disputes.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States,
