Successes

Employment Litigation

FMLA & Breach of Contract - We were retained to defend a lawsuit filed by a former employee who sued the company for allegedly firing her for taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and for breach of contract. We aggressively defended our client by moving to dismiss the FMLA claim on jurisdictional grounds and the existence of a release agreement, moved to sanction plaintiff and her counsel for filing suit, and filed a two-count counterclaim. In so doing, we whittled away a six figure pretrial demand to a settlement in which our client paid nothing (Cook County - Law).

Restrictive Covenant, Injunctive Relief - An employee retained us when her former employer filed a Temporary Restraining Order ("TRO") against her to enforce a restrictive covenant that barred her from working with certain other companies, for a set period of time. Although the court initially granted the employer's TRO, we were able to get it dissolved, and when the employer appealed, we succeeded in having the circuit court's decision upheld. (Cook County - Chancery).

Race and Gender Discrimination, Retaliation - We defended a federal lawsuit brought by an employee alleging numerous acts of race and gender discrimination, and retaliation, in the form of undesirable work assignments and an illegal termination for which she was subsequently reinstated to her job by an arbitrator. The district court rejected plaintiff's arguments, and dismissed her entire lawsuit in granting our motion for summary judgment. (U.S. Dist. Ct. - N.D. Ill.)

General Litigation

Contract Disputes - A local entertainment promotions company retained us after a New York entertainment company and the local nightclub with which they all contracted to hold a national event informed our client, after our client promoted the event, that they would be holding the event without them. We filed suit on grounds of breach of contract and tortious interference with contractual relations, and sought a TRO and an injunction against the nightclub and the entertainment company days before the event was to occur, to stop it. We reached a quick and favorable resolution for the client that allowed the event to proceed with them involved (Cook County - Chancery).

Civil Order of Protection - A woman retained us to obtain an Order of Protection against an ex-boyfriend who would not stop calling, kept coming to her job, and had recently fought with her new boyfriend at a restaurant. We elicited testimony from the ex-boyfriend about prior conduct he had engaged in towards our client when they dated, which the court cited as the basis for awarding her an Order of Protection for the maximum period of time permitted (Cook County - Domestic Relations).

Criminal Defense

Rape (Aggravated Criminal Sexual Assault) - In a case involving 13 felony counts brought against an individual on the grounds of "date rape," as well as related offenses, including aggravated kidnapping, we established significant inconsistencies in the victim's statements, as well as a perfunctory police investigation, to prevail in a jury trial on all but the rape count, which ended with a hung jury. When the rape count was retried in a bench trial, we obtained a Not Guilty verdict for our client on that count as well (Cook County).

Battery - The firm defended a gentleman whose trip to Soldier Field with family and friends to watch soccer games went awry. He was charged with injuring a paramedic after security restrained him for being allegedly drunk and disorderly, and his mugshot showed significant facial injuries. Through cross-examination, we established inconsistencies in the testimony of the alleged victim and another paramedic who witnessed the entire event, and obtained a Directed Verdict of Not Guilty for our client without having to put on a defense for him (Cook County).

Battery - We represented a gentleman charged with battery against a co-worker that resulted in him losing a job he had held for 10 years. Proceeding on a self-defense theory, we established that the "victim" had in fact committed a battery against the client at work the day prior, and that the fight for which the our client was criminally charged, which occurred the following day, was really started by the "victim," and our client just happened to get the better end of him this time. He was found Not Guilty (DuPage County).