Litigation
More than one half of Patterson Belknap’s attorneys are devoted to litigation. The litigating partners at Patterson Belknap have tried hundreds of cases, including many of the most complex in their fields. One client has described us as "courtroom artisans." We are not afraid to go to trial, and our clients—and our adversaries—know it. We are accustomed not only to trying cases, but to delivering the results our clients want and that cases merit. In many situations of course, settlement may be the best option. In those instances, our reputation and track record should enhance our clients' chances for a favorable settlement.
Our leadership in litigation is recognized in
Chambers USA. The guide notes that "This team '
consistently delivers high-caliber work' which attracts long-standing clients. The team consists of '
smart and aggressive litigators who deliver excellent results time and time again'."
The Patterson Belknap litigation team has also earned the top New York ranking of “Highly Recommended” in
Euromoney / Institutional Investor's 2009 Benchmark: America's Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys. Benchmark regards Patterson Belknap as home to “
serious litigation talent” and quotes a client as saying we are “
one of the best litigating firms in the United States”.
Our PracticePatterson Belknap's litigation practice is both broad and deep. Our patent group continues to enjoy a long string of trial successes, including the two largest patent verdicts in one year. Our work in intellectual property litigation is recognized by legal and industry publications both internationally and nationally. We recently received
IP World's 2009 World Leaders International IP Award for Private Practice Trademark Excellence/Litigation (North America/Canada) and were named one of Law360's IP Firms of the Year for 2009. Our litigators pioneered the law of false advertising and have represented consumer products companies in many of the false advertising cases decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the past two decades. And our employment litigators have defended numerous companies in matters involving non-compete agreements, trade secrets, confidentiality breaches, discrimination claims, ERISA and independent contractor issues. We also have a nationally-recognized practice defending law firms facing claims of legal malpractice. In addition, since forming our Mortgage and Credit Crisis team we have played a critical role in cutting edge matters arising out of today’s constantly changing financial markets environment. It is gratifying to know that some of the top firms in the nation turn to us when their own integrity and business is on the line.
Our Litigators
Many of our litigators have gained invaluable experience through the public roles they played prior to joining the firm. Included among our litigators are the former Attorney General of the State of New Jersey and the former acting head of the Southern District’s Major Crimes Unit. In addition, a number of our attorneys have served as prosecutors in the Southern District of New York and the District of New Jersey, and almost half of our litigators have held judicial clerkships, including at the federal District Court, Court of Appeals and Supreme Court levels as well as various state levels.
Patterson Belknap litigators are comfortable in all dispute resolution fora. Together they have tried cases in federal court in every judicial Circuit. They are equally skilled in trying cases in New York state courts. At the same time, our lawyers have represented clients in matters before The American Arbitration Association, The Center for Public Resources, The Conflict Prevention & Resolution International Center for Dispute Resolution, The Hague, International Centre for Dispute Resolution, International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, The International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, Jams, The London Court of International Arbitration and UNCITRAL, Many of our attorneys are themselves practicing arbitrators and mediators who know the value of resolving a dispute through alternative dispute resolution proceedings.
Our Clients
Our clients include Fortune 500 corporations, such as multinational pharmaceutical manufacturers, media conglomerates, and financial services institutions. In addition, we represent foreign governments, state-owned enterprises, major banks, national accounting firms, brokerage firms, pension funds, insurance companies, individual officers and directors of large companies, major investors, entrepreneurs, and closely held corporations. We have in-depth experience in a number of industries, including pharmaceuticals; medical devices; consumer products; media and entertainment; finance, securities and derivatives; manufacturing; technology and communications; commercial real estate; and others.
Because of the extent of our litigation practice, we offer separate practice descriptions for several areas with links as follows:
Our Technology
Patterson Belknap believes that technology is integral to providing efficient, effective and successful legal services. The firm continually evaluates new technologies and adopts those which it believes are most useful to delivering better client service. The firm's technological support for case work comes from the Practice Support Department. This group of dedicated professionals provide the database, trial support and technical skills needed to support the lawyers and legal assistants. Analysts are responsible for front-line support, management of the case data and the management of any outside vendors involved in the project. Vendors are chosen based on competitive bids and the quality of prior work. The department is managed by a more than 20-year industry veteran.
Representative Matters
- We represent a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical and medical device company in a series of "bet-the-company" patent litigations relating to coronary stents. Our Patent team conducted 14 trials, preliminary injunction hearings and arbitrations involving infringement, enforceability and/or validity issues for this client. In 2010, the last of the disputes settled with our client receiving $1.725 billion. In total, this client collected more than $3.5 billion. The cases leading up to this settlement included winning verdicts against two major medical device manufacturers of $271 million and $324 million. In the two back-to-back jury trials that followed an appeal, the firm again won victories against each defendant. (both cited by the National Law Journal as among the major plaintiff’s verdicts of the year 2000). In September 2008, the district court entered judgments of $520 million and $700 million, including prejudgment interest, in favor of our client. We have also won a $425 million arbitration and a number of significant defense victories when our client was accused of patent infringement.
- Obtained preliminary injunction enjoining satellite providers from airing nationally broadcast television commercials. Successfully argued appeal; which led to the Second Circuit redefining several key doctrines in the law of false advertising.
- We represented one of the world’s largest providers of travel and real estate services in its highly complex fraud litigation with its former auditor. Our lawyers successfully defended against the accounting firm's motion to dismiss our client's claims. With billions of dollars at stake, the case was among the largest client lawsuits against a Big Four accounting firm for audit malpractice.
- We secured a significant victory for our client, a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical company, in an ongoing litigation relating to Average Wholesale Price (AWP), a drug pricing benchmark used in pharmaceutical reimbursement by both government and private payors. The litigation lasted over five years and included numerous class actions that were consolidated in a multi-district litigation. The judge found each of the other defendants, all major pharmaceutical manufacturers, to have violated the consumer protection laws of Massachusetts, but found that our client's conduct was lawful. Accordingly, the claims against our client were dismissed.
- We represented the maker of the leading no-calorie sweetener in a series of false advertising cases and in a high-stakes trade dress infringement action.
- In the series of false advertising cases, the plaintiff alleged that our client's advertising claims were false and misleading and that is no-calorie sweetener is not a "healthy" product. After obtaining a ruling excluding our adversaries key piece of evidence, the parties reached a mutually-agreeable settlement.
- In the high-stakes trade dress infringement action, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit entered a decision in our client's favor partially reversing the District Court's denial of a preliminary injunction against the sale of "knock-off" products that are confusingly similar in appearance to our clients product. After the District Court granted our client's renewed motion for preliminary injunction, the partied reached a mutually-agreeable settlement.
- We represented a major financial institution in an antitrust lawsuit brought by another financial services company. In this follow-on suit to a Department of Justice case, the plaintiff sought damages for injuries allegedly suffered as a result of certain credit card rules. The plaintiff also joined numerous banks, including our client, alleging that they conspired to exclude the plaintiff from the bank-issuing card market. The case subsequently settled.
- Following trial in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, two subsidiaries of our client, a major financial services company, were completely vindicated against a claim that they had breached their contractual obligations to provide credit protection in a portfolio credit derivative deal gone sour. The holding of the case has significant implications for the monoline insurance industry.
- We recently won an important victory for our client, a major media company, in a lawsuit in which the plaintiff claimed that fantasy sports games offered on the company's website constituted illegal gambling. Relying upon old and seldom used qui tam statutes from seven states and the District of Columbia, the plaintiff sought to recover tens of millions of dollars from the defendants under the theory that the fees charged for fantasy sports leagues are unlawful wagers. We won a motion to dismiss the case with prejudice and the court held as a matter of fist impression, that fantasy sports do not constitute unlawful gambling under any of the statutes in question.
- We secured the dismissal of a defamation suit against our client, a prominent law firm. The plaintiff, a former business partner of the law firm's client, alleged that a partner at the firm had made defamatory statements about him in a letter to a vendor. Relying on recent United States Supreme Court cases on federal pleading standards, we successfully moved to dismiss the complaint with prejudice on the grounds that the allegedly defamatory statements were privileged and the plaintiff had failed to plead facts to overcome the privilege.
For additional information regarding our Litigation practice area, please contact
Steven A. Zalesin.