Articles

Firm Achieves Litigation Results

Mansfield Tanick & Cohen's attorneys achieved many successful litigation outcomes for their clients in 2007 across a wide variety of practice areas. These successes include the following:

• Attorneys Seymour Mansfield, Marshall Tanick, and Brian Niemczyk successfully defended the owner of a small but rapidly growing business in a non-compete action initiated by his former employer-a giant, $3.5 billion public company represented by one of the largest U.S. law firms. Alleging that his new business was being operated in violation of a non-competition clause in his employment contract, our client's old employer launched a massive "sneak attack," after bringing the lawsuit, the old employer immediately serving a motion for a temporary restraining order supported by voluminous brief, affidavits, and documents which, if granted, would have immediately put our client out of business. Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen was able not only to defeat the motion for a temporary restraining order, but also to convince the judge to dismiss the entire case for lack of jurisdiction. We were then able to direct our client to counsel in New Jersey, which is where his old employer sued him next. While represented by Mansfield Tanick & Cohen and New Jersey counsel, our client was successful in defeating the renewed motion to enjoin him from doing business, again because the judge refused to take jurisdiction over the case. At our initiative, the New Jersey judge instead ordered the parties to mediate the matter in Minnesota before further litigation took place. In November, all claims were confidentially resolved to our client's satisfaction, and his business was able to continue to operate and grow.
• In Alliant Techsystems, Inc. v. Marks, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of attorney Denise Tataryn's client, reversing the District Court, which had refused to enforce a 401 (k) beneficiary designation in favor of her client.
• Attorneys Charles Horowitz and Brian Niemczyk obtained a favorable liability insurance settlement regarding negligent construction of a client's home in 1994. Previously, the client had obtained a judgment against his general contractor following a bench trial in 2000, but the defendant later declared bankruptcy and his insurer refused to pay on the judgment. The passage of time made the issues difficult, but Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen nevertheless was able to negotiate a substantial pre-litigation settlement for the client with the general contractor's insurer. Notably, the client's former attorneys, from a large and well-respected Twin Cities firm, had failed to obtain any relief from the same insurer.
• Attorneys Greg Miller, Jeffrey O'Brien, and Brian Niemczyk were successful this past year in enjoining a series of attempted cancellations of condominium purchase agreements by disgruntled buyers. Our client, the owner and developer of a new upscale condominium complex overlooking Lake Calhoun, pre-sold most of the units in the complex when construction began in 2005. When the complex neared completion in 2007, a large group of buyers attempted to back out of their purchase agreements the buyers served statutory cancellations under the Minnesota statute governing the termination of residential purchase agreements, thus putting the burden upon the developer to rebut the allegations in a lawsuit accompanied by an immediate motion to temporarily restrain the cancellation pending trial. Mansfield Tanick & Cohen has been uniformly successful in obtaining these injunctions, which puts the Firm at the forefront of this rapidly developing area of law.
• Gregory Miller and Steven Rose successfully defended a foreclosure by action matter initiated by a large local bank while at the same time protecting the client's equity in the property.
• Attorneys Greg Miller and Brian Niemczyk recently scored a summary judgment victory on behalf of a Homevestors franchisee in connection with a lawsuit arising out of the purchase of a distressed home. The seller, who had recently inherited an old home from her parents, signed a purchase agreement with Homevestors after Homevestors' agent toured the home and made a purchase offer. As part of the sales process, Homevestors' agent read the entire purchase agreement aloud to the seller, who never indicated she did not understand what was happening. Later, before closing, she experienced buyer's remorse and began to complain she was "confused" by the whole process and thought the house was worth more than what she agreed to accept for it. So, she refused to attend closing and instead sued Homevestors for rescission of the agreement. Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen ultimately succeeded not only in obtaining a dismissal of the seller's claims on summary judgment, but also receiving an Order from the Court granting Homevestors summary judgment on its specific performance counterclaim. As icing on the cake, the Order also required the seller to pay our client's attorney's fees and costs expended in litigating the case.