Practice Areas
Commercial and Complex Litigation
FMG has extensive experience in representing our clients in complex commercial disputes. Our lawyers in this practice group work with clients of all sizes in the full spectrum of large and sophisticated commercial litigation. Often, these disputes involve complex business or financial transactions, numerous plaintiffs and defendants, and multiple legal issues.
FMG’s lawyers aggressively and efficiently represent clients in cases throughout the United States in this area, in both litigation and arbitration. We employ the latest technology and database management techniques in handling these disputes, including in the review and analysis of large volumes of hard copy and electronic documents. Our experience in handling complex litigation includes:
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
As the threat of runaway verdicts and the costs of litigation have increased, so has an employer’s desire to develop practices that reduce or even avoid such a possibility. Our group’s lawyers work closely with employers to design and implement enforceable ADR programs (including mediation and arbitration proceedings) and frequently represent clients in these forums in complex litigation matters.
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Appellate Advocacy
At the appellate stage of a complex litigation matter, a special set of skills and knowledge is needed to successfully obtain appellate relief. Far more than lower court decisions on individual cases, published appellate decisions establish precedents for the cases that follow. Accordingly, appellate practice presents the skilled advocate with a unique opportunity to shape the law.
FMG lawyers have gained keen insight into how trial courts render their decisions and how those decisions are analyzed by appellate courts by serving as clerks and staff attorneys for trial court and appellate judges, on both the state and federal bench. We also have been frequently retained to file amici curiae or “friends-of-the-court” briefs in appeals involving important issues for our clients. Given the breadth of our experience, FMG lawyers have succeeded in obtaining numerous far reaching decisions for our clients, including a landmark decision from the Supreme Court of the United States.
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Business Torts and RICO Actions
FMG attorneys regularly represent clients in a variety of the inevitable lawsuits, whether by consumers, suppliers, or competitors, that have become a common part of doing business. FMG attorneys represent clients in claims involving fraud, bad faith, unfair dealings, consumer protection, defamation, commodities disputes, manufacturers and supply-chain claims, RICO actions, and interference with business contracts. Wherever business is done and conflicts arise, FMG is there to facilitate the best possible resolution for our clients.
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Class Actions
Our law firm has decades of experience in dealing with class action claims. Our attorneys have the trial experience, depth of staffing, organizational skills, and knowledge of technology to aggressively litigate class-wide litigation. Our reputation as one of the top litigation firms in the region makes us ideally suited to handle such complex litigation.
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Contract Disputes
FMG lawyers have represented clients in a variety of commercial contract disputes, including claims under the Uniform Commercial Code, purchase and sale of businesses, contracts for the sale or development of intellectual property, consumer protection issues, “buyer’s remorse” claims, construction contracts, employment agreements, and partnership disputes. Our lawyers have handled all types of cases involving debts, security interests, loan disputes, and contracts for the sale of goods.
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Corporate Litigation
FMG attorneys represent employers of all sizes in general corporate litigation that virtually every company confronts in today’s litigious world. Our experience encompasses all aspects of commercial disputes, contract claims, and business torts. Our lawyers are routinely involved in the pursuit and defense of breach of contract claims, breach of warranties, Uniform Commercial Code disputes, claims for indemnity, breach of fiduciary duty, interference with potential business advantage, and breach of employment covenants.
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Dealer and Franchise Litigation
FMG recognizes that our clients are under increasing pressure to maximize efficiencies and control costs to remain competitive in a global economy. Our lawyers have substantial experience in handling the often contentious relationships between companies and their franchisees and dealers. From contractual disputes to product liability claims, our lawyers serve our clients, which include manufacturers of heavy machinery, consumer products, and hospitality and food products throughout the United States, as well as automobile dealerships. Each company we represent faces unique challenges and has its own specific legal needs. Our lawyers bring together experience in multiple practice areas to provide our clients with comprehensive litigation representation.
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Fidelity and Surety
FMG’s fidelity and surety lawyers provide experienced representation in all facets of this unique and complicated industry. Our lawyers, for instance, have significant experience representing sureties in connection with all types of bonds, including performance, payment, probate, public officials, subdivision, and various other miscellaneous commercial surety bonds. We have successfully navigated complex contract surety claims, assisting sureties through pre-default investigations and negotiations and completion of construction projects after default, including drafting and negotiating completion contracts, takeover agreements, ratification agreements, financing agreements, and other pertinent surety agreements.
Our lawyers also have represented clients in difficult commercial surety bond claims, starting with guidance in the initial investigation and working closely with them all the way to the resolution of a dispute. Our representation in this area extends to protecting the surety’s interests in bankruptcy proceedings, including pre-bankruptcy and post-filing negotiations of reorganization plans, conflicts regarding unpaid proceeds of bonded contracts, negotiations regarding assumption of bonded obligations, and other issues affecting the surety in bankruptcy.
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Insurance Coverage Disputes
FMG has an extensive insurance counseling practice and routinely advises clients on coverage issues such as the duty to defend, reservations of rights, the duties owed by insurer and insured to one another, and loss allocation issues. We also monitor the defense of matters that are defended by other law firms for our business clients and for excess carriers, and advise on the adjustment and handling of first party claims. FMG attorneys regularly handle large, complex liability and first party coverage suits, routine coverage matters, interventions in ongoing liability lawsuits, declaratory judgment litigation on the duty to defend, “bad faith” litigation, appeals, and arbitration proceedings.
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Non-Competition and Trade Secrets
FMG attorneys have years of experience defending and prosecuting trade secret litigation, as well as other time-sensitive matters involving potential confidential information disclosure, customer and employee raiding, and violations of covenants not to solicit customers or covenants not to compete. We work with clients in preparing effective non-disclosure, non-solicitation and non-competition agreements. Our attorneys also assist clients in conducting audits of their proprietary information to ascertain the types of information afforded protection under the law and what steps employers need to take to gain that protection. We also work with companies to avoid possible liability which may result when companies hire employees with post-employment restrictions on their activities or employees with knowledge of their competitors’ confidential information and trade secrets.
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Real Estate Litigation
FMG lawyers have extensive experience in representing clients in real estate disputes involving title and land disputes, purchase and sales contracts, commercial retail evictions, appraisals, adverse possession claims, trespass and nuisance claims, landlord-tenant disputes, zoning disputes, sign disputes, construction matters, and design defect claims. Our lawyers work closely with our clients in these types of case to ensure that the clients’ interests are protected.
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TROs and Injunctions
FMG lawyers understand that immediate action is needed in many instances to serve our clients’ interests. Our lawyers have the ability and resources to move quickly to obtain TROs and injunctions in matters where imminent harm to a client may occur. Our lawyers are well known to the judges and courts in our region and bring the credibility necessary to obtain immediate results to enjoin or restrain parties acting against our clients’ interests.
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