At Stahl Cowen Crowley, we approach each case as aggressive advocates of our client's position, while recognizing that each client has varying levels of tolerance for litigation costs. Clients come to our firm because our lawyers demonstrate a keen ability to manage their expectations, achieve the desired outcome and resolve disputes within the expected costs.
Commercial litigation is the core of our litigation practice. Our litigators have extensive federal and state court litigation experience at both the trial and appellate level, as well as significant experience in mediation and arbitration forums, including the American Arbitration Association, NASD, NYSE and others. We represent both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide range of business law matters, including securities, construction, real estate, stockholder derivative actions, unfair competition, trade secret, creditors' rights, workouts, trust and estate litigation, and contract and fiduciary duty disputes. Although we are aggressive litigators, we remain sensitive to the business needs of our clients and work to craft creative solutions to their disputes whenever possible, often reaching closure without the need for a full trial. Of course, settlement is not always an option. Our clients require attorneys that are ready to try cases. We are.
In the area of employment law, we have represented clients in a variety of termination disputes, discrimination claims (under Title VII or other similar statutes), breach of non-competition agreements and theft of trade secrets. Our employment lawyers are also experienced in counseling clients when important hiring or termination decisions are made, with an eye toward avoiding litigation if possible or to present the strongest case if it is not. We have appeared before federal courts, state courts, the EEOC and other governmental agencies for our clients.
In addition to an active real estate transaction practice, our attorneys also work with clients to resolve real estate related disputes. Cases have involved condominium associations and real estate developers, construction defect litigation, mechanics' lien and landlord-tenant disputes, and actions for specific performance of contracts.
Our firm has extensive experience handling mortgage foreclosures, having foreclosed hundreds of mortgages secured by downtown office buildings, commercial shopping centers, apartment buildings, condominiums, and single-family residential developments. We represent secured creditors in bankruptcy proceedings as well as court-appointed receivers.
Our firm is also retained to handle title insurance arbitration and litigation relating to matters involving title defects, title insurance coverage, competing lien priorities, the fraudulent procurement of title, boundary disputes, and disputes involving title insurance agents, such as the collection of title insurance premiums and agent defalcations.
Below is a brief sampling our just some of the issues our litigation group handles on a regular basis:
- Breach of contract cases make up the bulk of the work that we do for our clients. Whether defending a client from a claim that it breached a contract, prosecuting a breach claim against another party or counseling a client on the scope and enforceability of a contract, we understand that the advice we give, the strategies that we employ and the positions that we take directly affect our clients businesses; meaning that the importance of the matter to the client cannot be understated. These matters can range from tens of thousands of dollars to several million dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars, but to the client every case is crucial. We understand and appreciate that fact and govern ourselves accordingly.
- The firm has developed winning strategies in cases involving agreements not to compete and trade secrets. We have been involved as counsel on both sides of the issue - in some cases representing the company and in other cases the former employee or owner.
- Breach of fiduciary duty and breach of trust cases are one of our firm's strengths. We have been retained in many of these types of cases, including those where elderly persons are taken advantage of by other family members or non-related parties.
- We often handle securities litigation matters, including broker-dealer matters, suitability claims or claims relating to the issuance of securities to investors and breaches of contract by insurance companies or brokerage houses.
- Our litigation attorneys also demonstrate exceptional negotiation skills. In cases involving minority shareholder disputes, we have been able to on a number of occasions develop aggressive litigation strategies to force a buyout. In several cases, the buyout was at a price that was lower than the appraised value of the other stockholder's shares.
- Fraud is difficult to prove, however, our firm has been retained in hundreds of cases involving allegations of fraud. As an example, we represented a tradesman who was duped into assigning insurance benefits to an out of state lender. The lender obtained judgment against our client in Florida, but when the company tried to enforce the judgment in Illinois, we persuaded the court to rule that the judgment could not be enforced anywhere in Illinois. We also recently prevailed in a fraud action against a securities issuer, allowing our client to recover not just its original investment, but also damages to make up for the gains it should have received.