Representative Matters

•    Lead counsel and head of the defense team that successfully defended three publicly traded oil and gas companies in one of Wyoming’s longest civil jury trials.  Plaintiffs contended that an improperly plugged oil and gas well was causing water from the Madison formation to seep through polluted zones, carrying toxic defoliants to the ranches in the Shell Valley near Thermopolis, Wyoming.  Plaintiffs sought in excess of $33 million in damages.  The jury rendered a special verdict exonerating the firm's clients.

•    We saved the water supply of Cascade Colorado when we were hired by the citizens of this small mountain town. The town's water supply was threatened by a big developer and the foreclosure of its water rights by a bank.  Through litigation and mediation, the 350 citizens of the small mountain town were guaranteed water in perpetuity despite the bank’s efforts to foreclose on the city’s water rights.   

•    We were selected as lead local counsel by one of the nation’s leading wirehouses to defend an action brought by the FDIC alleging inter alia that the wirehouse had violated the federal securities laws by selling collateralized debt obligations.

•    We represented Belize’s largest producer of oil and gas in a security fraud action arising out of a failed acquisition. 

•    Successfully defended a raiding claim where a wirehouse hired five of six financial advisors from a competitor in Bozeman, Montana.  The hire included a branch manager and represented over 95 percent of the office production.  After a week-long FINRA arbitration hearing, the panel awarded the competitor a small fraction of the damages sought.  The total award was significantly less than the case reserve.

•    In a case in Los Angeles, California, a bank brought an action before FINRA alleging that a financial advisor and his firm had sold the bank unsuitable, collateralized mortgage obligations for the purpose of regulating interest rate risk.  After a week-and-a-half hearing before a FINRA arbitration panel, the firm's clients were vindicated.

•    Successfully defended a securities broker-dealer and its president against securities fraud claims brought by 11 former customers in Raleigh, North Carolina.  After a two-week FINRA arbitration, plaintiffs received an award of $19,000 in a case where they sought damages in excess of $42 million.

•    In the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, the firm’s attorneys led a defense team in seven consolidated RICO actions.  These actions were preemptively filed by debtors seeking to avoid over $17 million in debt due to the RTC.  Obtained a settlement on the counterclaims valued by client at over $65 million.

 •    Successfully defended one of Colorado’s largest independent commercial banks in a three-week, lender-liability jury trial in Colorado State Court.  The borrower sought damages including: lost profits, treble damages, and attorneys’ fees under Colorado’s version of  the Uniform Consumer Protection Act, in excess of $24 million.  The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the firm's client and awarded it $250,000 on a counterclaim.

•    In an arbitration before the American Arbitration Association, we successfully defended a publically traded company against state and federal securities fraud claims based, in part, on allegations of accounting improprieties.  We obtained a defense award after seven days of arbitration in which the claimants sought over $5 million in damages.

•    In the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming, we represented a company and its officers concerning alleged violations of RICO arising from the alleged oppression of a minority shareholder.  After an offer of judgment was made and a motion for summary judgment was filed, the matter was settled on terms which were extremely favorable to the firm's clients.

•    In a multi-district case, we used Motions to Dismiss and Summary Judgment Motions to terminate the case in multiple forums.

•    We successfully defended a publically traded company in federal court against claims by its former president arising from his cashless exercise of stock options.  Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed all of his claims in this case where plaintiff had originally sought damages in excess of $1 million.

•    In a directors’ and officers’ liability case against several prominent citizens of Denver, Colorado, it was alleged that statements made in connection with a “freeze-out” merger constituted violations of state and federal securities law.  The case involved matters of first-impression regarding shareholder derivative actions and the Freeze-Out Merger Statute.  Plaintiffs sought more than $10 million from the defendants.  After an offer of judgment was made and a motion for summary judgment was filed, the matter was settled on terms which were extremely favorable to the firm's clients.