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The case studies below illustrate disputes our trial lawyers have handled. Each includes a brief overview of the matter as well as results. Our litigators are prepared to confront and resolve the full array of disputes your business may encounter. Our litigators know how to develop winning strategies to help you meet your business goals. Case summaries are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Click to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Case Study 1
	Client: An international producer of labels, label materials and other adhesive and pressure-sensitive technology.
	At Issue: Misappropriation of trade secrets and RICO violations.
	This case, the first one tried under the 1996 Economic Espionage Act, resulted in over $80 million in damages for our client.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)
	Lead Litigator: James D. Robenalt
Case Study 2
	Client: The American Chemistry Council and a large group of manufacturers and distributors of vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products.
	At Issue: A series of lawsuits by individuals and groups alleging cancers and other health problems caused by vinyl chloride and PVC products, and conspiracy to injure by the products’ manufacturers, distributors and related companies.
	The stakes were high — potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in claims, especially in light of the increasing exposure being generated by a film which was airing regularly on HBO.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)
	Lead Litigator: Timothy J. Coughlin
Case Study 3
	Client: A major pharmaceutical company.
	At Issue: A marketing contract for a new medication.
	The case resulted in a month-long arbitration against one of the largest law firms in the country. In the end we proved that termination of the agreement was wrong, and our client was granted a $68 million award.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)
	Lead Litigator: James D. Robenalt
Case Study 4
	Client: The parent of a large U.S. insurance company, headquartered in Britain.
	At Issue: A hostile takeover bid had been launched against the British parent company by a small group of notorious corporate "raiders." Soon after the bid, they made it clear that their intent was to break up the company and sell its assets.
	At the time, this was the largest proposed private financial transaction in the history of the world, worth $23 billion.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator:
Case Study 5
	Client: A Fortune 500 manufacturer of products for the aerospace and defense industries.
	At Issue: The insurance company leveled two charges against our client. The first alleged a design defect of the de-icing "boots" manufactured by our client for the aircraft. (De-icing boots, when activated, are designed to "pop" accumulated ice from airplane wings.) The second charge alleged failure to warn as to when properly to use the de-icing boots.
	The stakes in this case were high — $100 million, the amount that the airline’s insurance company had settled the case for with the families of the victims.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator: Elizabeth B. Wright
Case Study 6
	Client: A group of diverse major manufacturers whose products were the subject of a lengthy trial involving a large resort hotel fire.
	At Issue: Whether materials in products manufactured by our clients (e.g. furniture, carpeting) contributed to the death and injury of those involved in a major hotel fire in San Juan. It was alleged that the materials burned too quickly and gave off toxic fumes, along with other related liability charges.
	We assembled the first non-homogeneous defense group in a mass tort case in history of the country.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator:
Case Study 7
	Client: A Big Three U.S. automobile manufacturer.
	At Issue: A design defect claim involving deployment of an airbag during an accident, and a failure to warn claim regarding the airbag’s potential to harm.
	This case for a Big Three U.S. automobile manufacturer was the first in U.S. history involving a person of short stature and aggressive airbag deployment.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator: Elizabeth B. Wright
Case Study 8
	Client: A major metropolitan city implementing its plan to expand its international airport.
	At Issue: This complicated case involved two cities and their battle over a convention center property, which was physically located in both cities. The larger city, Cleveland, Ohio, our client, purchased a 180-acre parcel of property from a private owner. On the eve of the title transfer, the other, smaller city, Brook Park, filed an eminent domain lawsuit to block Cleveland’s ownership in an attempt to control the future uses of the property.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator: William W. Jacobs
Case Study 9
	Client: An insurance company.
	At Issue: Liability for injuries due to exposure to asbestos on work sites where our client acted as a construction company’s insurer. Thirty years of insurance policies issued by our client were at issue.
	The opposing company, one of the largest construction companies in the world, had significant political ties and was represented by one of the largest litigation firms in the country.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator:
Case Study 10
	Client: A manufacturer of large machines.
	At Issue: Our client had invented a machine and a process to safely and economically incinerate hazardous waste materials stored in metal drums.
	This was a life-threatening financial emergency for our client. The company could not survive if forced to make huge royalty payments on sales of products its own employees had invented.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator:
Case Study 11
	Client: A national construction management firm.
	At Issue: Payments made to our client on a large, multi-year renovation of a public facility.
	For this client, winning was not simply a matter of dollars due under a contract, but refuting allegations made by the government that were so grave that any finding in favor of the government would have been extremely damaging to our client’s ability to compete in its industry.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator:
Case Study 12
	Client: A leading pharmacy benefits management company, which had provided services to an insurance company that became insolvent.
	At Issue: Serving as a liquidator for the failed insurance company, the superintendent of the Ohio Department of Insurance was trying to exploit differences between federal and state insolvency laws to recoup "preference payments" that would have been unavailable under federal bankruptcy law. Under the Ohio statute, there was no affirmative defense to such a preference claim seeking recovery of all payments received in the year prior to the Ohio insurer’s insolvency.
	The "winning idea" in this case meant not accepting that there was no defense. We set our best researchers to work on the evolution of the federal statute, trying to find how the "ordinary course of business" exception came to be included in federal law.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator:
Case Study 13
	Client: A major machine tools manufacturer.
	At Issue: A hostile tender offer had been launched. If the offeror could not be brought to the negotiating table, the offer would be successful, even though the price to be paid to shareholders was inadequate.
	We had to convince the judge to reverse his own ruling, lest the hostile takeover go forward without a shareholder vote.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator:
Case Study 14
	Client: One of the largest financial institutions in the country.
	At Issue: Alleged breach of fiduciary duty for mismanagement of a large family trust.
	One of our tax lawyers seized on this detail, a violation of federal statute, and we were able to expose the violation in deposition.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)
	Lead Litigator:
Case Study 15
	Client: Owners of a national motel chain.
	At Issue: Due to alleged default on a loan, the business and personal assets of the chain’s owners had been frozen without their prior knowledge or notice. Immediate relief was needed from this ex parte action to allow the family to continue to exist, and to salvage their business.
	Our client needed someone to fight quickly and vigorously on their behalf, in courtrooms in two different states simultaneously, so they came to Thompson Hine for help.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator: William W. Jacobs
Case Study 16
	Client: A group of regional auto dealerships.
	At Issue: Libel and antitrust charges had been levied against our clients in response to print ads they had run that attempted to inform the public about a local competitor’s suspicious, perhaps criminal, sales tactics.
	We were able to get a key employee to testify to these and other questionable practices at the dealership after obtaining her immunity from prosecution.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator: Scott A. King
Case Study 17
	Client: President of a municipal waste transportation company.
	At Issue: Alleged conspiracy to illegally dump municipal waste, conspiracy to defraud various municipalities and mail fraud.
	If the charges were found to be true, and our client was found to have knowledge of those practices, he was facing multiple federal criminal and EPA violations, any one of which could result in incarceration.
	Case Study: Summary (PDF)   Interview (PDF)
	Lead Litigator: Douglas E. Grover