Areas of Practice:
Construction Litigation; Commercial Litigation; Mechanics Lien Law; Toxic Torts; Trademark Litigation.
Bar Admissions:
Supreme Court of Illinois, 2001
U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois, 2001
Education:
University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison, Wisconsin, 2001
Doctor of Jurisprudence
Wisconsin International Law Journal 2000-2001 Senior Article Editor
Student Judicial Intern for Justice Bablitch, Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Fall 1999
Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois, B.A., 1995
Honors: cum laude
Professional Associations and Memberships:
Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel
Village of Oak Park Community Design Commission
Published Works:
"Depleted Morality: Yugoslavia v. Ten NATO Members and Depleted Uranium," Wisconsin International Law Journal, Volume 19.1, 17-40.
Representative Cases:
Andruscavage v. CTA. Represented Third Party Defendant Prairie Material Sales and obtained dismissal of action filed by the CTA as time-barred. Dismissal was obtained despite the general inapplicability of statutes of limitation to municipal entities by utilizing an exception to the rule recognizing the CTA was acting in a private capacity in defense of the plaintiff's tort action rather than for the benefit of the public at large.
Simon v. Blain's Farm & Fleet. Represented Defendant Blain's at arbitration and obtained finding of no fault. The plaintiff sued Blain's arguing that he slipped and fell in its store after following a floor cleaning machine that he saw leaving streaks of water on the floor.
Ben-Joy Inc. v. E. Anthony Inc. Represented Defendant E. Anthony Inc. throughout conclusion of case including second chair at trial. E. Anthony agreed to construct a restaurant for the plaintiff and after final payment, the plaintiff filed suit alleging breach of contract alleging that the restaurant contained defects and deviated from the plans. Defendant counterclaimed for breach of contract claiming it was owed money for extras and that the plaintiff wrongfully failed to designate a replacement architect for the project. E. Anthony argued that the original architect's plans were unworkable. The defendant's settlement offer was an agreement to mutual dismissal of claims. Jury trial resulted in not guilty verdicts for both the plaintiff and defendant.
GVW v. Mill Supply, Inc. Represented Defendant Mill Supply, Inc. Grand Vehicle Works, a manufacturer of delivery vehicles, sued replacement part distributor Mill Supply arguing that the use of its tradenames in Mill Supply's catalogue and website constituted trademark infringement. Negotiated dismissal of multimillion dollar action.
Wagner v. City of Chicago. Represented defendant Gateway Construction Company in construction negligence case arising from alleged failures to provide safe working environment and supervision. The plaintiff allegedly tripped over perimeter cable left on the jobsite. The perimeter cable was installed by Gateway, but the plaintiff had no evidence that Gateway had used or placed the cable in the area of the accident and Gateway had effectively vacated the site several weeks earlier. Summary judgment was obtained for Gateway.
Midwest v. Irwin. Obtained summary judgment for defendant Irwin. Midwest sued Irwin alleging Irwin defamed Midwest through a letter terminating the business relationship between the two companies stating "we need to partner with suppliers who not only stand behind their product(s), but value our business and relationship as well." Argued that the statement was privileged as it was made only to employees and agents of Midwest, that the statement was capable of innocent construction and therefore not actionable, and that the statement was correct.