Client Successes

Shapiro, Rodarte & Forman LLP has achieved exceptional results for its clients, not only in court but also through a wide variety of approaches to alternative dispute resolution. The following are some of our attorneys’ noteworthy successes in the Firm’s core practice areas:

Insurance Recovery & Risk Management:

  • Provided insurance due diligence, including analysis of potential asbestos liability issues, to private equity firm in connection with multi-million dollar acquisition of building supply company.
     
  • Collected more than $100 million in insurance proceeds for a global life sciences company through strategic litigation and coverage-in-place agreements.
     
  • Prosecuted multi-party coverage actions on behalf of a global construction firm involving additional insured coverage under multiple policies for property damage claims on large commercial projects.
     
  • Secured coverage under a directors & officers policy for the domestic subsidiary of a Japanese manufacturer sued in over 60 class actions in which plaintiffs alleged misrepresentations in connection with the sale of its products.
     
  • Obtained millions of dollars in previously unrecognized coverage for asbestos liabilities on behalf of a regional plumbing supply company.
     
  • Successfully prosecuted on behalf of a major manufacturer a multi-million dollar claim against the California Insurance Guaranty Association, after CIGA had previously denied any responsibility to pay.
     
  • Facilitated, on behalf of a luxury hotel, a favorable settlement of a serious personal injury claim by achieving (without litigation) the resolution of multiple primary and excess coverage issues that threatened to block the settlement.
     
  • Structured agreements to take advantage of contractual indemnification and additional insured status in favor of clients, resulting in the reimbursement of millions of dollars of defense costs and settlement payments.
     
  • Advised private equity firm on insurance coverage issues and strategy for projected asbestos liability claims in connection with its $260+ million acquisition of a building supply company.

     

Complex Litigation:

  • Successfully defended a large New York law firm in a transactional malpractice action involving a complex financing dispute.
     
  • Prevailed in the California Supreme Court on behalf of an international investment company whose shares in a public company were wrongfully escheated to the State of California.
     
  • Obtained (without litigation) full payment for a Fortune 500 client from an equipment purchaser after a third-party finance company defaulted on its payment obligations.
     
  • Vacated a $21 million jury verdict against a global manufacturing client in an intellectual property dispute and then successfully retried the case.
     
  • Successfully defended a private investment company against a suit by attorneys seeking to recover fees for services allegedly rendered to a bankrupt entity.
     
  • Successfully defended a former employee of an international auction house accused of stealing trade secrets, customer lists and other confidential communications.
     
  • Identified and secured more than $10 million of insurance coverage for a medical supply corporation in connection with a newly evolving loss, where the corporation had originally concluded that such coverage did not exist.
     
  • Prevailed in an appeal to the Ninth Circuit against an insurance carrier that wrongfully denied coverage to a volunteer and not-for-profit organization that had provided medical services at a corporate golf tournament.
     
  • Successfully defended private investment firm in fraudulent transfer action brought in Connecticut by creditor of a subsidiary that had provided an upstream guaranty on a $200 million credit facility.
     
  • Successfully defended and resolved on favorable terms a putative consumer class action alleging violations of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act ("CLRA"), Cal. Code Civ. P. §§ 1750, et seq., and Unfair Competition Law ("UCL"), Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § § 17200 et seq., among others claims, against a pharmaceutical manufacturer.

     

Settlement Negotiation & Implementation:

  • Designed, negotiated and then implemented nationwide settlement agreements in a class action involving more than 6,000 individuals with hemophilia who were allegedly infected with HIV through the use of plasma derivatives designed to control their hemophilia.
     
  • Developed predictive models to estimate the scope, extent and "present value" of personal injury claims involving payments for potential future medical complications included in a court-approved class settlement.
     
  • Created coverage-in-place and claims handling agreements with domestic and international insurance carriers, both solvent and insolvent, which have facilitated the prompt and cost-effective reimbursement of hundreds of millions of dollars of losses incurred in several mass tort losses involving HIV, Hepatitis C and other injuries.
     
  • Developed and structured a cost-sharing agreement that permitted our client to access insurance proceeds under a material supplier’s primary and excess policies, where client itself was self-insured for hundreds of lawsuits nationwide involving alleged product contamination. 
     
  • Implemented the global settlement of claims involving thousands of individuals from more than 25 countries who allegedly contracted HIV or Hepatitis C from their use of blood therapies.
     
  • Successfully defended a hedge fund accused of fraudulent transfer in connection with a subsidiary's upstream guaranty of a $200 million credit facility.