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Chittenden, Murday & Novotny LLC proudly announces that Craig M. Bargher has been named a Member of the Firm effective January 2021. Craig’s practice is focused on representing the Firm’s clients in a wide variety of litigation matters in state and federal courts, with extensive experience handling ERISA and individual life and disability litigation, as well as general commercial litigation.
CMN trial lawyers Elizabeth Doolin, Julie Wall, and Kaitlyn Luther won a decisive victory in the Eastern District of New York following a bench trial before Magistrate Judge Sanket Bulsara. At issue was a $10 million life insurance policy procured pursuant to a fraudulent investment scheme and through multiple misrepresentations concerning the applicant’s finances, other insurance, and premium financing. The policy investors brought a breach of contract claim for the $10 million death benefit proceeds, and the insurer counterclaimed for rescission and fraud against the investors and the writing agent. After a four-day bench trial in the spring of 2019, Judge Bulsara issued his findings of fact and conclusions of law on April 17, 2020, finding the policy rescinded as a result of the insured’s material misrepresentations, allowing the insurer to equitably retain all premiums paid due to the fraud involved in the policy’s procurement, and holding that the writing agent was liable for fraud. CMN’s lawyers are always prepared to go the distance for their clients, and were pleased to bring home a win this spring.
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in conjunction with the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, have recognized Sean and Kaitlyn with an Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service. They were nominated for the award by U.S. District Court Judge John Z. Lee and attorney Julia Lissner for their work in the Sanchez Guzman v. Mera Cabrera case. This case was a proceeding under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act.
After successfully moving to decertify the class in a lawsuit alleging the Firm’s health insurer client violated the TCPA by sending faxes to the insurer’s contracted agents without the specific opt-out notice required by FCC regulations, CMN lawyers have now defeated the class plaintiff’s challenge on appeal. Previously, in related litigation before the FCC, CMN secured a waiver of the regulation for the faxes in question. On December 3, 2018, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion affirming the class decertification holding that in light of the waiver, the evidence CMN presented showing putative class members’ consent to receive the faxes raised individual issues that precluded class treatment of their claims. The Opinion is available on the link below.
Related Documents
Opinion
Chittenden, Murday & Novotny LLC proudly announces that Law & Politics Magazine and the publishers of Chicago Magazine have again named Bill Chittenden a “Super Lawyer” in Business Litigation in 2018. The process began with thousands of ballots sent to attorneys across the State of Illinois asking them to nominate the best lawyers they had “personally observed.” A panel of recognized top lawyers in the commercial/business litigation practice area was assembled to review the nominations and evaluation criteria. Through this process, the panel identified the nominees with the highest scores. The attorneys chosen represent the top 5% of attorneys in the State of Illinois.
CMN lawyers moved to decertify the class in a lawsuit alleging the Firm’s health insurance client violated the TCPA by sending faxes to its contracted agents without the specific opt-out notice required by an FCC regulation. CMN successfully petitioned the FCC for a waiver of that regulation and, on August 28th, federal Judge Robert Blakey granted the Motion to Decertify. He agreed that the FCC waiver, as well as the D.C. Circuit’s recent holding in Bais Yaakov v. FCC that the opt-out regulation was invalid as applied to solicited faxes, made each class member’s consent to receive the faxes a critical and predominant individual issue that effectively precluded resolution of the litigation as a class action. The Opinion is available on the link below.
Related Documents
Opinion
Chittenden, Murday & Novotny LLC proudly announces that Robert E. Loewer has joined the Firm effective April 2016. Rob brings more than 20 years of corporate, business and intellectual property law experience to the Firm having served for many years as general counsel to a multi-national corporation. Rob’s expertise in a wide range of corporate and business transactions adds to the depth and strength of the Firm’s general corporate and transactional practice and also complements the Firm’s leading expertise in business and commercial litigation.
Click here for more information on Mr. Loewer’s background and areas of expertise.
Stuart Primack was recognized as a 2015 “Emerging Lawyer” in Commercial Litigation by Leading Lawyers. Emerging Lawyers are the top 2% of Illinois lawyers who are 40 years old or younger or have been practicing law for less than 10 years and have proven themselves professional, ethical and experienced at an early point in their legal career. The recipients of this distinction are selected by their peers and approved by the Leading Lawyers Advisory Board. Only the top lawyers are nominated and eligible for membership.
