Commercial Litigation/Securities & Banking
Miner, Barnhill, & Galland has a significant and varied commercial litigation practice, particularly in the areas of securities fraud, antitrust, and consumer class actions. It was one of the lead plaintiffs' firms in the largest securities case brought against Michael Milken and Drexel Burnham, which resulted in a recovery for the class in excess of $150 million. The firm has also been counsel in a number of other large class actions, including antitrust lawsuits against a major publisher of Bar Review materials, against a real estate brokers' association for price fixing, against the manufacturers of laser eye surgery equipment, and the vitamin industry. It represented a nationwide class of lot purchasers against a major Colorado land developer for securities fraud and violations of the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act. The firm has just settled two large-scale class actions in the rent-to-own business (usury violations) for $9.3 million (E.D. Pa.) and $16.25 million (E.D. Wis.), and is presently litigating antitrust actions on behalf of indirect purchasers in connection with the glass industry and the sanitary paper industry.
The firm has also developed a significant practice over the past ten years in litigation against banks. This practice is led by William Dixon. Some of the larger lender liability litigation handled by the firm since 1990 includes:
- Pelletech, Inc. v. Norwest Bank . Following trial and appeals, the firm recovered approximately $2 million for this small business after the defendant bank failed to disburse the entire amount of its loan commitment.
- Brown v. Security Capital . This action alleged fraud on the part of a savings and loan association, when it converted to a stock form of ownership. The claims of the plaintiff class were settled in 1996 for $12 million.
- Mrazek v. Firstar Bank Southeast . The firm represented a successful real estate developer who claimed the bank threatened to hurt his businesses if he did not permit it to cancel their leases for branch offices at the time it was trying to sell the bank. Following two jury trials and an appeal, damages were upheld by the Court of Appeals at over $3.5 million. The bank subsequently settled the matter.
