Litigation

With more than 80 attorneys, Freeborn's Litigation Practice Group brings both bench strength and deep experience to each client matter. Known as a Litigation Powerhouse^®, we are 'trial lawyers first' and our philosophy is to prepare cases for the courtroom. Even when settlement is appropriate, we believe our trial-ready approach leads to the best outcomes.

Since our founding in 1983, we have handled cases nationally and often across borders in a variety of subject matter disciplines - from antitrust cases to real estate disputes and from reinsurance matters to complex contract issues. Organized in sub-practice areas, our depth of experience crosses many industries.

Each of our litigators is trained, first and foremost, to understand the business of each and every client and their goals for litigation.  Our focus is obtaining the best result possible for their business. Our success is based on knowledge of the process and our ability to efficiently organize and prepare our cases. Whether the litigation requires a single lawyer or a team of 20, we are trial-ready lawyers, equipped to provide client-focused results.

Members of Freeborn’s Litigation Practice Group are also authors of Powerhouse Points, a Quarterly Litigation Newsletter. To read the latest issue, click here.

Recent litigation victories include:

• Won a $105 million jury award for automatic card-shuffler client and three other companies that accused a gambling products and services company of initiating sham litigation to assert invalid patents intended to suppress the market for automatic card-shufflers. The judge subsequently entered a judgment for $315 million under antitrust laws. Named one of the National Law Journal's Top 100 Verdicts of 2018 (#9). (US District Court, Northern District of Illinois)
• Obtained a multi-million dollar jury verdict in favor of clients, four whistleblowers who worked as security investigators on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, and awarded attorneys' fees, costs and expenses. (US District Court, District of Colorado)
• Obtained affirmance of a judgment in the New Hampshire Supreme Court following a two week trial in which Freeborn was lead counsel for the largest group of online travel company defendants in a state tax and consumer protection case brought by the State of New Hampshire. Trial court entered judgment in favor of the online travel companies on all counts and the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment on all counts. (New Hampshire Supreme Court)
• Obtained a jury verdict in favor of our client in a contentious and protracted dispute over alleged odors and other nuisances from a landfill in Zion, Ill. (US District Court, Northern District of Illinois)
• Secured a jury verdict in favor of our client in a breach of contract action against one of the world's largest manufacturers of grain bins for farmers and agribusiness. (Circuit Court for Christian County, Illinois)
• Secured a favorable jury verdict for a residential and commercial service provider based in Nashville, Tenn. Defendants were found to have willfully infringed the company's copyright in a proprietary training manual, used to train technicians in customer service. (US District Court, Middle District of Tennessee)
• Secured an appellate court victory for independent insurance intermediary client after taking on the case following the client's frustration over the previous adverse judgment in the matter that was handled by another law firm. (Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal)
• Won reformation of real estate purchase agreement and corresponding deed for industrial property owned by construction industry client following a 13-day trial. (Circuit Court of Cook County)
• Won a defense judgment for independent insurance intermediary client following a federal bench trial. The lawsuit alleged that the client violated state and federal statutes and unlawfully interfered with a business relationship as a result of the placement of force-placed hazard insurance on mortgaged properties being serviced by the client's customer. (Circuit Court of Cook County)
• Obtained victory on summary judgment on behalf of a group of short-term rental marketplaces defeating tax claims brought by a south Florida county seeking to make marketplaces liable for local taxes. (Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County, Florida)
• Obtained victory after adversary withdrew claim on the eve of arbitration hearing against reinsurance client. (New York)
• Summary judgment for client dealership group on an action by a vehicle manufacturer for specific performance of a contractual right. (US District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania)