Pretzel & Stouffer’s commercial litigation practice includes some of the most experienced, aggressive and successful attorneys in the Midwest.
Our commercial litigation attorneys regularly and successfully defend clients at risk of losing their company. We have defended clients of various industries and sizes, from Fortune 500 companies involved in large multidistrict or class-action lawsuits to privately held companies seeking out-of-court assistance with internal business disputes or other commercial matters.
Corporate litigation frequently involves multiple districts and plaintiffs, high-profile defendants and multimillion-dollar demands for damages, and our premier trial attorneys know how to effectively navigate these issues. We also routinely handle class-action suits for companies in complex or highly regulated industries, including financial services, telecommunications, and commercial real estate.
We pride ourselves on our extensive industry and market knowledge. Armed with deep business knowledge and litigation experience, we are highly skilled at optimizing the outcome for our clients in any commercial related dispute. Whether by board-room negotiation, mediation, arbitration or trial, we strive to ensure an economical and discrete resolution for our clients.
Our complex commercial litigation department is not only proficient at conflict resolution, but we also excel at risk management. Our clients regularly seek assistance for pre-litigation counseling, which includes providing the best business practices to reduce litigation exposure. We also frequently evaluate business disputes and commercial issues and advise our clients whether to pursue a claim or action.
Our commercial experience spans numerous types of claims, including antitrust; breach of contract; class action defense; commercial fraud defense; commercial shipping; consumer fraud and deceptive practices; corporate dissolutions; employment contracts and non-compete provisions; environmental services agreements; intellectual property; labor and employment; large-scale business disputes; mergers and acquisitions; predatory lending litigation; professional liability; Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) Violations; service agreements; shareholder derivative suits; shareholder disagreements; trade secrets; and utility service contracts.
Our commercial litigation team is both talented and dynamic. We continue to please clients with thoughtful practice and personal attention that is necessary to meet their individual needs.
Jim Sipchen and Kelly Franklin obtained a dismissal of a lawsuit brought in Grundy County, Illinois alleging that the owner and investors in a 30-acre combined-cycle energy generating facility were liable for failure to pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars in transportation costs allegedly incurred in delivery of materials to the site during construction. ...
November 2023
Robert Chemers and Rich Burgland won a summary judgment for a professional liability insurer that it had no duty to defend its insured personal injury attorney who along with his employee, who had been an officer of an existing business, allegedly surreptitiously obtained confidential information and trade secrets from the existing business which they used ...
March 2023
Robert Chemers and Matt Ligda obtained a dismissal with prejudice, after motion, extensive briefing and hearing, of a Supreme Court Rule 224 pre-suit petition where it was shown that petitioner failed to state a viable cause of action and the discovery sought was not necessary.
October 2022
Robert Chemers obtained a judgment for an insurer client in federal court in Chicago that the carrier had no duty to defend its insureds for an auto accident due to the auto exclusion in the CGL policy and that any duty to defend was discharged when the insureds failed to respond to the carrier’s written ...
September 2022
Robert Chemers and Dave Larson won a summary judgment in federal district court that their insurer client had no duty to defend the insured homeowners for an underlying suit seeking damages by a disgruntled neighbor, a senior partner in a Chicago Big Law firm, for their alleged maintenance of a nuisance, public and private, creation ...
May 2022
Robert Chemers and Dave Larson obtained a judgment for their insurer client in their federal court declaratory judgment action that the insurer had no duty to defend its insureds who were sued in Cook County in a 44 page multi-count complaint for defamation and other claims based on no bodily injury and no property damage, ...
April 2022
Aubrey Sudomier and Tom Draths recently defeated a claim involving a road rage incident. Through their factual development and aggressive advocacy, Aubrey and Tom established that their opponent’s apparent agency theory did not have a legal basis to proceed beyond its earliest stages. Aubrey and Tom’s client was dismissed from the case.
July 2021
The Committee is responsible for receiving rule proposals from the Supreme Court, Supreme Court or Judicial Conference Committees, the bench, the bar or the public. Proposals offered by the bench, bar or public are reviewed by the Rules Committee and placed on the agenda for public hearing if the proposal is determined to have merit.
November 2020 | Firm News
A $9,539,768.54 award obtained by Pretzel & Stouffer attorneys Edward Ruff and Michael Turiello was reaffirmed by the US Bankruptcy Court in Chicago. The sanction award, one of the largest in US history, was entered after a bench trial before Judge Timothy A. Barnes in 2018. Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland (“F&D”) was held in contempt in the ...
October 2020
John Scheid and Ryan Shupe recently assisted two corporate clients navigate personnel changes, including the negotiation of employee severance agreements, both peaceably and with a special effort to minimize any potential liability under applicable state and federal employment laws. These results were obtained in close consultation with their clients regarding both liability exposure and fairness ...
May 2020
Pretzel & Stouffer attorneys, Michael Barry, Rich Burgland, Tom Draths, and Matthew Reddy, were named emerging lawyers by Leading Lawyers Magazine. Click here to learn more about their practices that span insurance coverage, professional liability defense, commercial litigation, medical malpractice and general tort defense
January 2020 | Firm News
Pretzel & Stouffer trial lawyers Edward Ruff and Suzanne Crowley obtained summary judgment for their client, and firm appellate lawyer Scott Howie obtained affirmance of that judgment on appeal, in a recent case finding that the plaintiff, who had a traumatic amputation of his arm below the elbow while operating a lathe, had an exclusive ...
July 2019
Jim Sipchen and Quinn Donnelly, recently secured affirmation of dismissal of a regional big box retailer from a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The plaintiff alleged that the retailer, along with a developer and a local municipality, had interfered with a neighboring landowner’s ability to ...
June 2019