Services

Mass action related to San Diego County Wildfires:  Represent over 300 plaintiffs who own approximately 165 properties burned in the 2007 San Diego Wildfires.  Total claims, involving negligence, trespass, inverse condemnation, among others, exceed $100 million.  Have settled over $60 million to date.

Jacob Family Chalk Creek:  Haynes Land & Livestock Co. v. Jacob Family Chalk Creek, Utah Ct. App. 20080858-CA.  Represented defendants and counterclaim plaintiffs in a dispute over various roads on 20,000 acres in the Uinta Mountains.  Plaintiff sought to eliminate access to Defendants’ 10,000 acre ranch claiming that the access road over Plaintiff’s adjacent 10,000 acre ranch was private.  At trial and on appeal, Defendants were able to establish that the access road was public.  This case requires extensive historical research and interviews of elderly Summit County residents to establish at least a ten year period of public use of a road in the Uinta Mountains.  On behalf of our clients, at we established that the road was public in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, allowing access for our clients to use their cabins, lakes, and other property.  We received a favorable ruling at trial, which was very recently upheld on appeal.  The Court of Appeals issued its decision on May 6, 2010.

Smith, Bitner, Nelson:  Smith, Bitner, Nelson v. M&B Railroad. Train wreck involving transport of solid rocket boosters en route to Cape Canaveral.  Bridge collapsed on short line railroad as train crossed resulting in substantial human injury to our 3 client passengers who were escorting the rocket motors.  Confidential settlement.

Maak v. IHC:  acted on behalf of a class of similarly situated individuals comprising some 25,000 or more residents of Utah regarding billing practices of IHC resulting in excess charges to individual patients.  This was the first case of its kind against IHC and perhaps in the nation.  We prevailed at interlocutory appellate level against IHC and successfully certified a class.

DataMark Inc.: Arthur Benjamin v. DataMark Inc and Ecollege.com; Arbitration under Federal Arbitration Act; we represented defendants in this breach of employment agreement claim. Damages claimed exceeded $380 mm; result: all claims resolved in favor of defendants—no award in any amount for plaintiff.

American Nutrition, Inc.: American Nutrition, Inc. v. Wilbur Ellis Company (and numerous related cases). We represented American Nutrition, Inc. (a major manufacturer of pet food) in a wide array of litigation related to melamine contamination of rice protein concentrate and lamb meal. The commodities were purchased from Wilbur-Ellis and innocently included as ingredients in pet food manufactured by ANI. The legal matters included an FDA recall, defending claims from direct purchasers (distributors or retailers of pet food), coordinating defense of consumer claims, and litigation commenced against Wilbur-Ellis Company in the Second Judicial District Court for Weber County, Utah. The vast majority of claims (including many millions of dollars of exposure and/or losses) have been resolved in 2008 in a fashion that was extremely favorable to ANI and that covered nearly all of the expenses and business losses ANI suffered as a result of the contamination.

Kincross Gold U.S.A., Inc.: Brown v. Kinross Gold U.S.A., Inc., et al., U.S.D.C. Nev., CV-S-02-0605-KJD(RJJ). We represented Kinross (a publicly traded corporation) in defense of a hotly contested damages claim based on a tender offer transaction in 2002. Client expressed great satisfaction with our handling of the case. Plaintiffs’ claims exceeded $140mm. After vigorous litigation the claims were settled in 2008 for $29 mm.

Hercules, Inc.: Hercules, Inc. adv. Salt Lake County, Third Judicial District Court, Salt Lake County, State of Utah. We defended Hercules, Inc. in this lawsuit that included a claim for specific performance or damages related to conveyance of a multi-million dollar parcel of real property. In 2008, all claims were dismissed on a motion for summary judgment.

Sprint Communications Company: Acted as lead counsel for Sprint in several complex telecommunication lawsuits. Flying J, Inc., Et Al., v. Sprint Communications Co., et al., In The United States District Court For The District Of Utah Northern Division, Case No. 1:99CV-111, Beehive Telephone Co., Et al. v. Sprint Communications Co., et al., In the United States District Court, District of Utah, Central Division, Case No. 2:08cv00380.

UNEV Pipeline, LLC (Holly Refining): Lead counsel for UNEV in connection with eminent domain, permitting, and regulatory actions relating to the construction of a 400 mile long refined products, common carrier pipeline which will deliver gasoline and other refined products from the Salt Lake City area to the Salt Lake City airport, southern Utah, and Las Vegas, Nevada. 

SkyWest Airlines: Atlantic Southeast Airlines and SkyWest Airlines v. Delta Air Lines (Fulton County, Georgia). We represent plaintiffs in this contract dispute lawsuit that has $35 million at issue.

Wind River Petroleum, Inc.: Lead counsel for Top Stop gasoline stores in litigation filed by approximately 100 plaintiffs who claim to have suffered approximately $20 million in property damage and personal injuries as the result of a leak from an underground, gasoline storage tank. Lila Lee Christensen, et al. v. Wind River Petroleum, et al., Sixth Judicial District, Sanpete County, Utah, Civil No. 080600026.

EnergySolutions: EnergySolutions v. Northwest Compact on Low-Level Radioactive Waste, United States District Court for the District of Utah. We represent EnergySolutions, Inc. in this dispute relating to constitutional and statutory interpretation in connection with the denial of an application to import low-level radioactive waste from Italy.

Layton Construction Company, Inc.: Acted as lead counsel for Utah’s largest general contractor in lawsuits and arbitrations pending and /or tried during 2008 in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Montana. The Jicarilla Apache Nation v. Layton Construction, American Arbitration Association, Case No. 76 110 Y 00036 07 JISI; Layton Construction Co. vs. Palmdale Medical Properties, American Arbitration Association; Pacificorp v. C Entry Constructors & Engineers, Inc., In the Fifth District Court, Beaver County, Utah, Civil No. 080500074, Interior Construction Specialists v. Waterford School, In the Third Judicial District Court, Salt Lake County, Utah, Civil No. 050918011.

Ninow: Third Judicial District Court, Salt Lake County, State of Utah: Our client was a defendant in a $500,000 contract dispute. We were awarded summary judgment dismissing all claims and awarding our client attorneys’ fees. (Case later settled on confidential terms pending appeal.)

Nevada Chemicals: Third Judicial District Court, Salt Lake County, State of Utah. We represented the defendant in this derivative litigation related to a tender offer. Our client was a publicly traded company that entered into an acquisition / merger agreement that included a tender offer by the acquirer. Plaintiff purported to be an adequate representative of the company in asserting breaches of fiduciary duty, inadequate disclosures, etc. He sought a restraining order and injunction against closing of the transaction, which were denied. The $80 million transaction successfully closed. 

Client Name Withheld: We successfully represented the plaintiffs in this action to abate violations of Salt Lake County’s county zoning and roadway ordinances. Our clients had refused to sell their property to the defendant developers to be used as part of a shopping center development. Over our clients’ objections, the developers constructed a shopping center on the adjacent property in violation of the requirements of the County’s zoning and roadway ordinances.. The court granted the relief that we sought ordering the defendants to remove their shopping center buildings and to bring the roadways into compliance. After we successfully defended the injunction on appeal, the developers agreed to a settlement rather than remove their shopping center buildings. In addition, we recovered over $800,000 in legal fees from Salt Lake County under the private attorney general doctrine.