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SUMMER 2022 USLAW MAGAZINE
USLAW
s u cc essful
RECENT USLAW LAW FIRM VERDICTS & transactions
verdicts Adler Pollock & Sheehan, P.C. (Providence, RI) Michael Chittick and Kyle Zambarano of Adler Pollock & Sheehan Win Appeal on Behalf of Bally’s/Twin River On June 1, 2022, Adler Pollock & Sheehan Shareholders, Mike Chittick and Kyle Zambarano were successful in convincing the Rhode Island Supreme Court to affirm the dismissal of claims brought against UTGR, Inc. (currently doing business as Bally’s Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort). In relation to a commercial lease that was terminated by agreement back in 2011, a former tenant in the casino food court brought suit against UTGR claiming the termination of the lease was wrongful and asserting various claims ranging from breach of contract to breach of fiduciary duty. On December 18, 2020, the Rhode Island Superior Court determined beyond a reasonable doubt that all of the former tenant’s claims failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The former tenant then appealed that ruling. In a written opinion by Chief Justice Paul Suttell, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has now affirmed the dismissal of those claims. In doing so, the Supreme Court reiterated the procedural standard applicable to the Superior Court’s ability to analyze documents relied on in a complaint in the course of ruling on a motion to dismiss, and the Supreme Court held that the typical commercial landlord-tenant relationship does not impose a fiduciary duty on the landlord. The opinion means that these claims were defeated at the very outset of the litigation, and UTGR will not have to engage in costly discovery in relation to these meritless claims. Baird Holm LLP (Omaha, NE) Baird Holm’s Creditors’ Rights team, led by distressed investments attorney Jeremy Hollembeak, successfully executed an aggressive enforcement strategy to protect the client’s collateral rights and obtain a buyout on favorable terms. Following a March 2021 default under its forbearance and rescue financing agreements with the client, the borrower – a farm and feedlot operator – transferred its farming operation to a non-borrower affiliate. The client believed this transfer was the borrower’s attempt to harvest and sell a 2021 crop outside the reach of the client’s security interest in all of the borrower’s farm
products and proceeds. Baird Holm’s team uncovered and commenced litigation to attack the transfer, obtaining novel pre-judgment relief in a November 5, 2021, injunction order. Among other things, the injunction order required all proceeds from the sale of the affiliate’s 2021 crop to be held in escrow pending a final determination of whether the client’s security interest attached to the proceeds on the basis that the affiliate was the borrower’s alter-ego. Baird Holm quickly used the injunction order to prevent nearly $1.5 million in 2021 crop proceeds from being paid to the affiliate and its lender who claimed to have a superior security interest in the proceeds. Shortly thereafter, the client was able to negotiate a buyout of its entire debt position at a price substantially higher than any offer made prior to the injunction order. The buyout, which Baird Holm closed in December 2021, allowed the client to exit a deteriorating situation without suffering material loss on its overall investment or having to litigate another 18-24 months to forcibly liquidate its collateral through foreclosure and other judicial procedures. Duke Evett PLLC (Boise, ID) Duke Evett wins product liability case Josh Evett and Mallam Prior of Duke Evett PLLC in Idaho defended an international dryer manufacturer in a high-value court trial in eastern Idaho. Plaintiff claimed the manufacturer’s dryer caught fire and burned the plaintiff’s business to the ground. The district court, in that case, authored a complete defense verdict in Duke Evett’s client’s favor, finding that plaintiff failed to prove a defect or that the dryer was the fire’s point of origin. Dysart Taylor Cotter McMonigle & Brumitt, P.C. (Kansas City, MO) Matthew Geary Successfully Defends Clients in Wrongful Death Appeal The Eighth Circuit upheld a judgment obtained by Dysart Taylor director Matthew W. Geary and retired director George Coughlin in favor of a vegetation management company in a wrongful death case that could have a wide-ranging impact in workplace injury cases in cases involving parent companies and co-employee liability. The case involved the plaintiffs’ son who suffered from heat stroke and passed away the next day.
