Success Stories
Case Studies
Business Litigation
*Litigation partner, Christopher Ashworth and Sr. attorney Kathryn Barrett obtained a favorable settlement during a trial on a case involving a struggle among members and managers for corporate control of alimited liability company. Five days into trial and after prevailing on a preliminary injunction, Silicon Valley Law Group obtained a very favorable settlement on behalf of their client. The client, an LLC, was controlled by several member/managers including a minority member who possess and was attempting to employ certain minority rights thought by other managers to be detrimental to the company. The client company sued to remove the member's minority rights and to remove the member/manager from the board of managers of the company. The minority member and manager cross complained claiming $300 million in damages. During the litigation, Silicon Valley Law group prevailed on multiple applications for temporary restraining orders and on several preliminary injunction motions involving control of the entity. Trial commenced and five days into the trial, the parties settled. The client company was no longer saddled with minority rights in favor of the defendant. In addition, the defendant was removed as a manager of the client company.
*Christopher Ashworth obtained a favorable settlement of an action for payment of a client's substantial consulting fees. The settlement was negotiated after Silicon Valley Law Group filed a motion for summary judgment against the defendant company.
*Silicon Valley Law Group's client, FTD, and Teleflora operate competing networks for ordering flowers by wire, a service which allows a customer to order and pay for flowers at one shop and have them delivered by another shop that belongs to the same network. Teleflora filed suit alleging copyright infringement, violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and misappropriation of trade secrets, tortuous interference with contract, and unfair competition, all under California law. Teleflora sought a preliminary injunction based on the copyright and trade secrets claims. The U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California said Teleflora is not entitled to an injunction based on trade secret misappropriation. Further the preliminary injunction with respect to FTD's use of the WSI program was denied, as the court found little threat of irreparable harm to Teleflora.
*Silicon Valley Law Group's (SVLG) Business Litigation Department achieved an outstanding settlement for its client in a residential real estate case. The client purchased a multi-million dollar home from the plaintiff, with contingencies regarding a lot split of the property. When the contingencies were not met, the seller sued the client. SVLG cross-complained against the high-end realtor, who represented both parties in the purchase and sale of the property, alleging they had illegally drafted non-form contracts in the transaction. The case went to judicial mediation. The client was ordered to pay nothing toward the settlement. The realtor's Errors & Omissions carrier funded the entire settlement for $950,000. The plaintiff got substantially less than she had asked for, and the client got the original property at issue for the price of his attorneys' fees.
Printable version of this case study. (PDF document)
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IP Litigation
*Attorneys Kathryn Barrett and Dawn Sweatt obtained a prompt dismissal of a lawsuit against their client that alleged misappropriate of trade secrets. The dismissal was filed after Silicon Valley Law Group sucessfully defended the plaintiff company's motion for preliminary injunction.
*Sr. attorney Kathryn Barrett obtained an immediate dismissal of a trade secret lawsuit against her client company, one day after it was filed. The plaintiff company gave notice of a next -day application for a temporary restraining order that would effectively have put Silicon Valley Law Group's client out of business pending a hearing on a preliminary injunction. The matter was investigated and documents were drafted opposing the Plaintiff's application for a temporary restraining order. Before the application for the temporary restraining order was heard by the judge, Silicon Valley Law Group negotiated a dismissal of its clients from the lawsuit.
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Trademark Litigation
*K-Swiss v. Payless – Robert Vantress helps client get $30 Million in settlement. In a trademark and trade dress infringement case against shoe retailer Payless ShoeSource, Robert Vantress and other lawyers for K-Swiss achieved a significant settlement in a hotly contested case. K-Swiss was founded by two brothers who built the Classic style around one distinctive look and it has appealed to customers for more than 40 years. Payless, with 5,000 stores, thought it could get away with a predatory strategy of infringing on the brand of small manufacturers and then settling with little more than a hand slap. The primary issue in the case was whether Payless' conduct making imitations of the K-Swiss Classic style embodied in its family of shoes, but not incorporating the K-Swiss name and shield logo, was likely to cause confusion, whether it was intentional or willful infringement, what the amount of appropriate damages and other relief should be, and whether Payless had the right to sell what is claimed were "generic" low-cost imitations because consumers could tell the difference and wanted lower cost alternatives to the genuine brand. In the spring of 2008, K-Swiss' legal team was ready to prove before a jury that Payless infringed on K-Swiss's Trade Dress by repeatedly knocking off K-Swiss's Classic model athletic shoe and family of shoes. The $30 million settlement in 2008, which represented 10% of the K-Swiss annual revenue stream compensated K-Swiss for the profits that Payless realized from the copycats. Most importantly, Payless is prevented by judicial order from selling a shoe that too closely resembles the Classic product family look and feel. "Payless intentionally copied my client's shoes and the knock-offs caused consumer confusion," said Mr. Vantress. "The law protects the owner of trademarks and trade-dress when an appreciable number of people are likely to be confused by the defendant's product or packaging."
Employment Litigation
*Sr. attorney Kathryn Barrett, successfully defended Client Company against claims of race discrimination and retaliation in violation of FEHA. The former employee claimed that his termination was motivated by racial prejudice and that he was retaliated against for having complained to the company about asserted violations of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). Ms. Barrett, after deposing the former employee, filed a motion for summary judgment and/or summary adjudication on all claims, which was granted in its entirety. Judgment was entered in favor of Silicon Valley Law Group's employer client.
Environmental
*Silicon Valley Law Group's (SVLG) Environmental Law Group represented a major developer who built an apartment complex on top of a former chemical plant. The developer had been assured the property had been cleaned, but later found it had not. SVLG sued the previous developer, the environmental consulting company that hired the company to clean the property, the chemical manufacturing company, the chemical supplier and several high profile technology companies that were prior lessees on the property. SVLG earned a complete victory. The defendants took responsibility for clean up of the property into the future, paid $13 million in cash, and have incurred future clean up obligations upwards of $26 million.
*Silicon Valley Law Group represented a small manufacturing company in a criminal enforcement action, when its President was sued for violations of health and safety code violations. After much sophisticated criminal motion practice, SVLG settled the case for a reasonable civil fine and no criminal conviction.
*Silicon Valley Law Group represented the former owners of a shopping center that had been sold. PCE contamination was discovered from a dry cleaner on the property. SVLG's Environmental Law Group successfully defended the former owners and successfully brought in insurance coverage to pay for the defense.
*Silicon Valley Law Group represented a high tech manufacturing company whose property was bought by developers and developed into condominiums. In the course of development, solvent contamination was discovered. The developer sued our client for millions. SVLG obtained a complete insurance defense for our client and settled the case for a fraction of the plaintiff's claim. In addition, our client did not take any share of the responsibility for the clean up.
Financial Services
*Silicon Valley Law Group's (SVLG) Financial Services Group won a judgment against a shareholder who had diverted large sums from his corporation while it was in Chapter 11. SVLG represented one of the largest banks in the United States as well as the bankruptcy trustee. The court awarded our clients $1,000,000, including all of their legal fees.*Silicon Valley Law Group structured, negotiated and documented secured loans by our commercial bank clients to a variety of enterprises, from software companies to a national golf course operator. SVLG's Financial Services Group crafted security interests in non-standard collateral, including intellectual property and a concession contract with a government-owned corporation.
*Silicon Valley Law Group's client, a parent corporation of a chapter 7 debtor, had invested more than $1,000,000 in capital and made more than $12,000,000 in loans and advance to the subsidiary before the bankruptcy. The bankruptcy trustee sued our client to invalidate its security interest in the assets; to deny the client's right to recover and to force the client to pay back large sums of money it had received from the bankrupt subsidiary. The Financial Services Group settled the case. Our client was not responsible for paying back any of the debts or any of the money it had received, and the bankruptcy trustee was ordered to pay our client a substantial sum.
*Silicon Valley Law Group represented a long-haul trucking company that was not licensed to provide pickup or delivery services in California. It learned of an opportunity to acquire the operating assets of a firm that provided such services. The target company was in Chapter 11 reorganization. The deal had to be done quickly to preserve the customer base and to minimize the loss of key personnel. Our Financial Services team helped to complete the acquisition in near-record time. They worked with the client and the seller's counsel to negotiate and document the transaction, to address the concerns of the employees, customers and creditors; to overcome the objections of a competitor and a lender who opposed the sale; to prepare for the contingency of competing bids for the assets; to obtain bankruptcy court approval of the sale procedures and the sale itself; and to close the deal - all in less than six weeks' time. Our client achieved its most important objectives: (1) it can now deal directly with its long-haul customers instead of having to rely on others to pick up and deliver their cargo in California; (2) it had the option, during an evaluation period after the closing, to transfer back to the seller any leases or contracts that proved to be undesirable; (3) by acquiring the assets through the bankruptcy court, our client did not assume any of the seller's unwanted liabilities, and it is protected against successor liability; and (4) by getting the deal done so quickly, the key relationships with employees and customers, and the going-concern value of the business, were preserved.
Real Estate & Land Use
*Several years ago, Silicon Valley Law Group's Real Estate & Land Use Group was approached by a public company. The company needed help in negotiating a sizable lease to accommodate their rapid expansion. The landlord had multiple offers but had not yet talked to our client. We had only one hour to prepare for the negotiations and no time to meet privately with our new client (the company's Director of Facilities) in advance. On the way into the landlord's office our client quietly requested that we keep it simple and that we get this building under contract. We basically negotiated the lease as we read it for the first time, while ensuring that our client concurred with our comments as we went along. Two hours later we had a signed lease. The landlord made substantially all of the changes we requested. We negotiated an extra month of free rent as the last deal point. Our client was very pleased, and since then has used Silicon Valley Law Group for over 75 transactions.
*Normally the sale of a building that has been unoccupied for more than a decade would be applauded by the community. However, in the case of St. Brigid's Church, one of the oldest churches in San Francisco, the emotions ran high. On August 13, 2005, the Archdiocese of San Francisco announced that it had signed a letter of intent with the Academy of Art University for the purchase of St. Brigid. The press release indicated that the Academy intended to use the building for school and community events, and Archbishop William Levada said in a statement that he was impressed by the Art Academy's "proven track record in preserving a number of San Francisco historic buildings and using them for purposes that benefit the entire community." While the purchase price was agreed to, the details were a greater obstacle. Over the next two months, the SVLG Real Estate & Land Use team with the aid of the SVLG Environmental Group assisted the Academy in closing the transaction. The complexities of the transaction included a lengthy negotiation over easement rights of the Archdiocese and the Academy regarding the use of the schoolyard located immediately behind St. Brigid, and the division of the personal property located within the St. Brigid building. With threats of possible lawsuits to enjoin the transaction, historical landmarking and possible "red tag" issues looming, the SVLG team was successful in quickly closing the transaction.
Printable version of this case study. (PDF document)
TESTIMONIALS
“"The litigation team gave me the muscle, organizational skills and attention to detail I needed against our major competitor and got us a great result."
Jon Burney
VP and General Counsel
Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD)
“"For creative solutions to complex legal issues, I often turn to the attorneys at Silicon Valley Law Group. They are one of the law firms I have come to trust for providing consistently superior, responsive legal services."
John A. Sobrato
Sobrato Development Companies
"When AutoReturn, a venture-funded San Francisco startup focused on the municipal towing industry nationwide, was choosing a law firm we did so based on a typical set of criteria. The criteria included such things as firm resume, breadth of experience across different disciplines, firm size, and chemistry with our client partner. Our legal needs ranged from deciding on the right company structure to developing investor documents to putting the right governance in place for what could quickly, upon being awarded a single contract, become a cash flow positive $15MM annual revenue company. We chose Silicon Valley Law Group (SVLG).
"SVLG has been very responsive and has provided excellent legal guidance throughout our development. While SVLG's legal services have been excellent, the scope of SVLG's impact on our business goes well beyond their role as our counsel. SVLG has acted as a real business partner in the growth of our company. SVLG not only has provided introductions to banking and investment resources that are well matched to our needs, SVLG has coached us on our approach and has helped us close key deals. AutoReturn, in no small part due to SVLG's efforts, is now a going concern with bright prospects for the future. We expect SVLG will continue to play a key role as we grow."
John Wicker
President & CEO
AutoReturn
"I expected legal competence from SVLG and they delivered on that expectation. But they went beyond my expectations in two important ways. First, they quickly immersed in the business situation and understood our objectives in a way that improved their continuing support and guidance to our activities. Second, they had an aura of calm in the midst of the storm, which had a contagious and favorable impact on the process of negotiating a complex deal. It was a pleasure to work with such a fine team of dedicated professionals."
Dick Haiduck
BioStreet Inc. Acquisition
"Frank Maiorana, with his team at Silicon Valley Law Group, has been our company attorney for years. He has represented us on virtually every kind of real estate transaction and problem. I've worked with many attorneys, and can confidently say that Frank is a Godsend. Knowledgeable and friendly, Frank seems to be always on the job, and is someone you can always count on to steer you in the right direction. Frank is a formidable negotiator and has gone to bat for us many times and won. I would highly recommend him for any real estate work or as personal counsel. If I ever have my own company, I wouldn't want anyone else but Frank Maiorana to represent me."
Miles Hofmann
Interstate Equities Corporation
