Professionals

Experience

• Bill has tried dozens of cases involving disputes representing business entities, majority owners, and minority owners. In a seminal case twenty-five years ago, Bill won the first major shareholder oppression case under the revised Minnesota Business Corporation Act, recovering over $33 million for his clients. In 2005 Bill's advocacy resulted in a court ordering that his client who had been forced out of a small business be paid nearly $300 million for his interest. In 2008 he led a trial team that obtain a judgment of nearly $60 million for limited partners in a dispute with general partners and trustees in a complex series of trusts and limited partnerships in a western state. In 2009 Bill successfully defended the world's largest granite quarrier and fabricator in a lawsuit brought against it by minority shareholders.
• In the areas of non-competes and trade secrets, Bill regularly tries temporary injunction trials and trials on the merits throughout the country enforcing his clients' non-compete agreements. In the past few years he has successfully defended three different misappropriation of trade secret cases; in each case the plaintiff sought to recover $100 million or more, and in each case the plaintiff recovered nothing.
• Recently Bill led a team which obtained a decision from the Delaware Court of Chancery which expanded the range of fiduciary duties of parent corporations. And in early 2010 he negotiated a $56 million settlement of a breach of fiduciary claim which creditors of a bankrupt corporation brought against its former chief financial officer.
• Beyond business litigation, Bill represented U.S. Senator Al Franken in three cases before the Minnesota Supreme Court in connection with the canvass of the 2008 election. He also represented Planned Parenthood of Minnesota in the trial and appeals of its successful challenge to a Minnesota statute which was ultimately resolved by the U.S Supreme Court.

Cases & Transactions

• Medtronic, Inc. v. Endologix, Inc., et al., 2008 WL 80353 (D. Minn. 2008)
• AXCAN SCANDIPHARM, INC. v. ETHEX CORPORATION, KV Pharmaceutical Company, et. al., 2007 WL 3095367 (D. Minn. 2007)
• CardioVention, Inc. v. Medtronic, Inc., 483 F. Supp.2d 830 (2007)
• InterMetro Industries Corp. v. Jonathan Scott Kent, 2007 WL 518345 (M.D. Pa. 2007)
• Curtis 1000, Inc. v. George B. Martin and David L. Bean, et. al., 2006 WL 2981305 (M.D. Tenn. 2006)
• LeMond Cycling, Inc. v. PTI Holding, Inc., 2005 WL 102969
• Afremov v. Amplatz, 2005 WL 89475
• Unity Church of St. Paul, et al. v. State of Minnesota, 694 N.W.2d 585 (2005)
• Lupient v. Londo, 2004 WL 117600 (Minn. Ct. App. 2004)
• MedCam, Inc. v. MCNC, 2004 WL 1790184
• Afremov v. Amplatz, 2004 WL 77851
• Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Ethex Corp. WL 742033 (D. Minn. 2004)
• Community Housing Corporation of America v. Alternative Building Concepts, Inc. WL 22999294 (Minn. Ct. App. 2003)
• Haley v. Forcelle, 669 N.W.2d 48 (Minn. Ct. App 2003)
• Strickland v. Medtronic, Inc., 97 S.W. 3d. 835 (Tex. Ct. App.-Dallas, 2003)
• Medtronic, Inc., v. NuVasive, Inc., 2003 WL 219984480 (Tenn. Ct. App., 2003)
• Watkins, Inc., v. Lewis, 346 F. 3d 841 (8th Cir. 2003)
• Hogle v. Zinetics Medical, Inc., 63 P.3d 80 (Utah 2002)
• Bennett v. Medtronic, 285 F.3d 801 (9th Cir. 2002)
• Watkins Incorporated v. Lewis, 2002 WL 31319491 (D. Minn. 2002)
• Medtronic, Inc. v. Shope, 135 F. Supp. 2d 988 (D. Minn. 2001)
• Berreman v. West Publishing Company, 615 N.W.2d 362 (Minn. App. 2000)
• Hedged Investment Partners, L.P. v. Norwest Bank Minnesota, N.A., 1999 WL 639283
• Kallok v. Medtronic, Inc., 573 N.W.2d 356 (Minn. 1998)
• Sulzer Intermedics, Inc. v. Born, Inc., 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7111 (E.D. Mich., April 13, 1998)
• Medtronic, Inc. v. Sun, 1997 WL 729168 (Minn. App. 1997)
• Hedged Investment Partners, L.P. v. Norwest Bank Minnesota, N.A., 578 N.W.2d 765 (Minn. Ct. App. 1997)
• Cefis v. Cefis, 555 N.W.2d 333 (Minn. Ct. App. 1996)
• Hillard v. Medtronic, Inc., 910 f. Supp. 173 (M.D.Pa., 1995)
• First Tech Capital v. Alfred N. Koplin & Co., 1995 WL 38771
• In re Hennepin County 1986 Recycling Bond Litigation, 540 N.W.2d 494 (Minn. 1995)
• In re Hennepin County 1986 Recycling Bond Litigation, 540 N.W.2d (Minn. 1995)
• St. Jude Medical, Inc. v. Medtronic, Inc., 536 N.W.2d 24 (Minn. Ct. App. 1995)
• Rich v. Roth, 1994 WL 149408
• Barry v. Barry, 28 F.3d. 848 (8th Cir. 1992)
• Barry v. Barry, 824 F.Supp. 178 (D. Minn. June 15, 1993)
• Morrison v. Northern States Power Co., 491 N.W.2d 675 (Minn. Ct. App. 1992)
• Norwest Financial Leasing, Inc. v. Morgan Whitney, Inc., 787 F.Supp. 895 (D. Minn. 1992)
• IBM Corp. v. Seagate Technology, 941 F.Supp. 98 (D. Minn. 1992)
• Beaubaire v. Priorwood Townhomes Ltd. Partnership I, 1992 WL 320991, Fed.Sec.L.Rep.P. 97-284 (D. Minn. October 27, 1992)
• Siedare Associates, Inc. v. Firstar Shelard Bank, N.A. 1991 WL 238330 (Minn. Ct. App. 1991)
• Rosemount Cogeneration Joint Venture v. Northern States Power Co., 1991 WL 13729, 1991-1 Trade Cases, P 69, 351, RICO Bus. Disp. Guide 7697 (D. Minn., January 18, 1991)
• Hodgson v. Minnesota, 497 U.S. 417 (1990)
• Grossman v. American Family Mutual Insurance Company, 461 N.W.2d 489 (Minn. Ct. App. 1990)
• Medtronic, Inc. v. Eli Lilly & Co., 1990 WL 61161
• In re Endotronics, Inc., 1990 WL 29769
• Rosenberg v. Pillsbury Co., 718 F.Supp. 1146 (S.D.N.Y. 1989)
• Carlock v. Pillsbury Co., 719 F.Supp. 791 (D. Minn 1989)
• Minnesota Vikings Football Club, Inc. v. Metropolitan Council, 289 N.W.2d 426 (Minn. 1979)