Bennett’s client successes span a wide range of business litigation matters, including accounting issues, financial statement misrepresentations, valuation, fiduciary duties, shareholder rights, and business contracts.

Accounting Disputes/Financial Statement Misrepresentation

• Led the international litigation team that recovered more than $13 million in ICC arbitration and related insurance claims on behalf of the acquiror for breach of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) representations and warranties by the seller of a $200 million business unit [LLS – 2022]
• Represented the acquiror in a successful arbitration claiming that the seller’s undisclosed change of accounting methods overstated EBITDA and resulted in an inflated acquisition price [DBR]
• Obtained dismissal of third-party claims in a post-acquisition lawsuit seeking to hold an audit firm liable for the seller’s alleged misclassification of R&D expenses and other financial statement misrepresentations [DBR]
• Represented a real estate investment fund in a forensic accounting investigation and successful arbitration against the client’s property management partner for systematically over-valuing acquired manufacturing housing communities and siphoning funds through improper expense reimbursements [MB/DBR]

Valuation & Business Finance

• Defended a group of real estate developers in a lawsuit brought by limited partners involving disputed valuation of tax increment finance bonds issued to support two major shopping mall projects [MB/DBR]
• Represented a landowner in an arbitration to determine the value of the land underlying a major Chicago hotel for the purpose of establishing ground lease rent [DBR]
• Presented property appraisal expert reports and testimony in permit hearings to demonstrate the lack of material adverse property value impacts resulting from nearby construction of wind energy generation systems [DBR]

Fiduciary Duties

• Defended a global payroll services firm in an ICC arbitration, filed counterclaims for breach of fiduciary duty by a U.S. joint venture partner, and negotiated a successful settlement and business separation [LLS]
• Investigated and filed suit on behalf of a Silicon Valley chip design company against its former CEO, who concealed his ownership interest in a startup customer to which he granted extraordinary credit terms that caused a multimillion-dollar loss; also represented the client in related bankruptcy litigation [DBR]

Shareholder Rights

• Filed a shareholder oppression action and obtained a $1.75 million settlement on behalf of a minority shareholder who was “frozen out” by the controlling shareholder of an Illinois corporation [LLS]
• Represented a minority investor group against pharmaceutical startup executives and the controlling investor attempting to divert funds to research projects in which they had conflicting interests; coordinated with corporate co-counsel to negotiate and document a successful separation of the startup into two public companies [LLS]
• Defended a publicly held company against a $5 million claim based on a 35-year-old stock certificate previously reported as lost or stolen; obtained dismissals for lack of jurisdiction in Illinois and Texas federal courts [LLS]

Business Contracts

• Filed breach of contract and breach of warranty claims against a seller of automated metal finishing equipment that failed to meet performance specifications; obtained settlement in mediation, including a full refund of the $539,000 purchase price [LLS]

Miscellaneous

• Successfully represented a broker defrauded by an international commodities trading firm in responding to a federal criminal investigation, including subpoena responses and formal FBI/DOJ interview [LLS]
• Obtained a $40,000 settlement (without filing suit) of a travel insurance claim against a broker that incorrectly processed a family’s request for “cancel for any reason” travel insurance [LLS]