General Commercial Litigation

Goldberg Kohn handles every type of business-to-business commercial dispute, as well as disputes within corporate entities, including disputes involving contracts, partnerships, corporate control, and commercial tort claims.

Representative Matters

• Goldberg Kohn represented seven insurance companies who intervened in a class action lawsuit filed against AIG in the Northern District of Illinois as a result of AIG’s fraudulent underreporting of workers compensation insurance premiums in the residual workers compensation market. The underlying complaint alleged that AIG underreported its workers compensation premium to a national pool which caused the companies participating in the pool (approximately 1300 companies) to incur damages. The firm's clients intervened in the class action lawsuit for the purpose of seeking approval of a $450 million class action settlement reached with AIG. On July 26, 2011, the District Court granted the clients' Motion for Class Certification and Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement in an Opinion stating that Goldberg Kohn’s credentials were “excellent.” The parties opposed to the settlement (Liberty/Safeco/Ohio Casualty) filed objections, and a final fairness hearing took place on November 29, 2011. The District Court entered a final judgment on February 28, 2012, granting final approval to the class action settlement, and calling Goldberg Kohn's work "exemplary." Thereafter, the objectors appealed, and after full briefing and a 50-minute oral argument in the Seventh Circuit, the objectors voluntarily moved to dismiss their appeals with prejudice and without any payment or consideration of any kind from the certified Settlement Class Plaintiffs represented by Goldberg Kohn. On March 25, 2013, the Seventh Circuit dismissed the appeals with prejudice, and the $450 million class settlement was administered by Goldberg Kohn.

• Goldberg Kohn has represented multiple Fortune 150 companies in their nationwide single-plaintiff discrimination cases throughout the country over the last year, at the trial court and appellate court level. Over the last year, the firm has been defending approximately 30 cases. In that time, the firm won summary judgment decisions in California, Kansas, Illinois, and Massachusetts federal courts, and won appeals in California state court and before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh. The firm currently has appeals pending in the Ninth and Tenth Circuits.

• Recently, a national banking corporation commenced an involuntary bankruptcy case.  The Alleged Debtor thereafter challenged the filing of the involuntary petition, asserting that (a) the claims of Goldberg Kohn's clients were subject to bona fide disputes, and (b) given the number of creditors that the Alleged Debtor purportedly had, there were insufficient petitioning creditors to commence the involuntary case. After substantial discovery, the issue was tried to Bankruptcy Judge Schmetterer in the Northern District of Illinois over five days in March 2014, with a total of 16 witnesses called. Judge Schmetterer issued Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law on Contested Involuntary Bankruptcy Petition, granting all relief sought by Goldberg Kohn's clients, overruling the Alleged Debtor's objections to the commencement of the case, and later entered an Order for Relief under the Bankruptcy Code, allowing the bankruptcy case to proceed.

• Goldberg Kohn represented a national bank in an appeal by a mortgage foreclosure defendant contesting the validity of a General Administrative Order entered by the Presiding Judge of the Chancery Division of Cook County permitting the entry of standing orders for the appointment of special process servers in mortgage foreclosure cases. The Appellate Court ruled in favor of the client affirming the judgment in this particular case as well as the validity of the General Administrative Order, which could have potentially affected the validity of tens of thousands of judgments of foreclosure entered in Cook County over the past four years.

• Goldberg Kohn serves as national counsel to a software company in connection with claims arising out of the client's alleged failures to complete service of process and related activities. The firm is also involved in all aspects of the client's insurance related matters, including representing the company in coverage related disputes and the insurance procurement process.

• The firm is defending several defendants in a fraudulent conveyance lawsuit arising out of the leveraged buyout of a large media company. 

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