Michigan Business Litigation Attorneys

The Miller Law Firm, P.C. represents businesses of all sizes, ranging from small sole proprietorships to large Fortune 500 companies and non-profit entities, and in lawsuits filed in state and federal courts throughout the United States.

Our firm represents clients in both trial and appellate levels and in arbitration. The complexity of business litigation requires seasoned attorneys. Our knowledge and experience in business and commercial law litigation have contributed to our record of success.

Related:
What Are the Elements of a Valid Breach of Contract Claim in Michigan? 
Examples of Common Forms of Breach of Fiduciary Duty That Result in Litigation
Common Examples of Shareholder FraudFair Labor Standards Trial

Undeveloped Real Estate Litigation

Our firm represented a large regional bank that held a mortgage on a significant piece of undeveloped property situated along the Detroit River that had been purchased during the 1980s as a location for a potential casino.

The value of the property plummeted because it appeared throughout the 1980s and early 1990s that the State of Michigan and the City of Detroit would not approve the operation of casinos, and because of environmental contamination on the property and unpaid tax liens.

As a result, the mortgage on the property went into default for several years, but our client did not pursue foreclosure because the property had become worthless. After the City of Detroit approved the operation of casinos in the 1990s, the City instituted a condemnation action as to the property, and the owners of the property sued our client in federal court to force our client to abandon its mortgage.

Our firm obtained a dismissal of a federal court action against our client, and we obtained $2.6 million from the proceeds from the condemnation action, fully satisfying their unpaid balance of the mortgage loan.

Related:
6 Common Remedies for Breach of Contract in Business
Anticipatory Repudiation, Coronavirus, and Breach of Contract: Facts You Should Know

Fair Labor Standards Trial

Our client owned a small family business and was sued by a former employee who claimed that he had not been paid overtime compensation for over three years prior to the time he quit. The plaintiff claimed that he worked over 60 hours a week, but was only paid a salary based upon 40-hour work week. Our client asserted that the employee held the position of a manager both in name and in his duties and responsibilities, and therefore was not entitled to overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act. After a jury trial, the jury ruled in favor of our client and entered a judgment of no-cause of action against the former employee.

Related:
What Are the Rights of Minority Shareholders in Private Companies?
What Is Oppression of a Minority Shareholder or Minority Member?

Breach of Website Development Agreement

Our client entered into a contract to provide, develop, host, and maintain a website for a jewelry business. Pursuant to the contract, the parties were to split profits generated from the website, in exchange for our client’s services.

The defendant terminated the contract and sought to locate an alternative website developer so that it did not have to pay our client a percentage of the profits from the venture. As a result, the venture never got off the ground and never generated a single sale, depriving our client of its share of profits from the venture.

At trial, the jury awarded our client lost profit damages in the amount $360,000, and our client was entitled to interest and case evaluation sanctions.

Zoning and Land Use Dispute

Our firm was retained by 28 homeowners in West Bloomfield Township after they have learned that property adjacent to their homes had been re-zoned from a residential classification to a commercial classification without a public meeting. Years earlier, the owner/developer of the property had petitioned the Township to re-zone the property, but his request was denied and he filed a lawsuit in Oakland County Circuit Court and lost.

After he exhausted all his appeals, he went back to the Township and reached a secret settlement that gave the developer the very relief that he had requested in his lawsuit, which he lost years earlier. We filed a lawsuit for the violations of the Open Meetings Act.

The Oakland County Circuit Court issued an opinion in which it held that the board’s action violated the Open Meetings Act, and its opinion was subsequently upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Related:
Shareholder’s Right to Inspect Company Documents
Three Common Shareholder Lawsuits
New Michigan Shareholder Law

Conversion

Our client, a Washington D.C.-based actuarial firm alleged that the defendant, the former Midwest director of the plaintiff’s Michigan office, diverted account receivables owing to our client. The defendant’s wife filed a “doing business as” certificate with the Macomb County Clerk, and then established a personal checking account under her own name and doing business as the company, which is also the assumed name of the plaintiff corporation.

The plaintiff’s amended complaint further alleged that the defendants deposited payments from customers of our client into the personal checking account and then converted the funds to their own use. The plaintiff obtained a judgment in the amount of $339,269, including treble damages of the amount alleged to be converted.

Partnership Dispute

Our client was one partner in a partnership that owned real estate in Macomb County. The partnership agreement contained a restriction that required any partner desiring to sell his or her interest to first offer his partnership units to the other partners at “book value”.

One of the partners sought to sell his interest in the partnership to a non-partner, claiming that the property had been transferred out of the partnership years earlier and therefore not subject to the partnership agreement.

When our client refused to consent to the sale to the non-partner, our client was sued by his partner, seeking to force the sale. The circuit court issued an opinion agreeing with our client, precluding the partner’s sale of his interest to a non-partner, and requiring him to give the existing partners an opportunity to purchase his interest at book value.

Related:
Most Common Reasons to Hire a Business Partnership Dispute Lawyer
Can My Business Partner Push Me Out?
What Are Your Legal Rights When a Partner Is Sabotaging Your Business?
Dissolving a Business Partnership Without an Agreement?
Suing Your Business Partner

Commercial Debt Collection

The Miller Law Firm, P.C. provides litigation services to financing companies seeking to enforce non-performing and defaulted commercial loans, equipment leases, financing agreements, and related personal guaranties. For one client, The Miller Law Firm, P.C. successfully obtained cash settlements of over $1.5 million and, in addition, recovered property worth in excess of $1 million.

Unpaid Royalties / Civil Conspiracy

Our client, a large automotive supplier, was sued for approximately $3 million in royalties allegedly owing for certain technology under a royalty agreement. The technology had previously been outsourced to one of our client’s suppliers, who assumed responsibility to pay the royalty on our client’s behalf. The supplier stopped paying the royalty when it learned that the plaintiff-inventor may have misrepresented its rights in the technology.

During the lawsuit, we discovered that the supplier had secretly made payments to a former employee of our client at a time he was employed by our client. The plaintiff and former employee denied that the payments were improper. They repeatedly swore that the monies were payment for unrelated consulting services performed on nights and weekends, and billed on an hourly basis.

However, at trial, we demonstrated that the plaintiff and former employee lied about their relationship. We established that nearly every payment the plaintiff made to the former employee was equal to 50 percent of each royalty payment paid by our client – not for hourly services.

During the plaintiff’s case-in-chief, we asked the Court to dismiss the case based on this perjured testimony. The Court granted the motion, dismissing the plaintiff’s case and awarding to our client its costs and attorneys’ fees necessitated by the fraud. The Court also referred the matter to the Prosecuting Attorney’s office for investigation of criminal perjury charges.

Noncompete Litigation

Our client, a durable medical goods sales company, brought an action to enforce a non-competition agreement with a former at-will employee and to obtain damages from a competitor that hired the former employee, on the grounds of tortious interference with an at-will contract and tortious interference with the client’s business expectancies with its customers.

The firm obtained a preliminary injunction against the former employee and pursued litigation against the competitor for monetary damages. The Miller Law Firm, P.C. negotiated a significant cash settlement with the competitor for more than ten times the case evaluation award.

Force Majeure

Force majeure is a term used in contracts to describe unforeseen events, outside a party’s control, which may exempt a party from liability. During a force majeure event, businesses may experience supply chain disruptions or interruptions that impact their ability to perform under a contract.

It is widely understood that when parties enter into a contract, they do so in good faith, with the expectation that both parties will perform the contract to the best of their abilities. However, on occasion, there are instances where one party may not be able to perform their contractual obligations due to forces outside of their control. When such circumstances arise businesses may look to force majeure clauses in their contracts for relief from performance. 

Further, if a contract does not have a force majeure clause, the uniform commercial code may apply to provide relief under the doctrine of commercial impracticability (UCC sec. 2-615 and state law adaptations).  A party may be excused from performing its obligations due to the occurrence of a contingency the nonoccurrence of which was a basic assumption on which the contract was made. 

Related:
Force Majeure Clauses And COVID-19

Need legal assistance? Don’t hesitate to contact our Michigan business litigation lawyers now.

Our attorneys can also assist you with the following cases:

• • Arbitration

• • Automotive Litigation

• • Class Action Litigation

• • e-Discovery Services

• • Employment Litigation

• • Probate Litigation

• • Securities Fraud

• • Shareholder Disputes

• • Shareholder Oppression