Representative Cases
Specific Case Areas Index
For examples of specific cases that Professor Golann has mediated, see:
Professor Golann has:
- Resolved hundreds of claims brought by businesses and their shareholders over contracts, joint ventures, franchises, software development and installation, business practices, patents, warranty issues and other matters.
- Settled disputes between buyers, sellers, and realtors over the sale and development of commercial and residential real estate.
- Resolved employment cases at companies and institutions alleging racial and sexual discrimination, denial of promotion, denial of benefits, sexual harassment, and violation of non-competition agreements.
- Successfully mediated patent disputes between corporations, trademark and copyright cases brought against national retailers, and intellectual property claims arising from joint ventures.
- Resolved construction disputes among owners, contractors, subcontractors, insurers and architects involving the building and renovation of office buildings, condominiums, schools, energy facilities and private residences.
- Mediated malpractice actions involving lawyers, architects, accountants and other professionals over estates, investment advice, building design, financial audits and professional services.
- Settled partnership disputes between physicians, attorneys, accountants and other professionals.
- Successfully mediated insurance claims arising from mass torts, insolvencies, environmental remediation, health care and intellectual property sales.
- Resolved cases involving American, European, Asian and South American companies arising from the sale of businesses, competitive activities, and contract performance.
Examples of Commercial and Business Disputes:
- Claims by buyers of businesses that sellers, lawyers, and accountants misrepresented their condition.
- Lawsuits arising from the restructuring/buyout of physician partnerships and from joint ventures between technology centers and hospitals.
- Lawsuits by employers and hosptials against HMOs, alleging overcharges and underpayments.
- Disputes between family members and with executives over control of businesses.
- Class action for alleged failure to pay foreign-recruited employees at U.S. visa rates.
- Claim that joint venturers in a development project committed breaches of duty and improperly froze out a partner.
- Lawsuit by a minority investor in start-up over allegedly improper dilution of his ownership share
- Claim by a mainframe computer manufacturer that a supplier provided defective parts, resulting in liability to numerous commercial customers.
- Claims between authors and a publishing company for non-delivery of work and nonpayment for services, resolved through cross-conveyance of rights.
- Claim by a pharmaceutical company to a large attorneys’ fee award following a successful arbitration against a supplier.
Examples of Construction Cases:
- Claims by condominium associations against owners and contractors over foundation problems and other alleged defects.
- Claims for payments arising from design changes in the construction of a hospital.
- Claims by condominium owners at a resort hotel concerning roof and window leakage against the developer, general contractor, architect, subcontractors and insurers (co-mediated)
- Cross-claims among contractors and subcontractors over defects, delays, and nonpayment arising from construction of a courthouse and a sports stadium.
- Lawsuit between a contractor, facility owner and subcontractors over negligent construction and failure to pay arising from installation of an HVAC system.
- Allegations of negligent construction and design in the reconstruction and renovation of homes.
- Claim by the purchaser of an office building against a seller, alleging inadequate disclosure of curtain-wall problems.
Examples of Employment Disputes:
- Disputes between companies and executives concerning the alleged denial of severance benefits, age discrimination, and deprivation of contractual rights.
- Claim by a professor denied tenure that she was sexually harassed and by a teacher at a minority college that he was denied tenure due to reverse discrimination.
- Claim by an employee at a manufacturing company that she was raped on company premises.
- Suit by a laid-off executive alleging deprivation of stock options following a successful IPO.
- Lawsuits against former employees for approaching customers or recruiting former co-employees, in alleged violation of non-compete agreements.
- Claim by the employee of a military institution that she was discriminated against in pay and working conditions.
Examples of Intellectual Property Cases:
- Claim by an investor in patents against a biotech company for infringement, resolved by a licensing arrangement.
- Claim by artisans that a retailer violated trademarks by commissioning copies of their creations.
- Lawsuit by a franchisor against former employees for allegedly infringing copyrighted materials, resolved by an agreement for allocation of sales territories and products.
- Lawsuit by a research university against a patent licensee for nonpayment of fees.
- Claim by the purchaser of a company that the technology conveyed infringed patents the seller had previously conveyed to other parties.
- Lawsuit alleging that the co-venturer in a software development project misappropriated proprietary code.
Examples of International Controversies:
- Lawsuit by a U.S. company against an international competitor for alleged theft of its South American staff.
- Lawsuit by the purchaser of a cruise line against a consulting firm over the seller’s alleged misrepresentation of its financial condition.
- Dispute between a distributor of software in China and a U.S. company, involving alleged oral loans and other undocumented obligations, resolved by a restructured business arrangement.
- Dispute between a European publisher and a U.S. purchaser of a spinoff company over implementation of the sale.
- Cross claims between a European software developer and an American company concerning alleged defects in a manufacturing control system.
- Claim by a U.S. company against an Indian consultant for errors in designing educational software applications.
Examples of Real Estate Disputes:
- Claims by buyers of luxury homes against contractors for failure to properly perform contracts.
- Claims by brokers against seller-homeowners alleging unpaid commissions.
- Claim by a homebuyer that the seller and a relocation company failed to honor a commitment to sell.
- Lawsuit by a commercial tenant over a property owner’s refusal to honor a right of first refusal in the course of a hotel/condominium conversion.
- Lawsuit by a developer of a housing complex against a realty firm for alleged non-performance.
- Claim by a developer against a business partner for allegedly conspiring to usurp profits on a mized-income housing project.
- See also Construction
Examples of Software Cases:
- Dispute between U.S. and European companies arising from allegedly defective work on a software development contract.
- Claim against a developer for allegedly negligent design of a website, resulting in violations of customers’ privacy.
- Claim by a retailer against a supplier over the sale of laptops with allegedly defective applications programs.
- Lawsuit by a recreational services company against a supplier, alleging that financial and accounting programming was defective.
- Lawsuit by the purchaser of an internet-based communications system alleging that software was defective and the system inoperable.
- Dispute between a wholesale supplier and the developer of an inventory control system involving claims of scope creep and failure to deliver.
- Litigation over payment and other terms arising from the development of a website and order system in an ideogram language.
Examples of Franchise Disputes:
- Suit by a terminated franchisee of a food preparation and distribution business.
- Cross-claims by a franchisor against several franchisees for nonpayment of fees, and by franchisees for failure to provide promised services.
- Dispute between a franchisor of retail stores and a franchisee over payment and contract performance.
- Dispute between an automobile manufacturer and a dealer over payments for warranty work.
- Lawsuit against former franchisees for allegedly infringing copyrighted materials and violating terms of termination, resolved by an agreement to allocate sales territories and products.
- Claim by a national franchisor that a franchisee failed to provide required financial information, and by the franchisee of lack of support services.
Examples of Malpractice/Breach of Duty Cases:
- Claims against lawyers for alleged malpractice in tax and estate planning and for fiduciary violations in the administration of estates.
- Malpractice/misrepresentation claim brought by the purchaser of an international business against the business’s previous accountants.
- Claims against the trustees of a family trust for maladministration and by shareholders in a manufacturing company against a CEO, alleging misallocation of salaries, expenses and dividends and freezing out of relatives.
- Lawsuit between the partners of an accounting firm involving allegations of a freeze-out and mismanagement.
- Dispute between an architectural firm and an owner over allegedly negligent design and errors in a licensing application involving an energy offloading facility.
- See Construction cases for other disputes involving allegations of malpractice by architects and engineers.
Examples of Insurance Matters and Class Actions:
- Coverage dispute between a purchaser of a high-tech business, the seller, and an insurer over warranties given as part of the sale.
- Claim brought by a manufacturer against its insurer for the cost of remediating groundwater pollution. Issues included liability triggers and relative liability of insurers in different time periods and at different levels.
- Lawsuit by a bankruptcy trustee against the directors of a failed company and their E and O insurer, based on the directors’ alleged failure to protect creditor interests.
- Dispute between an international software developer and a U.S. company involving the construction of disgorgement vs. claims coverage conditions in the developer’s E and O policy.
- Coverage disputes over manufacturers’ claims to large reimbursements for the cost of defense and indemnity payments in tort class actions.
- For other cases involving insurance coverage issues, see construction and real estate.
