Professional Liability / Breach of Fiduciary Duty

Lawyers at Gradstein & Marzano have decades of experience prosecuting and defending professional liability actions involving claims for misconduct, breach of fiduciary duty, self-dealing, conflicts of interest, malpractice and negligence. We have both represented and litigated against lawyers, broker/dealers, accountants and auditors, officers and directors, real estate brokers, and other professionals in a wide range of cases in state and federal courts across the country, including class actions.

Often, professional liability claims are part of a larger landscape of claims being asserted, and arise in the context of underlying deals or circumstances that can be quite complex. The depth of our knowledge and experience in other practice areas enhances our ability to understand and effectively litigate legal issues that arise in the professional liability matters that we handle.

A sampling of the cases we have handled demonstrate the vast range of issues and factual scenarios involved in the professional liability and breach of fiduciary duty claims we have litigated:

Won a unanimous multi-million dollar jury verdict (along with an undisclosed punitive damage settlement) against Coopers & Lybrand in a breach of fiduciary duty suit arising from charges related to the handling of former 10cc rock star Lol Crème’s business affairs
Obtained a $3.4 million settlement from a prominent Beverly Hills entertainment law firm on behalf of the film producer of Morgan’s Ferry, when the case settled mid-trial before a jury
Achieved a multi-million dollar settlement for retired NFL players in a federal class action legal malpractice case against the NFLPA involving the commercial exploitation of players in electronic sports games
Represented international victims of Pan Am Flight 73 Libyan terrorist attack in litigation and arbitration, involving contractual claims, claims for breach of fiduciary duty and legal malpractice, and for declaratory relief and contractual interpretation involving complex issues of international law and espousal, which was settled confidentially
Defended and successfully settled a federal class action on behalf of Rothstein Kass, an international CPA firm now a Big Four audit firm, in a case alleging audit mismanagement of hedge funds and fund-of-funds in the Bernie Madoff and Thomas Petters schemes
Obtained a $102 million judgment in federal court on behalf of Pink sheet-traded Veltex Corporation on behalf of the newly constituted non-fraudulent Board of Directors and officer group on claims for fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty and malpractice in securities “pump and dump” scheme
Prosecuted and successfully settled a professional malpractice action against former legal counsel on behalf of a well-known California theme park
Represented ergonomic corporate keyboard patent owners in professional malpractice action against former legal counsel
Defended a CPA firm against claims of U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee for accounting malpractice resulting in settlement
Obtained injunctive relief, the appointment of a receiver and a multi-million dollar award, including punitive damages, following a three month, three panel member arbitration arising out of a real estate partnership dissolution and fraud action, involving claims for accounting malpractice and other fiduciary misconduct

Our effective advocacy in many of these cases resulted in favorable resolutions for our clients.