Spillane Wins $3 Million Arbitration Award for Investment Bankers

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Spillane Law Group represented Claimants Kenneth Kilroy, Ross Kilroy and M&A Securities Group, Inc. in an arbitration against Respondent Adrienne Smith Worley, JAMS No. 1210033774, concerning an unpaid $3 million investment banking fee from the purchase and sale of Ms. Smith Worley’s shares in Young’s Market.  On August 28, 2018 the Arbitrator rendered a Final Award in favor of Spillane’s clients for the full sum requested.

Ms. Smith Worley was the heir, through her mother Janet Smith, of significant shares in Young’s Market, a venerable closely held company currently focused on distribution of spirits.  Upon her mother’s passing there was an appraisal of Ms. read more

Spillane Trial Group Wins Affirmance of Securities Fraud Judgment by 9th Cir. BAP (California Farms v. Roberts)

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On September 10, 2015 I informed you that the firm won a securities fraud judgment from Bankruptcy Judge Maureen Tighe.  We showed that the defendants induced our client to invest in an organic produce venture through false and reckless statements that the defendants were growing their own produce while suppressing information that they were merely buying produce from third party growers.  These growers all had powers under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (“PACA”) to hold insiders personally liable for unpaid debts for sale of perishable produce.

Our clients’ investment took the form of loans secured by the venture’s assets.  The defendants named our client a manager of the venture.  read more

Defamation in the Era of Fake News

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When I was a kid there were three major television networks and a relatively limited number of print publications. A great deal of capital was needed to become one of the few voices in mass media.

Now, in the Internet era, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can be a publisher. This has democratized media, for better or for worse. The better part – lower barriers to entry for speakers – has been offset by, shall we say, degraded standards for accuracy and journalistic integrity. Witness the current dialogue over “fake news.”

With the proliferation of speakers has come a proliferation of people claiming that they have been defamed. read more

Supreme Court Slightly Smooths Difficult Path for Copyright Plaintiffs in Kirtsaeng

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I’ve had the pleasure of representing both plaintiffs and defendants in copyright cases.  See https://spillaneplc.com/ten-year-old-perfect-10-v-ccbill-decision-withstands-test-of-time/  The intake conversation varies dramatically, however, depending on which side of a case I am asked to represent, because of the court’s discretion to award attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party in a copyright case.  17 USC § 505.

On the defense side, I have represented companies with significant operating capital.  Having been sued, unless there is an immediate settlement available they have no choice but to appear and defend the case.  While the risk of paying not only damages but attorneys’ fees to a prevailing plaintiff is an important consideration, this would not have been catastrophic to my clients.  read more

You Just Lost The Trial, or Did You? Motions During and After Trial Can Reverse a Bad Result

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I have tried numerous business cases with a fine record of success.  Trials are, however, an uncertain process, and if one tries enough cases, the most skilled trial lawyer will eventually lose a jury verdict.

When a trial lawyer hears an adverse verdict in court, should s/he walk away, shoulders slumped, counting for vindication on the power of an appellate brief due many months hence?  No.  A trial lawyer’s efforts to reverse an adverse jury verdict begins while the jury is still standing in the jury box.

The first question one must ask, seconds after hearing an adverse verdict, is whether the verdict is ambiguous or contradictory.  read more