Lee and Mutual Benefits Inc v Wedin and RGIA Inc.

Aug 22, 2008

OUTCOME:

Cats v. CFOP1

Apr 14, 2008

OUTCOME: Plaintiff's verdict of full damages

This was a dispute over a breach of a lease and a company's intentional interference with Mr. Cats' sale of the leased property. Mr. Cats owned a building leased by CFOP1, LLC, doing business as Kelle ... r Williams North Seattle Realty. While Mr. Cats was in the process of selling the building, having already signed a purchase and sale agreement, CFOP1, who was the anchor tenant and whose lease ran for multiple additional years, simply vacated the premises and intentionally breached the lease, presumably to gain negotiating power with the new owner and to harm Mr. Cats, who CFOP1 admitted not liking. CFOP1 claimed they left because of a mold condition that had been discovered months earlier. Understandably, the purchaser of the building demanded a reduction in the purchase price of $161,250, and Mr. Cats had little choice but to agree to the reduction. Mr. Cats sued CFOP1 for the lost rent damages, the reduction in the purchase price and attorneys' fees and interest. The matter was tried before a jury in King County Superior Court, and following a week of testimony, the jury returned a verdict for Mr. Cats on both of his claims, for breach of contract and tortious interference with prospective business relations. Prior to sending the case to the jury, the judge had dismissed the counterclaim of breach of contract against Mr. Cats for lack of substantive evidence supporting the claim. The jury awarded $177,000 in damages, and the judge is considering the amount of attorneys' fees and prejudgment interest to award at this time.

Jarvis v. K2

Mar 06, 2008

OUTCOME: A significant defense victory on a copyright issue

Our firm, Shannon L. McDougald, P.S., represented K2 in a dispute over the licensing and use of photographs by Chase Jarvis. The case was litigated through trial, appeal and remand, and I had a signif ... icant role in the latter portions of the appeal and on remand, once I joined the firm. Plaintiff entered trial having already received a summary judgment ruling in his favor on liability. Therefore, the trial was primarily about damages and the legal restrictions and availability of different kinds of damages. K2 successfully argued in the trial court for application of the collective works privilege to many of the images at issue at trial, resulting in a damage award far lower than had been sought by Plaintiff. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit did reverse the finding regarding the collective works privilege, potentially opening the door to statutory damages (up to $150,000 per image, of which there were 24 additional infringements) and attorneys' fees, which were comparable to the original damage award. On remand, K2 successfully argued that the registrations for most of the 24 images were invalid, resulting in an award of additional damages of approximately one tenth of one percent of the damages Plaintiff sought. Additionally, Plaintiff's attempt to obtain attorneys' fees was flatly rejected by the Court. Needless to say, the result was extraordinary.

Quinault Indian Nation v. KeyBanc et al.

Oct 25, 2007

OUTCOME: Positive defense outcome in arbitration

This was a significant arbitration, taking approximately 15 days in front of the arbitrators, in which the Quinault Indian Nation claimed wrongdoing in their securities transactions with McDonald Inves ... tments and the registered representatives thereof, David Hohimer and our client, Michelle Hansen. The result of the lengthy and complex arbitration was a finding of just a portion of the liability that had been claimed by the Quinaults, and it was universally viewed as a positive outcome from what became a rather ugly arbitration proceeding.