Alison Miner’s national practice covers an expansive range of commercial litigation and corporate matters.
Alison’s commercial litigation practice spans a wide variety of areas, including general contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, insurance coverage and bad faith. Alison has successfully tried cases to verdict in state and federal courts and before arbitration panels across the country. Alison also has litigated matters nationally that resolved in favor of her client via motions and settlement. Although Alison handles litigation matters of all sizes, most of her litigation practice involves complex, multi-million dollar matters.
Alison’s corporate experience includes advising boards of directors, assisting in post-merger transitions and performing many internal corporate functions, such as attending board of directors meetings regularly and drafting board meeting minutes, board resolutions, and other corporate documents. Alison has assisted corporate clients as well as individual employees deal with EEOC and discrimination issues. Alison also is well versed in drafting, researching and interpreting commercial contracts.
Examples of Alison’s extensive practice include the following:
In a case that lasted from 2000 through 2006, Alison helped lead a litigation team in a case in the Northern District of Illinois against a Big Five accounting firm and an investment bank alleging they breached their fiduciary duty to her client through their conduct in the initial formation of her client. The affirmative case sought $100 million in damages. After extensive motion practice, for which Alison took the lead in drafting, the case resulted in an extremely favorable settlement for her client.
For a client that had recently undergone a merger of 30 companies, Alison assisted with the post-merger transition. This transition involved Alison performing many functions of the assistant general counsel and corporate secretary, including attending board of directors meetings, assessing potential litigation risks, advising the board of directors, drafting board meeting minutes and board resolutions, preparing for the annual shareholders meeting, mitigating risks and drafting severance and settlement agreements.
In a case tried before a jury in the District of Colorado, Alison second-chaired the representation of a resort ranch developer as the plaintiff in a multi-million dollar breach of contract matter. After four full days of testimony before the jury and a favorable in-chambers ruling by the judge, the case settled prior to closing argument in a significant victory for her client.
In a recent employment discrimination matter, Alison represented a woman whose company’s CEO and CFO extorted money from her for years under threat of losing her job and unvested stock. After months of negotiations with the company, a favorable settlement was reached.
In the matter of Bugieska v. TIG Ins. Co. and Joseph Cacciatore Co., Case No. 01L-2374 filed in Cook County, Illinois, Alison second-chaired the defense of the insurance carrier in a matter alleging breach of contract for the carrier’s post-claim rescission of the relevant policy for misrepresentations in the application and for bad faith. This vigorous defense resulted in a finding of no bad faith and a jury verdict against the carrier that represented a significant savings from the carrier’s initial damages exposure.
In an insurance coverage declaratory arbitration against a major aeronautics manufacturer, Alison took the lead on behalf of her carrier-client in seeking a declaration as to the number of policy periods implicated by employment discrimination claims involving several decades of alleged gender and race discrimination. The carrier’s total exposure was $75 million. The case settled very favorably at a mere fraction of that exposure.