The high standards, cogent case analysis, impeccable preparation, and creative presentation that characterize Raynes McCarty's personal injury practice are often put to use in the name of our business clients. When general counsels recognize that litigation may be imminent, they seek out the attorneys of Raynes McCarty. A corps of our attorneys have devoted years of their practice to commercial litigation.
We have been able to aggressively represent business institutions in a variety of settings:
- Constitutional Challenge to $33,000,000.00 in County Loans When it was discovered that officials in Bergen County, New Jersey had provided a 20 year, interest free loan of $33,000,000.00 to a private business, a group of taxpayers sought our Marty Brigham to lead the legal battle to have those funds returned. The New Jersey Constitution prohibits public funds from being loaned to private companies when there is no public benefit. Digesting thousands of financial documents, Mr. Brigham, joined by Dan Bencivenga, Eugene McGurk and local counsel in New Jersey, were able to track the loans and file the challenge, which is pending.
- $25,000,000 Recovery for Philadelphia Schools When the Philadelphia School District needed to compel asbestos manufacturers to pay for the abatement and remediation in Philadelphia Schools, district authorities turned to Raynes McCarty; the team was led by Arthur Raynes and Harold Goodman. In order to determine which individual asbestos companies had installed asbestos in each school, the Firm dispatched a team of lawyers and paralegals throughout the city, tracking down and interviewing scores of witnesses. The case resolved for in excess of $25,000,000.
- Challenge to Multi-Billion Dollar Merger of New York Stock Exchange with ArchipelagoWhen Seat Holders of the venerable New York Stock Exchange learned that a deal had been struck by its Board of Directors to convert into a for profit company and then merge with an electronic computer trading network -- a deal valued in the billions of dollars -- they were concerned that the terms of the merger significantly undervalued their interests and that the deal was brokered by an investment firm with serious conflicts of interests. The Seat Holders turned to Raynes McCarty which led the initial investigation to challenge the terms of the proposed merger and set up the legal team to fight both the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange and the brokering investment firm. Stephen Raynes spearheads the firm's day-to-day investigation and prosecution of the case, which is ongoing, together with Arthur Raynes and Jerry McHugh.
- Tens of Millions of Dollars in Potential Insurance Coverage Restored When Sunbeam Corporation was confronted with the cost of environmental remediation on the land of companies it had acquired, it turned to its insurance carriers to help pay. The carriers turned Sunbeam down, relying on an exclusion that they had added to their policies during the early 1970's. Having lost in the trial court and in the Superior Court, Sunbeam sought out Raynes McCarty to represent it in its final chance with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Dave Binder and Arthur Raynes persuaded the Supreme Court to adopt "regulatory estoppel" as the law of Pennsylvania, to reverse the Superior Court's en banc decision, and to reinstate Sunbeam's claims against its insurers. Sunbeam Corporation v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 566 Pa. 494, 781 A.2d 1189 (2001).
- Reinstatement of a Million Dollar Liability Policy An industrial manufacturer was told by its liability carrier that coverage would be denied based on a broad expansion of a "pollution exclusion clause." After prior counsel lost the case to restore coverage before a federal judge, a Raynes McCarty attorney took the appeal to the Third Circuit and won a reversal, then a verdict at trial. Full coverage was restored to the manufacturer.