While past success does not guaranty future results, we present a small sample of commercial litigation cases Mr. Turman handled for his clients:
- Successfully Represented Accounting Firm against Former Employer and Competitor for Breach of the Employment Agreement, Disloyalty and Theft of Trade Secrets (Nassau County, Commercial Division). Mr. Turman represented a large Long Island accounting after it discovered one of employees had entered into an agreement to join another accounting firm on long island. Without his employer's knowledge, the employee, with the aid of another employer and his new employer, stole confidential material, trade secrets and began contacting company accounts in effort to steal them from his employer in violation of the restrictive covenant in the employment agreement. Mr. Turman sued the former employees for beach of the employment agreement, breach of fiduciary duties, breach the duty of loyalty and conversion of the accounting firm's assets. Mr. Turman also sued the new employer for tortious interference with its agreement with its employees and for aiding and abetting their violations of that agreement. After completing document discovery, Mr. Turman's client successfully settled the dispute in mediation, avoiding the expense of trial.
- Successfully Represented Franchise Owners Being Sued by Franchisor for Breach of the Franchise Agreements and Trademark Infringement (Eastern District of New York). Mr. Turman defended the owners and operators of several day care franchises on Long Island. In these cases, a large franchisor brought actions against these franchise owners in federal court seeking more than $2 Million in damages for allegedly breaching the franchise agreements, stealing trade secrets and infringing on the franchisor's trademarks and copyrights. Mr. Turman defeated the franchisor's motions for injunctive relief and asserted counterclaims against the franchisor for its own breaches of the franchise agreements and for misappropriating funds the franchisor held in trust for the benefit of the franchise owners. After discovery was completed, the franchisor accepted $40,000 in full settlement of the disputes, which is less than two (2%) percent of its original demands.
- Successfully Represented Franchisee Against Insurance Carriers, With the Carriers Covering the Costs of Defense and Settlement. While Mr. Turman's was defending franchise owners in litigation against the franchisor, he filed Notices of Claims with their insurance carries demanding that they defend and indemnify his clients against the franchisor's claims. Although the carriers either denied coverage or reserved their right to deny coverage, Mr. Turman ultimately convinced the carriers to pay a substantial portion of his client's litigation expenses and fund their settlement with the franchisor.
- Successful FINRA Arbitration For Investor that Lost $4 Million in Churning Scheme Run by Unscrupulous Broker/Dealers (FINRA Arbitration). Mr. Turman represented an investor from Wisconsin that agreed to open an account with a Long Island based broker/dealer. After initially earning the investor's trust, the broker/dealer convinced the investor to deposit $4 Million into its brokerage account. Without the investor's knowledge or consent, the Broker/Dealer engaged in unauthorized, speculative and unsuitable trades, starting with small trades at first, but eventually making larger numbers of unauthorized trades in ever higher amounts. In just six (6) short months, the broker wiped out the investor's trading account, leaving a balance of less than $260,000 of the original $4,000,000 investment. During the arbitration, Mr. Turman proved that during this short period of time, the broker/dealer executed more than $46,000,000.00 in trades in the Investor's account, resulting in an astonishing 11:1 turnover ratio (5:1 is more than sufficient to establish unauthorized churning). Ultimately, the brokerage firm agreed to settle the case, with the firm's owners agreeing to reimburse a substantial portion of the investor's losses out of their personal assets.
- Successfully Represented Accounting Firm against Former Employer and Competitor for Breach of the Employment Agreement, Disloyalty and Theft of Trade Secrets (Nassau County, Commercial Division). Turman represented a large Long Island accounting after it discovered one of employees had entered into an agreement to join another accounting firm on long island. Without his employer's knowledge, the employee, with the aid of another employer and his new employer, stole confidential material, trade secrets and began contacting company accounts in effort to steal them from his employer in violation of the restrictive covenant in the employment agreement. Mr. Turman sued the former employees for beach of the employment agreement, breach of fiduciary duties, breach the duty of loyalty and conversion of the accounting firm's assets. Mr. Turman also sued the new employer for tortious interference with its agreement with its employees and for aiding and abetting their violations of that agreement. After completing document discovery, Mr. Turman's client successfully settled the dispute in mediation, avoiding the expense of trial.
- Successfully Represented Franchise Owners Being Sued by Franchisor for Breach of Franchise Agreements and Trademark Infringement (Eastern District of New York). Turman defended the owners and operators of several day care franchises on Long Island. In these cases, a large franchisor brought actions against these franchise owners in federal court seeking more than $2 Million in damages for allegedly breaching the franchise agreements, stealing trade secrets and infringing on the franchisor's trademarks and copyrights. The franchisor demanded more than $2 Million in damages and also asked the Federal District Court to enter injunctive relief that would put the franchise owners out of business. Mr. Turman defeated the franchisor's motions for injunctive relief and asserted counterclaims against the franchisor for its own breaches of the franchise agreements and for misappropriating funds the franchisor held in trust for the benefit of all franchise owners and those funds to cover its own operating shortfalls. After discovery was completed, the franchisor accepted $40,000 in full settlement of the disputes, which is less than two (2%) percent of its original demands.
- Successfully Represented Franchisee Against Insurance Carriers on Claims for Indemnity and Litigation Costs. While Mr. Turman's was defending franchise owners in litigation against the franchisor, he filed Notices of Claims with their insurance carries demanding that they defend and indemnify his clients against the franchisor's claims. Although the carriers either denied coverage or reserved their right to deny coverage, Mr. Turman ultimately convinced the carriers to pay a substantial portion of his client's litigation expenses and fund their settlement with the franchisor.
- Successful FINRA Arbitration For Investor that Lost $4 Million in Churning Scheme Run by Unscrupulous Broker/Dealers (FINRA Arbitration). Turman represented an investor that agreed to open an account with Long Island based broker/dealer. After initially earning the investor's trust, the broker/dealer convinced the investor to deposit $4 Million in an account with the brokerage firm. Without the investor's knowledge or consent, the Broker/Dealer engaged in unauthorized, speculative and unsuitable trades, starting with small trades at first, but eventually making larger numbers of unauthorized trades in higher amounts over time. In a six (6) month period, the broker wiped out the investor's trading account, leaving a balance of less than $260,000 of the original $4,000,000 investment. During the arbitration, Mr. Turman proved that during an eighteen (18) month period, the broker/dealer executed more than $46,000,000.00 in trades in the Investor's account, resulting in an astonishing 11:1 turnover ratio (5:1 is more than sufficient to establish unauthorized churning). Ultimately, the brokerage firm agreed to settle the case, with the firm's owners agreeing to reimburse a substantial portion of the investors losses out of their personal assets.
- Successfully Represented Co-Fiduciaries in a Contested Accounting Proceeds Involving Approximately $25,000,000 in Assets (Surrogate's Court, Suffolk County, New York). Turman represented three co-executors and co-trustees of testamentary trusts that held more than $25,000,000 in total assets. The contingent remainder beneficiaries of the trusts commenced account proceedings against the co-fiduciaries, that beca in several hotly contested accounting proceedings brought be he contingent remainder beneficiaries of the trusts. This representation involved coordinating with attorneys representing the co-fiduciaries in related matters pending cases pending in Federal Court, NY State Supreme court. During the course of these contested accounting proceedings, Mr. Turman filed and successfully argued two separate appeals before the Appellate Division. Ultimately, the Before successfully settling these cases for the fidiciaries, Mr. Turman engaged in aggressive litigation before the Surrogate's Court, the Appellate Division (multiple times) and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
- In re Arthur Machinery, Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District Illinois. Turman represented a large, publicly traded Japanese manufacturer of high-precision CNC machinery in connection with a Chapter 11 proceeding commenced by its largest US distributor. In addition to protecting his client's interests in the main Chapter 11 case, Mr. Turman also defended his client in an adversary proceeding wherein the Debtor sought to avoid more than $800,000 in pre-petition payments received from the Debtor that were later alleged to be preferential payments and fraudulent transfers. Mr. Turman asserted various counterclaims against the Debtor and its principals, including fraud claims. Ultimately, the parties reached a settlement that was favorable to Mr. Turman's client. In addition to the forgoing, Mr. Turman filed a claim with his client's insurance carrier and ultimately negotiated an agreement for the carrier to pay 80% of his client's legal fees in connection with the adversary proceeding.
- In re The Innovative Companies, LLC et al., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of New York. Turman was part of a team of professionals that successfully represented an enterprise with seven (7) debtors that was the largest supplier of natural stone products to Home Depot an Home Expo, with net assets in excess of $200 Million. Mr. Turman and his team successfully navigated the Debtors through the Chapter 11 proceedings. Although the case was hotly contested, the Court approved the sale of substantially all of the Debtors' assets over the objections of secured creditors. With Mr. Turman's advice and guidance, a plan of orderly liquidation was confirmed. Mr. Turman also represented the debtors in numerous adversary proceedings, including avoidance actions, breach of contract cases and numerous real estate disputes.
- In re Laurel Hill Paper Co., Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of North Carolina. Mr. Turman represented an institutional lender with a claim secured by a first priority lien in equipment collateral appraised by the lender to be worth approximately $2.4 Million. To protect his client's claims, Mr. Turman was able to locate the lender's assets and engaged in motion practice that helped the lender gain a favorable bargaining position. Mr. Turman subsequently helped form and then lead an ad hoc committee of secured lenders in a proceeding to determine the extent, validity, priority and value of various secured creditor's liens in the proceeds generated from the bulk sale of the Debtor's assets. Ultimately, Mr. Turman settled the case during mediation, with the Debtor agreeing to pay the Mr. Turman's client $2,200,000.00, representing a ninety-three (93%) percent recovery.
- In re W.C. Properties, Inc. S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of New York. Mr. Turman represented a secured lender who held mortgages and blanket liens against substantially all of the Debtor's assets, including its Burger King franchises. During the course of the Debtor's Chapter 11 proceeding, Mr. Turman negotiated an agreement between and among his client, the debtors, the Creditor's Committee and Burger King that resulted in the sale of substantially all of the Debtor's assets in three separate transactions. The client's secured claims were paid in full from the proceeds of these sales.
- In re Curative Health Services, Inc. et al., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York. Turman worked with a team of professions representing a debtor-in-possession in a successful pre-packaged Chapter 11 filing, which included a $50 Million debtor-in-possession credit facility.
- In re Millennium Assisted Living Residence at Freehold, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of New Jersey. Turman represented a senior secured lender holding a $25 Million claim against the Debtor, secured by a first priority blanket lien in the Debtor's assisted living facility. Mr. Turman negotiating terms for a stipulation allowing the Debtor to continue use of the cash collateral during its Chapter 11 proceeding, subject to the payment of adequate protection in amount acceptable to his client. Mr. Turman engaged in motion practice that ultimately forced the Debtor to sell substantially all of its assets, including all real and personal property, to a new operator, which resulted in full repayment of his client's claims.
- In re Phylos, Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware. Turman represented a secured lender with a lien against certain intellectual property and other non-tangible assets in a Chapter 11 proceeding. Mr. Turman successfully moved for adequate protection and later negotiated terms for the liquidation of substantially all of the Debtor's assets, resulting in full satisfaction of his client's claim.