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Pierce Atwood partner Stephen Del Sesto serves as court-appointed receiver for the St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island Retirement Plan in the first case of its kind in the country to use state receivership to protect a failed private “church plan” pension fund.
We recently represented a bank in a putative nationwide and statewide class action concerning student loan services filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. After we and counsel for other defendants filed motions to compel individual arbitration, the case was settled on favorable terms.
Pierce Atwood represented Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation (MHIC) in connection with a $20 million subscription line of credit from Rockland Trust Company for the Healthy Neighborhoods Equity Fund II Limited Partnership. The fund was launched by MHIC and Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) to finance inclusive mixed-use developments near public transportation that offer retail, housing, and social services to support healthier communities.
In a multi-office effort, a team of Mergers & Acquisitions attorneys from our Business Group represented a major Northeastern food products company in the complex spinoff of a significant subsidiary in a transaction valued at over $128 million. This transaction involved exhaustive due diligence, complex transition arrangements and intricate indemnification arrangements.
Pierce Atwood successfully represented the Maine House Republicans and the Maine Heritage Policy Center before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court regarding the validity of Maine’s ranked-choice voting law. In a first-in-the nation ruling, the SJC unanimously agreed with our argument that the ranked-choice voting law was unconstitutional because it violated the Maine Constitution’s plurality vote requirement. The ruling has national implications for proposed ranked choice voting laws in states that have similar constitutional provisions.
In an action concerning a commercial lease dispute brought against our client J.C. Penney by its landlord, we prevailed on a motion to dismiss in Maine federal court. The court affirmed that Maine law does not include an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and, accordingly, that J.C. Penney did not violate any such covenant in the course of its commercial relationship with the landlord.
Represented one of three siblings in a dispute pertaining to care of mother with dementia and matters regarding handling of trust funds by one of the two brothers. We had the dispute stayed, pending mediation/arbitration, under which mediation occurred on the first day and when it failed, the matter immediately proceeded to arbitration before the same person who had been mediator. We received a total win for our client who was named solely responsible for the mother’s medical care, plus was given sole authority over the trusts. Brother was also ordered to reimburse the trusts for payments improperly made to himself and his wife while he managed finances.
Working together, our Business and Trusts & Estates lawyers helped our client Tom’s of Maine negotiate the sale of a controlling interest in the company to Colgate-Palmolive, in which the family retained a 16% interest.
Pierce Atwood delivered a successful outcome to the regional sewer authority Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC) at an American Arbitration Association (AAA) construction arbitration relating to a claim that a differing site condition impacted the installation of a concrete drop shaft. The 30-foot diameter drop shaft was 220 feet deep and connected to the NBC’s one-mile long retention tunnel designed to capture sewerage that historically flowed into Narragansett Bay during rain storms. During the contractor’s grouting operations at an adjacent structure, the contractor’s drop shaft experienced a large amount of water intrusion (up to 250 gallons per minute). The contractor spent $1.1 million to pump out the water and seal the concrete walls of its drop shaft. Pierce Atwood attorneys John Bulman and Katie Kohm handled the defense and the hearings before the panel of three AAA arbitrators. The arbitrators gave credence to Pierce Atwood’s main arguments, found that the contractor failed to carry its burden of proof, and dismissed the contractor’s claim in its entirety.
We successfully defended a private higher education institution on breach of contract claims brought by tenured faculty members in connection with a program closure.