Pierce Atwood has handled thousands of matters in its 130-year history. If you know what you’re looking for, feel free to use the search field above. If you know the attorney or area of expertise most relevant to your needs, use the drop down menus. Or, if your search is not that specific at this point, select a practice area that is most relevant to your interests.
Served as local counsel to ConocoPhillips in successful defense of CERCLA contribution claims.
Pierce Atwood successfully defended a nationwide nonprofit business association and its for-profit affiliate in a putative class action on behalf of members alleging unfair trade practices, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and misrepresentation; we successfully obtained dismissal of five of seven counts and defeated class certification as to the remaining two counts.
Pierce Atwood successfully defended the trustee of two trusts established for distribution of the estate of the beneficiaries’ father. Plaintiff beneficiary of the trusts sued her co-beneficiary (the trustee) for an accounting, alleging that the trustee had wrongfully withheld distribution of assets. We moved to dismiss the complaint on statute of limitations grounds based on the pleadings and record testimony taken in a prior bankruptcy proceeding involving the plaintiff, which showed that the plaintiff’s interest in the trusts had terminated nearly 10 years ago.
Our Tax Group successfully represented a corporate client before IRS appeals where the IRS auditors had determined that the executives' compensation was unreasonable.
In a large public works project, we represented a joint venture road/bridge builder in mediation with a state DOT (and Federal Highway) in which DOT threatened to impose millions of dollars of liquidated damages. The matter was successfully settled over several days of mediation.
In 2016, Pierce Atwood partner John Bulman successfully mediated a six-party case pending in federal court. The matter involved a dispute between a publicly traded company and former board members and officers. The allegations included claims of breach of fiduciary duty, gender discrimination, theft of intellectual property and whistleblower claims. Three insurance policies were in play and after two days of mediation and some follow up, the matter settled.
We assisted the owners of OrthoLite in a successful recapitalization involving the sale of equity interests to a private equity firm and the rollover by management of a significant continuing equity position. Headquartered in Amherst, MA, with offices in Portland, OR and Hong Kong, and manufacturing facilities in China and Vietnam, OrthoLite is the world's leading supplier of comfort insoles. OrthoLite sells more than 140 million pairs of insoles annually, for use in footwear brands by Adidas, ASICS, New Balance, Merrell, Nike, Puma, Vans and Timberland.
In the 2012-2013 Maine Legislative Session, we represented the aviation industry in successfully lobbying to extend the airplane sales & use tax exemption 20 years. This single sentence in an extensive state budget provides relief for aircraft purchasers, pilots flying into Maine and maintenance of aircraft while in Maine. In 2011 Maine lawmakers approved a temporary sales and use tax exemption for aircraft and aircraft parts, but that exemption was scheduled to expire in 2015. With this exemption, Maine will be on a level playing field with other New England states in the aviation community.
Successfully represented California Department of Water Resources and California Electricity Oversight Board in opposing Calpine's proposed rejection of multi-billion dollar wholesale power purchase agreement. Calpine Corporation Chapter 11 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.). See 337 B.R. 27 (S.D.N.Y. 2006).
Distributed Energy Systems Corp. and Northern Power Systems, Inc. (Bankr. D. Del.). Successfully preserved contested intellectual property rights of The Timberland Company under section 365(n).
In Beth Carnicella v. Mercy Hospital, we obtained summary judgment for our client, Mercy Hospital, in connection with a lawsuit filed by a former employee who alleged that Mercy failed to provide her with reasonable accommodation. The plaintiff appealed the trial court’s ruling in our client’s favor to the Law Court, which affirmed, concluding a jury could not find Mercy liable for disability discrimination.
Representation of Sunlight Capital Partners in connection with acquisition, disposition and financing of their portfolio of 200 MW of small scale solar projects located in southern California.