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BUSINESS LITIGATION

Summary:

Be it a company's agreement to provide services, a bank's promise to grow and protect money, a transit business's obligation to safely transport goods, or somewhere in between, a successful business must rely on the contracts it creates with other businesses. Most of the time, these commercial relationships are to both sides' benefit. Sometimes, however, one side injures the other by its negligent—or worse, its intentional—misconduct. In these situations, an injured business can be left reeling: when it needed support from the other business, it was abandoned or deceived. In such a case, strong legal representation is necessary to right the wrong inflicted on the injured business. The Robert Pahlke Law Group has successfully represented the interests of those damaged by negligence in the business world. Our representative cases are listed below.

Cases:

1. Fay Ellis, PR of the Estate of George Hess Ellis, deceased, et al. v. Beartooth International, Inc., Mel Gibson, and Bruce Davey

- Major Hollywood star purchases a Montana ranch with a contract clause that the former owner can continue living on the ranch and working for the purchaser. After the purchase, defendant fired the former owner, George Ellis, and his employee son and kicked them off the land. Days later, George suffered an aortic aneurysm, followed by a stroke and death. Plaintiffs claim breach of contract and that defendant knew that Mr. Ellis had a heart condition. Indeed, Gibson acknowledged in testimony that he knew that Ellis had a “bad ticker.” Confidential settlement.

2. The Insurance Store v. First National Bank of North Platte

- An employee of the The Insurance Store embezzled checks and deposited them in her personal accounts at the First National Bank on over 400 occasions. Plaintiff Insurance Store won a $413,000 verdict against the bank in court.

3. Gottsch Feeding Corp. v. Red Cloud Cattle Co.

Gottsch and Company contracted with Red Cloud Cattle Company to keep, properly care for, and feed the Gottsch's breeding cattle for four years. The agister guaranteed a 90% calf crop the first year and a 95% calf crop the ensuing years and promised to pay for any crop shortfall. Early in the term of the contract, the owner began to have problems with how the agister cared for the cattle. At trial, the court found that the deficient care of the agister resulted in the first year calf crop being underweight by a total of 168,560 lbs and produced a second year crop shortfall of 80 calves, but a judgment was awarded to the agister in the amount of $49,963.75. After hearing argument, the Nebraska Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s verdict against the plaintiff and awarded $53,910 in the plaintiff’s favor – more than $100,000 swing from the previous verdict.

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