New Associate Attorneys

Linda B. Conroy and Justin C. Doolittle were both law clerks with Lowis & Gellen while attending law school and have each established a considerable body of experience in their selected areas of practice.

Ms. Conroy is a graduate of The John Marshall Law School, where she was on the Dean’s List, and an honors graduate of Loyola University Chicago (BA Political Science and Communications). While at Loyola University Chicago, she was elected to the National Political Science Honor Society, the National Communication Honor Society, and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Her experience as a law clerk focused primarily in medical malpractice and personal injury litigation. She will concentrate her practice in civil litigation with an emphasis on medical malpractice defense.

Mr. Doolittle began law school on an academic scholarship at Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon. He completed his legal studies at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He was named to the Dean’s List and was designated a Mayer Brown Vis Moot Fellow for 2006-2007. Mr. Doolittle also competed in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna, Austria, in 2007. As an undergraduate, Mr. Doolittle attended The Colorado College (B.A., in Philosophy, with a minor in Physics), where he was the only student appointed to the Intellectual Engagement Committee created by the President of Colorado College to develop a strategic plan for the future development of the College. As a Lowis & Gellen law clerk, he researched and drafted procedural motions for both corporate litigation and medical malpractice issues. He will practice in commercial litigation, shareholder disputes, municipal liability defense and constitutional tort defense.

Trial Victory in Multi-Million Dollar Hospital Case

Lowis & Gellen Attorneys Robert H. Smith, Vito M. Masciopinto, Scott R. Wolfe and Julia Molina obtained a Not Guilty verdict for a Chicago hospital and its emergency department physicians. The Plaintiff’s attorney asked for $15,000,000 from the jury. Plaintiff, a 6-year-old boy, was taken to the hospital’s ER due to back pain where he was examined. The ER felt he was stable and discharged him without doing an MRI. Approximately one week later he lost function in his legs and was taken to another hospital where an MRI diagnosed a spine tumor. Emergent neurosurgery was done but the boy was rendered a paraplegic with no movement or sensation below the umbilicus. The boy, now 18 years old, is confined to a wheelchair, is permanently incontinent of bladder and bowel, is impotent and suffers from skin breakdowns from his wheelchair. Lowis & Gellen argued plaintiff's visit to the hospital was very early in the disease process and the tumor could not be diagnosed at that time. After a three-week trial the Cook County, Illinois jury returned a verdict in favor of Lowis & Gellen’s clients, the hospital and ER physicians.

Lowis & Gellen Real Estate Practice Group partner to speak at Zoning and Land Development seminar

Firm partner, David L. Grobart, will be a featured presenter at an upcoming continuing education seminar on the various aspects and complexities of land use law.

“Zoning, Subdivision and Land Development Law in Illinois,” sponsored by Lorman Education Services, will be held on Thursday, December 6, 2007 at the Holiday Inn – Elk Grove, 1000 Busse Road, Elk Grove Village, IL.

Seminar highlights will include:

Government authority in the development process

Common permitting issues

Overview of zoning measures

Zoning mechanisms

This program is designed for attorneys, business owners, lenders, surveyors, project managers, real estate agents and brokers, surveyors, land use officials and other professionals involved in the commercial real estate development process.

The Lowis & Gellen Real Estate Practice Group represents clients in all aspects of complex commercial real estate transactions. If you would like more information, please contact David Grobart at dgrobart@lowis-gellen.com or by phone at (847) 282-1201.

Lowis & Gellen Real Estate Practice Group partner to speak at ICSC law conference

Firm Partner, David Grobart, will lead a roundtable discussion during the International Council of Shopping Centers Law Conference, October 24-27 in San Diego, CA. David will be discussing the many complexities involved in negotiating ground leases. The Lowis & Gellen Real Estate Practice Group represents clients in all aspects of complex commercial real estate transactions. If you would like more information on this upcoming event or regarding the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group, please contact David Grobart at dgrobart@lowis-gellen.com or by phone at (847) 282-1201.

Lowis & Gellen Concludes Family Busness Transfer Agreement

L&G concluded a restructure of family interests in two real estate land trusts as well ownership interests in a family owned Hispanic grocery. The family members wished to realign their ownership interests based on their changing business focus. One member of the family transferred his minority interests in two land trusts to another family member to enable that other family member to focus on the ownership and operation of the businesses at those two locations. The transaction also enabled one family member to take complete ownership of ethnic neighborhood grocery so that member could devote exclusive attention to the growth and success of that business."

DISMISSAL OF HOSPITAL AFFIRMED ON APPEAL

Partner Brian Levin, Associate Brad Wolven, and Deborah O’Brien (of counsel) successfully defended the dismissal of Rush Oak Park Hospital on appeal before the First District Appellate Court in Chicago. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of Rush on grounds that the plaintiff failed to exercise reasonable diligence in serving Rush with plaintiff’s summons and complaint alleging negligent performance of a vertebroplasty procedure performed at the hospital.

FORUM NON CONVENIENS TRANSFER FROM COOK TO KANE AFFIRMED ON APPEAL

Partner Vito Masciopinto and Deborah O’Brien (of counsel) successfully defended the forum non conveniens transfer of plaintiff’s medical negligence complaint against Sherman Hospital on appeal before the First District Appellate Court in Chicago. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s transfer of the action from Cook to Kane County, finding that both public and private interest factors strongly favored transfer to Kane County. In affirming the transfer, the appellate court recognized that most of the parties, including the plaintiff, are located in Kane County, and that the alleged negligent acts occurred in Kane County.

Cary Depel Named Of Counsel in L&G’s London Office

In recognition of his long professional and personal relationship with Lowis & Gellen, and in the firm’s continuing commitment to provide top tier counsel to our US and international clients, Cary Depel has been named Of Counsel to the firm, resident in the London office. He will continue to serve as IRM Chairman and Non-Executive Director of Compliance, Legal and Risk Management at ECU Group plc, a London-based alternative investment manager and hedge fund. Cary is a solicitor licensed to practice in England and Wales, and also admitted to practice in California.

Cary was the Compliance, Risk & Legal Director for City Index Ltd (formerly IFX Markets Ltd). He holds non-executive directorships in mining, financial services and strategy consultancy businesses. He has served as a Director of a major UK stockbroker, Chief Legal Officer for the largest UK insurer, and Special Counsel to Lloyd's, as well as maintaining a private legal practice in London and San Francisco.

For additional information on Cary’s credentials and details on his practice, please see his biography at click here. He invites your inquiries at cdepel@lowis-gellen.com.

$5 Million Copyright Battle Yields Rare Verdict for Doctor

Rob Smeltzer, a partner in Lowis & Gellen's Chicago office, and Deb O'Brien of the firm's Orlando office, along with the support of associate Ethan Hayward, recently obtained a not guilty verdict defending a surgeon in a highly publicized copyright claim in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The hotly contested case involved a multiple-count complaint concerning the ownership of an internet domain name and of web site content written by our client during his employment in a medical facility.

After leaving the medical facility to start his own business, the surgeon transferred the domain name and modified the content of the website to promote his new practice. Mr. Smeltzer and Ms. O’Brien contended that the surgeon had not created the website content "in the scope of his employment" with the medical facility and that, as the original registrant of the domain name, the surgeon owned it.

Mr. Smeltzer and Ms. O'Brien successfully dismissed two of the ten counts in the complaint before the trial, and another two after the jury verdict. And although the jury originally found that the medical facility (and not the surgeon) had owned and paid for the domain name and copyrighted web site content, the jury ultimately found for the surgeon on the basis that Plaintiff's copyright registration in the web site was invalid because it had been obtained fraudulently from the Copyright Office. Obtaining a verdict on this basis is extremely rare and resulted in a winning verdict for our client on the key copyright count at issue.

Although the jury did find in Plaintiff's favor on several other counts of the complaint, Mr. Smeltzer and Ms. O'Brien were able to manage the surgeon's risk by attacking Plaintiff's damages claims and the importance of the website in driving patients to the client's cosmetic surgery practice.

In the end, the jury awarded Plaintiff only $90,000 of the more than $5 million dollars sought. Significantly, however, due to the prevailing party attorneys' fees provisions of the Copyright Act, as well as our lawyers’ pre-trial use of the federal offer of judgment statute (Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68), we are now pursuing a net recovery in the surgeon's favor. Moreover, the extremely favorable result was obtained at a cost that was less than one-third of Plaintiff's costs. For further information about the case, or Lowis & Gellen's national intellectual property practice, please contact Rob Smeltzer (rsmeltzer@lowis-gellen.com)