Taylor D. Sztainer

Recent Appellate Decisions

• Freer v. CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (Ariz. Ct. App. May 5, 2022)
• In re Estate of Ecklund, A23-0210, ___ N.W.2d ___, 2023 WL WL 8009402, at *1 (Minn. Ct. App. Nov. 20, 2023)

Case Studies

• Successfully defended a $10 million failed audit claim. Our client, a CPA firm, audited the financial statements of a company that later sold all of its assets and made financial warranties in the asset purchase agreement. The company and its sole shareholder were then sued by the asset buyer for breaching those financial warranties. Alleging negligence and negligent misrepresentation in connection with the audit, the company and its shareholder then sued our client, claiming that the CPA firm was responsible for the costs incurred to defend the lawsuit brought by the asset buyer and the amount paid to settle that case. We obtained dismissal of all of the company’s claims on a motion to dismiss and dismissal of the shareholder’s remaining claims on a motion for summary judgment.
• Successfully defended against a city’s attempt to use an emergency injunction to accomplish an unlawful taking. A Minnesota city attempted to secure an easement by temporary injunction over a stormwater retention basin, buffer areas, and other infrastructure on our client’s land, which were the remnants of an abandoned development project. Our team convinced the court to deny the city’s motion for a temporary injunction and secured dismissal of the city’s action, in which it was seeking a permanent easement over our client’s land.
• Defense of $8 million claim for theft of trade secrets, including employee disloyalty, breach of non-solicitation agreement, and aiding and abetting. Our client was charged after successfully recruiting more than half the plaintiff company’s workforce for a new branch of its truck parts company. Plaintiff contended that the employee “lift-out” irreparably damaged their North Dakota business. After a three-week jury trial in North Dakota federal court, the jury returned a defense verdict on all counts.
• Successfully defended commercial landlord against multi-million-dollar breach of contract claim involving the question of which party was required to pay the cost to build out a large sporting goods retail store, after the complex commercial lease was found to be ambiguous. After a week-long trial, the court found that the sporting goods tenant was on the hook for its own multi-million-dollar build-out costs.
• Exoneration of Ponzi scheme auditor. Our client, a CPA firm, was accused of negligently failing to detect the fraud after the collapse of a massive Ponzi scheme resulting in $116 million in damages. After a two-week trial, the arbitration panel rejected the claim and awarded a total defense victory to our client.
• Successful resolution of a non-compete and non-solicitation dispute. Client was a top executive of a national retail grocery, supply chain, and wholesale distribution company. After leaving the company to take a position at one of its largest competitors, our client and his new employer were sued in federal court for breach of a non-competition and non-solicitation agreement, misappropriation of trade secrets, and interference with contractual relations. After persuading the court to refrain from issuing a temporary restraining order against our client that would have prevented him from working for the competitor, we successfully settled the dispute, and our client now enjoys unencumbered employment with his new employer.
• Settling a former shareholder’s claims. The majority owner of a successful company was sued by a former minority shareholder she had previously bought out. Our team of trial lawyers first persuaded the court to dismiss the employment claim, then resolved the rest of the claim successfully.