Dismissal of Plaintiffs | Law Offices of Daniel J.Becka, LLC

Representative Matters

Prior to opening his own firm in February 2011, Daniel J. Becka practiced for ten years with a well-known Chicago boutique litigation firm specializing in complex commercial litigation and was responsible for the firm’s largest litigation recoveries during that time. For example, Dan represented a large health care company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in a legal malpractice lawsuit against Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the oldest and most prestigious law firms in the country, arising from a corporate reorganization and refinancing of more than $1 billion of the company’s bonds. Defended by two large New York and Washington, D.C., law firms, Dan was the attorney responsible for prosecuting the plaintiff’s case. After defeating various substantive and procedural pre-trial motions through creative legal strategies, completing intensive discovery involving at least

thirteen different experts and preparing the case for trial, the defendant agreed to a settlement of almost $26 million, which is believed to be one of the largest legal malpractice settlements recorded.

Dan was also appointed as class counsel for 2,200 senior United Airlines pilots in a class-action lawsuit against their union, the Air Line Pilots Association International (“ALPA”), filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The suit alleged that ALPA breached its duty of fair representation to United’s senior pilots in favor of the more junior pilots (who made up a majority of the union) in connection with the termination of the pilots’ pension plan as part of United’s bankruptcy reorganization. Opposed by two of Chicago’s largest law firms, Dan was responsible for developing the legal strategies, conducting extensive discovery (including 35 depositions), and drafting all pleadings and briefs, including the successful oppositions to the motions for summary judgment filed by the defendants which ultimately led to the agreement by ALPA to asettlement of $44 million. This is also believed to be one of the largest recoveries in a breach of fair representation case ever and the largest settlement ever recorded by ALPA.

After starting his own firm, Dan obtained a judgment of over $11.5 million after a trial spanning more than a month in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. His client was a former executive of a Chicago real estate development company who alleged that she had been fired without cause and had not been paid all that was due her under her employment agreement. After a lengthy and complex trial involving numerous witnesses and hundreds of exhibits, the Court found in favor of the plaintiff and awarded more than $11.5 million in damages caused by her employer’s breach of contract. [Read Story]

Not limiting its practice to representing only plaintiffs, the firm successfully defended a lawsuit alleging fraud, breach of contract, and more than $100 million in damages, and obtained a $5 million judgment on his client’s counterclaim for defamation. The suit was brought in federal court in Chicago against a private equity investment firm and its principals and outside attorney based in Boston, Massachusetts, in connection with certain failed financing transactions in which the plaintiffs had hoped to secure loans totaling $1.5 billion. Employing creative and aggressive defensive strategies, including a counterclaim for defamation based on the publication of the complaint on the Internet, Dan obtained the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims against the individual defendants, summary judgment on the remaining claims against the investment firm, and a $5 million judgment in favor of his client. [Read Story]

Expanding his areas of practice, Dan defended a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist against allegations of professional negligence and working under the influence asserted in a complaint filed with the Iowa Board of Nursing. After an extensive disciplinary hearing involving the testimony of more than sixteen witnesses, the Board of Nursing issued a written Decision and Order in which it dismissed all charges against Mr. Becka’s client. [Read Decision]

Dan also obtained the dismissal, with prejudice, of all claims asserted against his client, a national consultant to shopping center developers and retailers, in a lawsuit brought in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging, among other things, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of contract, and seeking potential damages of almost $400 million. Within four months of being retained and after filing defensive pleadings in the case, Dan convinced the plaintiff to dismiss the case with prejudice. [Read Client Testimonial]

Dan has represented plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of other matters in courts and arbitrations across the country, including representing a pharmaceutical company based in San Francisco, California, in certain complex litigation and arbitration matters regarding its drug development, manufacturing, and related collaboration agreements; representing a large U.S. manufacturing company and its German parent in patent litigation and subsequent litigation involving claims of breach of employment and non-disclosure agreements, trade secrets, business torts, and false advertising against a former employee and certain competitors spanning more than five years before federal courts, the American Arbitration Association, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; and numerous other matters on behalf of both individuals and businesses.

Dan often utilizes co-counsel arrangements with other law firms and has developed professional relationships providing him the flexibility and resources to handle litigation matters of all sizes. The firm also provides general corporate, employment, contract drafting and negotiation, regulatory, and public disclosure consulting services focusing on litigation risk management with the conviction that the best litigation strategy is often to avoid litigation in the first place.