Results

Over the past eighteen years, Resnick Law, P.C. has earned a reputation as an aggressive litigation firm that is willing and prepared to try cases to conclusion.  In other instances it is in the client’s best interest to resolve a case before trial, or before it is even filed in court.  The attorneys at Resnick Law, P.C. have successfully negotiated and resolved hundreds of cases for its clients, but it stands ready to advocate on behalf of any client should it be necessary to try a case before a judge or jury.  The following is a representative sample of cases Resnick Law, P.C. has handled and the results that were achieved through the skill and dedication of its attorneys:

Important Legal Cases:
Orley Enterprises vs Tri-Pointe, Inc., 206 Mich App 614, 522 NW2d 896 (1994)- This is an important case in the contract world because it stands for the Black Letter Law that “contractual language is interpreted according to its plain meaning.”  After winning the case in the trial court, Nathan Resnick also won the case for Tri-Pointe because the Court of Appeals held that the business purchase agreement and the promissory note were part of the same transaction.  Therefore, the seller’s demand for return of the business, as allowed under default provision of the purchase agreement was election of remedies precluding a separate action to recover on the promissory note.  Therefore, Orley Enterprises could not sue Tri-Pointe for anything more.

York International v Sayo- Resnick Law represented a general contractor for a large hotel in Southfield after the owner stopped paying everyone, including our client.  There were numerous liens filed against the hotel, which triggered a foreclosure action with close to 20 different parties.  After Resnick Law settled successfully for our client, the case continued only against York International (who was later bought by Johnson Controls).  The Plaintiff alleged that one of York’s 300 ton air conditioning units on the hotel rooftop malfunctioned; pipes burst and hundreds of gallons of water leaked down 20 floors causing tremendous damage to the hotel, forcing it to shut down.  York’s attorney came to Nathan Resnick to ask him to co-try the case with her.  Nate agreed and co-tried the lawsuit for three weeks.  The Plaintiff requested a verdict for $42 million.  Mr. Resnick successfully litigated, reducing the amount to approximately $1.3 million dollars, which was approximately 3% of the verdict requested by the Plaintiff.  Even though this was a win for the client, the case went up to the Michigan Court of Appeals.  This resulted in a complete win: the verdict was completely wiped out; York did not have to pay anything and was even awarded $300,000 in attorney fees.

U.S. ex rel. Jones v. Horizon Healthcare Corp., 160 F.3d 326 (6th Cir 1998)-  Resnick Law represented a nurse who alleged that her employer submitted false claims to medicare for reimbursement.  She also sued under the Whistleblower’s statute after she was fired.  Our client, Ms. Jones, sued Horizon Healthcare for Medicare fraud under the Federal False Claims Act. This was a huge undertaking, requiring hundreds of hours to analyze thousands of claims.  Our law firm did not back down, even when representing “the little guy” against a large corporation.  We successfully settled the case.

RESTRUCTURING
For a number of years, Resnick Law, P.C. represented a major residential builder and developer on land acquisition matters, financing development issues, and in litigation.  When the client, as well as its principal officer and director, were sued by a national bank for in excess of $52 million, we were called upon to provide a defense.  Lawsuits were pending in four different county courts seeking to both foreclose on real property located within each jurisdiction and to recover monetary damages.  We were able to convince the bank and its attorneys that the litigation as postured would likely drag on for years and cost both sides hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees.  The focus then shifted from litigation to negotiation and we were able to negotiate a settlement whereby our clients individual liability was limited to a fraction of the total amount sought by the bank.

PROBATE LITIGATION
Following the death of an elderly, childless, widower, Resnick Law, P.C. was retained to represent the only living heirs at law in an estate contest.  A neighbor of the deceased sought to have an unfunded trust admitted to probate as the deceased’s last will and testament.  Through discovery, we were able to determine that the neighbor had received a “gift” of almost $200,000.00 from the decedent within a relatively short period of time prior to his death.  On behalf of our clients we were able to successfully negotiate a mid-six figure settlement.

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT
A client of the firm purchased an undeveloped tract of land with intentions of dividing the parcel and then building large homes on the estate-sized lots.  After initially receiving some level of cooperation from the local municipality, the client was met with roadblock after roadblock.  Litigation was instituted seeking approval of the client’s proposed use of the property under the Michigan Land Division Act, which was hotly contested by the municipality.  After eight years of litigation and multiple appeals, we were able to negotiate a successful resolution on behalf of the client where it obtained the land division it sought as well as the parcel identification numbers required by statute.

CONSTRUCTION ATTORNEY MALPRACTICE
A client brought a legal malpractice claim against its longstanding former attorneys arising out of a multi-million dollar highway project.  The former attorneys had failed to timely file a seven figure claim for additional compensation pursuant to the terms of their contracts.  The trial court initially dismissed the case, and we were able to successfully argue in the Court of Appeals that the dismissal was in error.  When the case was remanded to the trial court we conducted extensive discovery to prepare the case for a court-ordered case evaluation.  The case resolved shortly thereafter for great settlement in favor of our client.

TRESPASS
After proceeding through well over one year of contentious litigation while being represented by another law firm, a client retained Resnick Law, P.C. to represent them through the conclusion of the litigation.  The case involved a trespass onto the clients’ vacant land in Macomb County as part of a wetland mitigation project.  Before the clients were advised of the ongoing trespass, over one hundred trees were cut down from the property.  Although the clients had purchased the property many years ago with intentions of developing it for residential construction, testing during the course of litigation revealed the presence of wetlands on a significant portion of the property.  Recognizing that the development value of the real property was less than originally anticipated, we were able to successfully negotiate a resolution of the litigation that required the defendant to purchase the property at more than its fair market value.