Douglas J. Smillie is a shareholder and Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Group. Mr. Smillie’s practice includes commercial litigation and trials, bankruptcy and creditors rights, shareholder disputes and business litigation, non-competition and trade secrets, media law and employment litigation.
A familiar circumstance in consumer bankruptcies is that a borrower becomes delinquent on an automobile loan and fails to address the situation – until the automobile is repossessed. The consumer then seeks bankruptcy representation, and then seeks (usually through counsel) the return of the vehicle. Lenders struggle with the facts that the loan is in […]
A recent decision from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York upheld the “Administrative Pledge Policy” of Wells Fargo Bank N.A. This decision echoed earlier court decisions, including from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the 1995 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens Bank of Maryland v. Strumpf. It […]
The owners of Plaza at 835 West Hamilton Street brought an eminent domain proceeding against the City of Allentown, arguing that the City caused them to lose a major tenant and default on their mortgage. As a consequence, the building owner claimed that they suffered a “taking” of their property for which they sought “just […]
St. Luke’s Warren Hospital awarded exclusive contracts to two separate groups for the provision of general surgery and orthopedic surgery at its facility and closed its Department of Surgery and Department of Orthopedics to physicians outside of these groups. Eight physicians and Coordinated Health challenged the decision in Court and requested that an injunction be […]
Shareholders Douglas J. Smillie and Maraleen D. Shields recently won an arbitration on behalf of the City of Allentown in a dispute brought by Lehigh County Authority (“LCA”) and several suburban sewer authorities (Coplay-Whitehall Sewer Authority, Salisbury Township, South Whitehall and South Whitehall Township Authority and Lower Macungie Township), claiming that the City intentionally over-charged […]
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