Case Studies

  • Landmark Victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court

    Attorneys John P. Brady, Susan J. Marguet and Bryan W. Edgar won a landmark victory in the State’s highest court on March 24, 2010, on behalf of Weiss Berzowski Brady LLP client, Geneva National Trust. Geneva National is a 1,600-acre planned community consisting of golf courses, recreational clubs, open spaces, commercial units, roadways and utilities, and commercial, single- and multi-family residential units. The entire Geneva National community is subject to the terms of a restrictive covenant that gives the developer certain powers in order to facilitate the orderly development of the community. Several of the residential unit owners objected to the developer’s continuing powers, complaining that the developer’s powers were unreasonable and would lead to the overdevelopment of the Geneva National community. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the developer and reasoned that communities such as Geneva National “are an entirely different type and level of development than condominiums” and, therefore, a developer must retain such powers so as to ensure the orderly development of the community. As part of its ruling, the Court also clarified nearly a century of prior restrictive covenant decisions and concluded that, if a restrictive covenant is not ambiguous, the Court may not enquire into whether the restrictive covenant is reasonable. Had the Supreme Court not so held, a developer could have lost its ability to complete and market the yet undeveloped portions of Geneva National, which would be financially disastrous to the developer. Absent such a ruling, planned communities such as Geneva National would cease to exist in the state of Wisconsin.

     

  • Client Sells $250M Enterprise

    Attorneys David J. Roettgers and Steven M. Szymanski recently worked with a long term and valued corporate client of the firm to explore possible sale alternatives and ultimately consummate a sale of the client’s business.  Despite an economic climate labeled the “Great Recession,” Mr. Roettgers and Mr. Szymanski successfully negotiated and closed the sale of the business, which had an enterprise value in excess of $250 million, to a New York based private equity group.  With the buyer represented by a major New York law firm, Mr. Roettgers and Mr. Szymanski negotiated terms favorable to the client which maximized upfront cash for the client’s owners, provided additional cash to the client’s owners based upon the performance of the acquired business, and minimized long term risk to the client’s owners.  The owners of the client also maintained an ownership interest in the acquired entity, allowing them to realize additional value upon a future sale of the business.  The owners of the client have continued to manage the acquired business and the firm continues to represent the continuing interests of the acquired business.

  • Handling Of Complex Estate Increases Heir's Inheritance

    Attorney Michael M. Berzowski recently represented the estate of a client who died intestate, leaving a multi-million dollar business in the hands of a hostile management group who threatened to leave the business if the group did not acquire the business at substantially less than its value.  After successfully terminating the management group and resolving real estate and personal property issues both domestically and overseas, Mr. Berzowski was able to facilitate the sale of the business to a third party for roughly 400% of the amount offered by the management group.

  • IRS Concedes 60% of Audit Liability

    Attorney Robert B. Teuber successfully negotiated a client’s case to resolve the tax, penalties and interest after the IRS took the position that a corporation could not deduct certain expenses which the IRS contended were personal expenses of the corporation’s shareholders. To make matter worse, the IRS treated the payment of those expenses as constructive dividends to the shareholders, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax, interest and penalties for the corporation and the shareholders. After filing suit in the United States Tax Court, Mr. Teuber negotiated a settlement that was 60% less than the amount asserted by the IRS, including a waiver of all penalties. The resolution preserved valuable deductions that were essential to the operation of the client’s business.

  • $45 Million Pension Settlement

    Attorney Chris J. Trebatoski was one of the attorneys handling a lawsuit brought by Milwaukee County against its actuarial firm related to the Milwaukee County Employees’ Retirement System. The dispute arose over the County’s allegations of professional negligence by Mercer, Inc., the nation's largest employee benefits firm while an actuarial consultant to Milwaukee County regarding passage of its 2000-2001 pension benefits package. The case settled after two weeks of trial in the Federal District Court of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, with Mercer, Inc. paying the County $45 million.