Firm Overview

Areas of Practice

Attorneys

Representative Clients
Bruce S. Sperling, Partner and Founder

Mr. Sperling founded the firm in 1976 after spending several years at a New York law firm, where he had become a partner in 1973 after three years of practice. For more than 35 years, Mr. Sperling has enjoyed a virtually unparalleled practice of representing plaintiffs and defendants in prominent, complex civil litigation. His vast experience has spanned virtually every substantive field of law, including securities, antitrust, patent, pension, franchise, environmental and mass tort law. Mr. Sperling regularly is called upon to defend directors and officers of large public companies against shareholder class and derivative actions, and has been approved as counsel by major insurers. Mr. Sperling is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Education

J.D., Northwestern University School of Law, 1970

B.S.M.E., Northwestern University School of Engineering, 1967

Representative Matters

The following is a selection of Mr. Sperling’s more recent or noteworthy representations. Further information regarding other matters is available upon request.

Class Actions and Derivative Disputes
Mr. Sperling is regularly engaged as counsel for parties involved in class actions and other disputes of a derivative nature, often arising out of prominent business failures or contested mergers. Among others:

Mr. Sperling is special counsel for the debtor in possession in In re HA 2003, Inc., formerly known as Ha-Lo Industries, Inc., et al., N.D. Ill., No. 02 B 12059. To date, approximately $50 million has been collected for the Estate based on claims against a prior director, and over $10 million has been collected from an alleged fraudulent transfer.

For defendants, Mr. Sperling has recently been lead counsel for the principal director and officer defendants in various creditor and shareholder cases in the federal courts in Massachusetts and Illinois arising from the bankruptcy of the e-commerce company divine, Inc.; lead counsel for the principal director and officer defendants in In re Quality Stores, Inc., et al., 02 B 12059 (W.D. Mich.) (creditors’ claims alleging breach of fiduciary duty and waste in connection with retailer’s bankruptcy); and lead counsel for the principal director and officer defendants in Joseph, et al. v. Heico, CA 20188 (New Castle County, Del.) (bench trial regarding plaintiffs’ challenge to a public company’s self-tender).

In a series of class actions in which Mr. Sperling was lead counsel, Mr. Sperling represented classes of doctors in nine states who alleged they had been underpaid for providing services to certain patients covered by a statutory interface between Medicare and Medicaid. The defendants were the various state governments and the federal government. After Mr. Sperling argued multiple appeals, the class in Florida prevailed on liability and settled its damages for approximately $100 million. See Agency for Health Care Admin. v. Florida Medical Ass’n, Inc., 732 So.2d 1071 (1st Dist. 1999).

Mr. Sperling was also one of the lead counsel in a consolidated ERISA class action, Rybarczyk, et al. v. TRW, Inc., et al., 235 F.3d 975 (6th Cir. 2000), that asserted inappropriate computation of lump-sum retirement benefits. Judgment for the plaintiff classes was ultimately obtained from the district court in Cleveland and was affirmed on appeal. The verdict resulted in approximately $50 million in additional benefits for the members of the respective classes.

Securities Litigation
Mr. Sperling has regularly acted as lead counsel, for plaintiffs and defendants, in securities litigation in numerous state and federal courts. He has also represented individuals in connection with investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Representative matters include Mr. Sperling’s representation of the plaintiff investment funds against their broker in a five-week arbitration before a three-member panel of the National Association of Securities Dealers, asserting various theories relating to allegedly unsuitable and inadequately monitored investments. The panel returned $17 million in actual damages, plus $4.5 million in punitive damages, an award described by the Wall Street Journal as the “largest given to a customer in a dispute with a brokerage house.” (Wall Street Journal, October 20, 1998). On appeal, the award was affirmed in its entirety. Community Hospital of Springfield and Clark County, Inc., et al. v. Kidder, Peabody & Co., Inc., et al., 81 F.Supp.2d 863 (S.D. Ohio 1999).

Intellectual Property
For the past several years Mr. Sperling has been immersed in defending both the Lemelson Foundation, which controls the world’s largest privately held portfolio of patents, and the heirs of the famous inventor Jerome Lemelson. As widely reported, the patent portfolio has been licensed to hundreds of companies for more than $1 billion. (Nicholas Varchaver, “The Patent King,” Fortune, May 14, 2001, at 203-16). The Foundation and Mr. Lemelson’s heirs have been repeatedly sued for hundreds of millions of dollars on allegations of failed joint ventures, and on various alleged frauds and breaches of contract. All claims have been successfully defended and dismissed.

Antitrust Litigation
Mr. Sperling has experience in groundbreaking antitrust litigation, including the following:

Mr. Sperling was primary trial counsel for plaintiffs in an epic antitrust litigation spanning almost two decades and involving claims that the plaintiffs had been thwarted in their efforts to acquire the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association. After separate trials on liability and damages, the district court entered judgment for plaintiffs against all defendants. This was one of the few antitrust cases of its era to survive appeal to the Seventh Circuit. Years of post-trial collection proceedings ensued against certain defendants who had sold their assets to Canadian-based ventures. Ultimately, nearly $20 million was collected. See, e.g., Fishman, et al. v. Atlanta Hockey, Inc., 1992 WL 229410 (N.D. Ill. Jan 29, 1992); Fishman, et al. v. Estate of Wirtz, et al., 594 F.Supp. 853 (N.D.Ill. 1984), aff’d, 807 F.2d 520 (7th Cir. 1986).

Mr. Sperling has also been retained as special counsel to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the United Airlines bankruptcy, to investigate and prosecute alleged antitrust violations by a large group of public debt holders who controlled 175 planes in United’s fleet. Over the initial objection of United, as debtor-in-possession, antitrust claims were structured, which the Committee then insisted that United pursue. United ultimately adopted the Committee’s antitrust position, and together with the Committee as an intervenor, pursued antitrust claims against the public debt group.

Fraud and RICO Litigation
As one of three lead defense counsel in a 10-week, multi-defendant jury trial, Mr. Sperling was assigned the primary role for opening and closing statements and cross-examination of common-issue witnesses. The plaintiffs requested over $100 million based on multiple alleged frauds, as well as RICO violations. The jury returned a verdict for defendants on all counts. North Shore Medical Center, Ltd., et al. v. Evanston Hospital Corp., et al.,1996 WL 435192 (N.D. Ill. July 31, 1996).

Employment Litigation
Mr. Sperling represented David Dworkin, the former CEO and Vice-chairman of Neiman-Marcus, in a dispute concerning his termination. After trial, the jury returned a verdict for Mr. Dworkin for approximately $1 million, which was affirmed by the Fifth Circuit. The Neiman-Marcus Group, Inc. v. Dworkin, 919 F.2d 368 (5th Cir. 1990).

Bruce Sperling
312-641-3200
bss@sperling-law.com

Sperling & Slater
55 West Monroe Street
Suite 3200
Chicago, Illinois 60603
312-641-3200
fax: 312-641-6492
info@sperling-law.com