Business Litigation



A significant amount of the firm's civil litigation practice over the last several years has involved representing clients in business disputes. Most of these disputes have been prosecuted on behalf of small businesses which have been victimized by larger companies' predatory conduct. Our firm has prosecuted cases involving disputes among shareholders, oppression of the rights of minority shareholders, accounting malpractice, lender liability and antitrust misconduct. Specific recent cases include:

  • successful representation of a small New York investment bank against a group of North Carolina investors who had squeezed the plaintiff out of a business acquisition the plaintiff had engineered;
  • prosecuting a small company's claim against a large food manufacturer for breach of an international brokerage agreement;
  • representation of a Nasdaq company against a "Big Four" accounting firm for accounting negligence; and
  • obtaining a $4 million dollar verdict against a majority shareholder.

Additionally, the firm's experience in representing parties in Sherman Act, Clayton Act, Lanham Act and Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act litigation is substantial. Lewis & Roberts frequently serves as local counsel for out-of-state firms involved in complex business disputes filed in North Carolina.

Lewis & Roberts recently filed a class action in federal court against Commercial Defeasance, LLC and Defeasance Holding Company, LLC. Commercial Defeasance offers mortgage loan defeasance services to holders of certain commercial mortgages.  The lawsuit alleges that class members were not fully informed of certain types of compensation received by Commercial Defeasance and Defeasance Holding Company in the loan defeasance transactions.  A copy of the complaint is available for review here.