Overview
A Leason Ellis Case
On the eve of a bench trial before the Honourable Judge Lewis Liman in the Southern District of New York, Leason Ellis helped its client, Town & Country Living, amicably resolve its patent, trade secret and idea misappropriation, copyright, and breach of contract claims against HSN, Ingenious Designs and Joy Mangano after four years of hard-fought litigation.
Town and Country Linen Corp. et al. v. Ingenious Designs LLC et al., No. 1:18-cv-05075-LJL.
Leason Ellis obtained key victories for its client throughout the case. Early in the case, Defendants obtained dismissal of Town and Country’s misappropriation of ideas claim—a significant monetary claim that carried the potential for punitive damages, based on an incorrect legal analysis by the Court. Recognising the error and importance of the claim, Leason Ellis timely sought reconsideration. In a rare decision, the Court granted Leason Ellis’ motion and reinstated the claim. This claim further survived the Defendants’ summary judgment challenges and was headed to trial for a decision on the merits.
As another example, Leason Ellis obtained dismissal at the pleading stage and on summary judgment of numerous counterclaims and affirmative defences. These victories included the dismissal of Defendants’ breach of contract claim—the only counterclaim with potential monetary liability. Procedurally, the case was unique because the Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint, and because that motion was not decided until after the close of discovery, Defendants never filed an answer and counterclaims during discovery. Upon Leason Ellis’ timely challenge to Defendants’ Answer and Counterclaims, the Court granted Leason Ellis’ request for sanctions for Defendants’ failure to timely disclose their breach of contract counterclaim during discovery. Rather than pay Leason Ellis’ fees to reopen discovery, Defendants chose to dismiss their claim with prejudice.
