Amy M. Rapoport

Associate

EDUCATION

ADMISSIONS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

MEMBERSHIPS

Amy has been an associate in our litigation department since 2007.  Amy’s areas of practice encompass a diverse range of civil litigation matters in state and federal court including contract litigation, real estate litigation, computer fraud, misappropriation of trade secrets, employment litigation, representing creditors in bankruptcy matters, construction litigation, insurance coverage disputes, and business torts including, defamation and breach of fiduciary duty. Amy is responsible for all aspects of litigation including drafting complex complaints and motions for the courts, appearing for court hearings, negotiating with opposing parties, engaging in discovery, including electronic discovery, and resolving disputes through arbitration or trial as appropriate.

Amy joined Aronberg Goldgehn in 2006 as a law clerk where she drafted pleadings and performed legal research on complex issues involving commercial litigation.  Prior to 2006, Amy gained experience working at another law firm specializing in bankruptcy law.

Amy was recently recognized as a Super Lawyers 2010, 2011 and 2012 Illinois Rising Star.  Also, during law school, Amy was honored with two CALI Awards, one in 2006 for outstanding legal writing and the other in 2007 for superb trial advocacy. In 2006, she was placed in the top five Best Advocates in her course in trial advocacy.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Successfully obtained dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a real estate broker against our client, commercial tenant, and another real estate broker, the landlord's agent.  The broker claimed it was entitled to a commission for being the procuring cause of the lease.  In granting our motion to dismiss, the court held that the broker was not entitled to recover because it had not shown the property that was leased to our client and did not participate in the negotiations for the lease.

• Negotiating a favorable settlement for our client, an owner of a commercial property, in a claim against its tenant, a hardware store, for breach of the lease and for damages to the property.

• Defending a telecommunications company against a lawsuit filed in federal court by one of the world's largest telecommunication companies for trade secret misappropriation, computer fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.

• Helping an individual and corporate client settle a lawsuit filed against them by a former commercial landlord for fraudulent transfers.

• Negotiating a resolution of litigation on behalf of our client, a grocery store, with a former independent contractor who operated the floral department of the grocery store.

• Negotiating an amicable resolution on behalf of our client, a staffing company, with a former independent contractor.

• Obtaining summary judgment on behalf of our client, a company in the business of selling acoustical wood panels, in a lawsuit filed by the general contractor of a construction project at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

• Achieving a favorable settlement for our client, an individual who was wrongfully disinherited from a deceased friend’s will.

• Obtaining a successful resolution of a claim filed in the Illinois Department of Human Rights by a former employee of our client, a company in the business of manufacturing metal springs.

• Obtaining summary judgment on behalf of our client, a real estate professional errors and omissions insurer, in a lawsuit filed against the insurer in New Jersey state court.  A New Jersey real estate broker sought coverage for a lawsuit arising out of her sale of property she owned for investment purposes.  In granting our motion for summary judgment and declaring that the insurer had no duty to defend the broker, the New Jersey court found that an unambiguous policy exclusion - for the sale of property owned by an insured - applied to the situation. As a result, our client was dismissed from the lawsuit.

• Obtaining dismissal of a lawsuit against our client, a trucking company.  In the lawsuit, a former truck driver for the trucking company sued the company for breach of contract and violation of the Illinois Minimum Wage Law.  The Illinois state court judge granted our motion dismiss, with prejudice, holding that the truck driver could not state a claim against the trucking company for either cause of action.

• Attaining summary judgment in favor of our client, an errors and omissions liability insurer, in a case involving antitrust and other claims against an Idaho real estate broker.  Buyers of property in Idaho brought a class action suit against the realtor, claiming that it improperly calculated and collected commissions based on the value of new homes to be built on the property, rather than on the value of the land itself.  They alleged claims against the realtor for violations of federal and state antitrust laws, the Idaho Consumer Protection Act, and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.  On behalf of our client, the realtor’s errors and omissions insurer, we sought a declaratory judgment that the insurance policy did not cover those claims in light of policy exclusions for loss resulting from commissions and antitrust violations.  The Idaho federal court agreed and entered judgment in the insurer’s favor.