Thomas B. Quinn is the leader of the General Litigation Group and concentrates his practice in civil litigation with a special emphasis on commercial, public entity, intellectual property, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and acquisition-related disputes.

He has extensive experience practicing before federal and state trial courts across the country as well as the International Trade Commission. His appellate experience includes proceedings before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Seventh, Eighth and Federal Circuits, as well as the appellate courts for the states of Illinois and Ohio.

In addition to his courtroom work, Mr. Quinn has represented buyers, sellers, manufacturers and other clients in party-to-party and third-party mediations as well as in arbitrations before the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR Institute), the American Arbitration Association, and JAMS.

Mr. Quinn is a past member of the Board of Governors for the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and has served as its Liaison Representative to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Experience

• A Special Litigation Committee acting on behalf of an NYSE-listed company's board of directors in responding to a shareholder derivative demand to bring an action against certain officers and directors for breach of fiduciary, abuse of control, corporate waste
  and other claims in connection with certain acquisitions, divestitures and restructuring of the corporation.
• Public companies and private equity firms in post-closing and other acquisition-related disputes.
• The officers and directors of Baxter International in their successful defense of a shareholder derivative action arising out of the company's restatement of earnings in 2004, Rivera v. Kraemer et al., Case No. 04 CH 13028 (Cook Cty., Ill. 2005).
• Newell Rubbermaid Inc. in connection with a putative class action filed by participants of Rubbermaid's stock option plan relating to Newell's merger with Rubbermaid, O'Planick v. Rubbermaid, et al., 2004 WL 224412 (Ohio App. 9 Dist. 2004).
• PepsiCo, Inc. in its successful challenge to the constitutionality of the Illinois Soft Drink Act under the Commerce and Contracts Clause of the U.S. Constitution, PepsiCo v. Marion Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company, 2003 WL 22594235 (S.D. Ill. 2003). In that same matter, PepsiCo prevailed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on a novel discovery issue relating to the application of the accountant privilege under Illinois law, PepsiCo v. Baird Kurtz & Dobson LLP, 305 F.3d 813 (8th Cir. 2002).
• Clients such as Newell Rubbermaid Inc., Chicago Board Options Exchange, Bunn-O-Matic Corporation, and Modine Manufacturing Company in patent and trademark disputes and litigation in federal district and appellate courts and the International Trade Commission. See., e.g., Bunn-O-Matic Corporation v. Bunn Coffee Service, Inc., 88 F.Supp.2d 914 (C.D. Ill. 2000); Modine Manufacturing Co. v. U.S. International Trade Commission, 75 F.3d 1545 (Fed. Cir. 1996)].
• Nine local governments in defense of a major constitutional challenge to various fair housing programs under the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, involving an eight-week trial in the Northern District of Illinois, a Seventh Circuit appeal, and a petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. [E.g., South Suburban Housing Center v. South Suburban Board of Realtors et al. v. City of Blue Island et al., 935 F.2d 868 (7th Cir. 1991), cert. denied 502 U.S. 1074(1992)].

Awards and Honors

Benchmark Litigation — Star

Leading Lawyer — Commercial Litigation, Illinois Leading Lawyers Network