Representative Experience: Business Litigation

Products Liability

General Products Liability

• Multi-state representation of corporation named in thousands of product liability claims
• Represented defendants in design and manufacturing defect cases involving power tools, ammunition, boats, automotive parts, and other products
• Advised clients regarding litigation prevention issues on matters such as warnings, instruction manuals, and product design issues

Toxic Tort

• Continuing representation of defendants in asbestos litigation and other toxic tort matters.
• Successful representation of chemical distributor in multimillion dollar toxic tort class action alleging personal injury and property damage from chemical fire
• Successful representation of Fortune 100 chemical manufacture in action alleging personal injuries from toxic gas release
• Defended landowner whose property was allegedly source of groundwater contamination causing personal injury
• Defended a company that was formerly involved in the installation of asbestos for products liability.

Labor & Employment/Employee Benefits

• Henson & Efron commenced litigation on behalf of and successfully settled cases for minority shareholders who have been frozen out of a closely held corporation's affairs, removed from the board of directors, and denied a market for shares.
• Counseled and represented employers in connection with claims or litigation involving compensation issues, difficult discharge situations, harassment and discrimination claims and non-compete enforcement

Tax

• Henson & Efron represented a freezer warehouse company in a claim for refund of sales tax that the client paid for electricity used in agricultural production. Henson & Efron was successful in their claim that the client's use of electricity to blast-freeze products was an exempt use under Minnesota sales tax law. In 1999, the client received a refund of $49 thousand for its tax years 1997 and 1998 (in 1998 the client had also received an additional refund of over $100 thousand for tax refund claims for earlier tax periods).

Family Law

• As part of its family law practice, attorneys at Henson & Efron represented parties to marital dissolutions who had assets into eight figures, including some whose assets were in excess of $50 million. These cases usually involve substantial business issues as well as family law issues and the attorneys at Henson & Efron are able to call upon their experience to work out creative settlements to include income tax, business and estate planning as well as the division of marital assets.
• In addition to large asset cases, the firm also represents parties to cases where incomes are over $1 million. The attorneys handling these dissolutions use their skills in tax and estate planning as well, since creative solutions require more than merely dividing up the income between parties.

Personal Injury

• Henson & Efron represented a chemical company in a class action suit by the company's subsidiary, alleging personal injury and property damage, due to a warehouse fire in which the warehouse burned to the ground. Both the chemical company's primary and umbrella insurers denied coverage and a duty to defend. The client sued its insurers in federal court, and Henson & Efron obtained a declaratory judgment against both companies that they had breached their duty to defend and indemnify. The federal court's rulings were affirmed on appeal by the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. As a result, the client was reimbursed by the insurers for the cost of prosecuting the federal declaratory judgment action, the cost of defending the state class action, and the cost of the amounts paid to set.
• Henson & Efron has successfully represented numerous plaintiffs in personal and injury cases.

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