Martin L. Roth, P.C.

Trials

• Campus Oaks Apartments 1, LLC v. BBC Roseville Oaks, LLC: Lead trial counsel for Bixby Bridge Capital affiliate in complete defense jury verdict in Placer County, California state court involving land purchase and sale.
• SM Buyer LLC et al. v. RMP Seller Holdings LLC: Lead trial counsel in arbitration over substantial M&A deal dispute; award confirmed in $90 million judgment (including pre and post judgment interest) entered by Delaware Chancery Court on behalf of client; argued and secured affirmance of confirmation from Delaware Supreme Court.
• Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Litigation: Trial counsel for BP in complete defense jury verdict in South Carolina state court. Successfully argued motion to dismiss resulting in complete dismissal of Illinois False Claims Act case. Obtained multiple summary judgment victories and favorable dispositive rulings in similar suits filed in Minnesota, South Dakota, Michigan, Ohio, Utah, Missouri and Montana.
• In re Aéropostale: Trial counsel for Sycamore Partners and affiliates in complete trial victory in bankruptcy court regarding teen retailer Aéropostale’s attempt to limit Sycamore’s recovery of $150 million of secured debt.

Class Actions

• Privacy Class Actions: Lead counsel to a diverse range of clients in a variety of putative class actions brought under state and federal privacy statutes and common law, including:
  
  • Bridges v. Blackstone, Inc. (N.D. Ill.): Secured complete dismissal of class action under Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act arising out of purchase of Ancestry.com; affirmed on appeal to Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (profiled in The National Law Journal and recognized for “Litigator of the Week” by The American Lawyer).
  • ZoomInfo: Lead counsel in three putative class actions in the Northern District of Illinois and the Northern District of Ohio under right of publicity statutes and common law claims related to ZoomInfo and its subsidiary Datanyze’s online database of business contact information; secured complete dismissal of the Ohio action; argued to Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal (pending).
  • Doe, et al. v. GoodRx, et al. (N.D. Cal.): Lead counsel in consolidated class actions under California and New York privacy statutes and common law involving the use of pixels and software development kits.
  • Q.J., et al. v. PowerSchool Holdings, et al. (N.D. Ill.): Lead counsel for PowerSchool Holdings LLC and its subsidiary, Hobsons, Inc., in putative class action litigation alleging violations of privacy rights in connection with PowerSchool's online platform, Naviance.
• Data Breach Class Actions: Lead counsel to a diverse range of clients in putative data breach class actions, including:
  
  • Malinowski v. IBM, et al. (S.D.N.Y.): Lead counsel for IBM and Johnson & Johnson, Health Care Systems, Inc. in consolidated putative class action related to data incident involving Janssen CarePath patient support platform.
  • Negron v. Ascension Health (E.D. Mo.): Lead counsel for Ascension in consolidated putative class action and companion state court cases related to recent cybersecurity incident.

Private Equity

• Garda USA v. Sun Capital Partners, et al.: As profiled in Bloomberg and the New York Law Journal, secured complete summary judgment win for Sun Capital affiliates in M&A lawsuit alleging breach of confidentiality obligations resulted in a lost deal nearly a month after exclusivity ended. Argued for and secured key New York appellate decision limiting damages to “amounts expended in the negotiation and diligence process” that can be tied to the alleged breaches.

• Ney v. 3i Group, et al.: Lead counsel in lawsuit based on alleged oral contract entered with CEO in connection with M&A transaction. Argued for and secured dismissal of all claims in trial court and argued for and secured Fifth Circuit affirmance.

• Baymeadows LLC v. City of Ridgeland, Mississippi: Lead counsel for Bixby Bridge Capital affiliate in successful federal court suit against Ridgeland, Mississippi based on city’s discriminatory attempt to rezone and amortize apartment complexes occupied by racial minorities without paying just compensation. After aggressive litigation, resulting in the intervention of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and favorable news coverage (see “No Property Rights Zones,” Wall Street Journal, May 13, 2016), the city revoked the offending zoning provisions and agreed to send its employees to fair housing and anti-discrimination training. For more information, see HUD’s settlement announcement.

Other Notable Representations

• G. William Hunter v. Derek Fisher, et al.: Defended NBA player Derek Fisher in litigation brought by the former executive director of the players’ union. All 14 claims dismissed at pleading stage and attorneys’ fees awarded under the anti-SLAPP statute.

Martin devotes significant time to community service. He served as pro bono amicus counsel in the Fisher v. University of Texas U.S. Supreme Court cases and mentors diverse law students through the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. Martin previously served as President of the American Jewish Committee’s ACCESS Chicago Board. 

Martin has also served as pro bono appellate counsel in a number of matters in the Sixth and Seventh Circuits, including United States v. Debra Hills (Seventh Circuit). As a member of the Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar, he has taken assignments as court-appointed counsel for pro se litigants.