Case Studies

• Ms. Lesser was called in to negotiate a settlement between a major U.S. city and its utility company over a $41 million-dollar claim of billing overcharges. Rather than refereeing an unproductive debate over the case's dollar value, Ms. Lesser developed a mutually acceptable process for resolving the dispute by helping the parties establish standards for an independent audit of the bills.

• A nationwide back-pay class action lawsuit had been pending for nineteen years against the federal government. The parties called in Ms. Lesser after spending over three years attempting to settle the case on their own. Ms. Lesser went on to resolve the case, which involved establishing a $174 million dollar fund to reimburse hundreds of thousands of claimants--one of the largest back-pay awards ever made to federal employees.

• Ms. Lesser negotiated the resolution of a complex, multi-party insurance coverage case involving major construction defects in work done for a municipal transit authority. The case involved over 20 parties and more than a dozen insurance carriers. Prior to Ms. Lesser's involvement, the parties' prior mediation efforts had not only failed, but had resulted in the parties' bringing additional claims against each other.

• Joint venture partners found themselves in an intractable dispute over the ownership and exploitation of a patented device. Suit was imminent when the parties grudgingly agreed to a one-day mediation with Ms. Lesser. Although initially the prospects for resolution seemed remote given the degree of distrust and dislike between the parties, by the end of a single day of mediation the parties had not only successfully resolved their patent claims but agreed to go forward in a new joint venture to exploit the device.

• Ms. Lesser settled a highly-publicized case brought against a municipality, involving claims of wrongful death and personal injury due to the claimed negligence of a city employee. Initially, the parties were not optimistic about settlement because of their widely divergent views of the economic value of the case. Ms. Lesser convinced the parties to continue the mediation, and, using other reported cases as a benchmark for the case's value, was successful in settling the case.

• An investor class action against the general partner had dragged on through motions and discovery for years, and was likely to drag on for several more. The trial in the case had not yet been scheduled and there was no prospect that the case would end any time soon. The parties approached Ms. Lesser to serve as the decision maker in the case. With Ms. Lesser's assistance, the parties crafted the contours of the proceeding, in which Ms. Lesser would review the critical portions of the record, read the most important briefs and court opinions, and hear from a few live witnesses. At the conclusion of the two-day proceeding, Ms. Lesser rendered a binding written decision in the case, saving the parties thousands of dollars in pre-trial and trial fees and expenses.

Other Representative Cases

• Arbitrated two multi-million dollar contract disputes between a major Internet service provider and business partners.
• Served as arbitration panelist in multi-million dollar contract disputes between two major textile producers.
• Conducted sensitive internal investigations of several workplace discrimination claims for a university.
• Successfully resolved high-profile sex discrimination case brought by four women against a municipality.
• Provided pre-mediation consulting services to defendant law firm in a complex legal malpractice case.
• Mediated insider trading case brought by the SEC against several individuals.
• Served as arbitrator in an insurance coverage dispute involving claims of software patent infringement.
• Serving as arbitration panelist in two sex discrimination class action settlements against major brokerage houses.
• Successfully resolved eminent domain case between the land owner and the federal government.
• Successfully resolved construction defects case between a telecommunications contractor and a municipality.
• Mediated numerous customer complaints against securities brokers.