William H. Manning
Experience
- Proven ability solving complex legal problems through strategic planning and meticulous preparation.
A command of the legal process. This involves understanding all written rules and procedures, and also the unwritten rules.
Represents clients in the intellectual property area with emphasis on patent litigation. Also represented clients in trademark, copyright and trade-dress litigation.
Represents clients in class action litigation with particular emphasis on class action defense in the areas of consumer fraud, false advertising and securities litigation.
- Has represented numerous clients as plaintiffs and defendants in product liability matters in many different jurisdictions.
- Represents corporations in a wide variety of commercial litigation, intellectual property, and products liability defense matters and represents injured individuals. In 30 years of practice has brought to resolution through ADR, settlement or successful motion or trial practice over 300 lawsuits in the substantive areas of products liability, intellectual property, commercial litigation, and has tried to completion lawsuits in Washington, Federal and State Court, Oregon, Federal Court; California, State Court; Texas, Federal Court; Wisconsin, Federal and State Court; Illinois, State Court and Minnesota, Federal and State Courts. Has appeared at motions and hearings in too numerous to count State and Federal Courts throughout the country.
Certifications
- Certified Civil Trial Specialist, Civil Litigation Section of Minnesota State Bar Association
Other Experience
- Has acted as a Federal Court appointed mediator.
- Director of Tort Litigation at the Minnesota Attorney General’s office for the State of Minnesota. Tried lawsuits on behalf of all state agencies, as well as argued questions of first impression before the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. In addition to tort work, tried a number of public policy lawsuits (1980-1986).
Selected Results*
COMPLEX PATENT LITIGATION
Currently representing Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in patent litigation against Samsung in the Northern District of California. The case involves seven patents in wide ranging technical areas of chip fabrication, circuit, and memory design.
Represented Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in patent litigation against Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) in the Western District of Wisconsin. The case involved three patents in the areas of graphics processors. The District Court granted summary judgment of non-infringement on all three patents two days before trial. The summary judgment was also based on a license SGI granted to Microsoft.
Intergraph vs. Dell, Hewlett Packard and Gateway: Represented Intergraph Corp. in patent litigation involving microprocessor system design in a case venued in East Texas. Recovered a total of $500 million in settlements as follows:
Hewlett Packard $141 million, with cross licenses;
Dell/Intel $225 million;
Gateway $12 million plus ongoing royalties;
AMD $20 million plus potential future royalty profits;
IBM $10 million plus a license to IBM’s portfolio;
Fujitsu $9.75 million;
Toshiba and NEC, confidential settlements
Lead Licensing campaign following litigation:
Sony $15 million;
Acer $7.5 million; and
Other confidential licenses
Sharper Image v. Honeywell: Represented Honeywell in patent infringement suit brought by Sharper Image against Honeywell. The case was venued in the Northern District of California. It involved air cleaning technology and Honeywell asserted a false advertising counter-claim.
Xerox v. Hewlett Packard: Represented Xerox in patent cases involving thermal ink-jet technology against Hewlett-Packard. All cases were resolved through a cross-license settlement.
Bell & Howell Mail Processing System v. Pitney Bowes: Dismissal of a defendant in a patent infringement suit. The suit was between two competitors that dominate an industry.
Soloflex v. Nordictrack: Represented NordicTrack in a significant false advertising, trade dress, trademark and copyright infringement case against Soloflex.
CLASS ACTION LITIGATION Currently defending an alleged national consumer class action for a Fortune 300 company in Southern Illinois that involves allegations of false advertising.
Obtained summary judgment in Cook County before class certification hearing was held for Dow 30 company. The result was sustained by the Illinois Court of Appeals.
Defended a class action in East Texas on behalf of a Fortune 200 company.
Dismissal of a defendant by summary judgment in an alleged national consumer class action involving home security systems.
Settlement of a securities fraud class action following dismissal by the Federal District Court and after full appellate briefing to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
PRODUCT LIABILITY DEFENSE
Has represented many corporations in national products liability defense programs whereby prior burgeoning and growing litigation problems were reduced to almost nothing. This was accomplished by preventive law programs that brought corporations into compliance with the law, as well as trying cases in federal and state courts around the country.
Successfully defended Honeywell in the First Interstate Bank high-rise fire that occurred in downtown Los Angeles against allegations of 100 million dollar plus property damage.
PLAINTIFF’S PERSONAL INJURY/PRODUCT LIABILITY SETTLEMENTS AND VERDICTS
Reached a confidential settlement with numerous defendants on behalf of two families who lost three children when a conversion van spontaneously erupted into flames. Defendants included, among others, the driver/owner, the company that installed the interior cloth lining, and the dealer.
Achieved a 9.6 million dollar settlement on behalf of a severely brain-injured young woman who was rear-ended in an auto accident.
Confidentially settled an eight figure case for two boys who were severely burned when a non-child resistant utility lighter started a fire.
An 8.5 million dollar jury verdict for a double amputee against the Case Corporation as a result of a defective tractor design. This verdict included 2 million dollars of punitive damages. It was appealed on choice of law and other issues and the WI Supreme Court unanimously upheld the verdict. A book was written about this case titled: "A Measure of Endurance: The Unlikely Triumph of Steven Sharp," by William Mishler. The case is reported at Sharp v. Case Corp., 595 N.W.2d 380 (Wis. 1999).
A one million dollar plus wrongful death verdict on behalf of two emancipated children in Cook County against the Chicago Transit Authority. This verdict is reputed to be the largest wrongful death verdict for emancipated children in Cook County.
A 1.425 million dollar settlement of a wrongful death case wherein decedent was a passenger in a company owned truck driven by co-worker. Defense claimed accident did not occur during the scope of employment and they were not liable for their employee’s action. The co-worker was cited for failure to yield at the intersection. The decedent was survived by his wife and two children.
A one million dollar settlement including waiver of worker’s compensation subrogation interest for arm amputation caused by a defectively designed conveyor belt “tripper”.
Has obtained numerous other seven figure settlements for plaintiffs in wrongful death, personal injury and products liability matters.
Testified before the Senate Commerce Committee on Tort Reform issues. Testimony resulted in the ATLA creation of the Steven J. Sharp Award, now presented annually to a lawyer who comes forward with a case that makes a legislative difference.
Recognition
Memberships
Civic Associations
- Hamline University School of Law, Chairman Emeritus of the Dean's Advisory Board
- Past board member:
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Eden House
Minnesota Waldorf School
Camphill Village, Minnesota
Bar Admissions
- Minnesota
- U.S. District Court, Minnesota
Selected Speeches
-
Making the Invisible Visible; Winning Strategies in Patent Infringement Litigation
Intellectual Property Section, Monterey, California
(October 6-8, 2006)
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