Chris A. LaVoy
Chris is a 25-year commercial litigator who represents clients in complex business related disputes, including breach of contract claims, shareholder and corporate governance controversies (especially minority shareholder oppression), and business sale litigation. Chris also has substantial experience handling non-medical professional liability claims (especially plaintiff-side legal malpractice), insurance coverage matters, and consumer class actions.
REPRESENTATIVE CASES:
- Plaintiff’s counsel for private lender suing factoring company and its principals for loan default, recently obtaining $5.8 million judgment against factoring company.
- Defense counsel in successor-liability suit by Lehman bankruptcy estate against purchaser of defunct mortgage-origination company’s assets, seeking to hold purchaser liable for close to $50 million dollars in bad loans.
- Plaintiff’s counsel representing community bank in coverage suit against insurer for refusing to pay a fraud loss on an SBA loan under financial institution bond, obtaining approximate $1 . 1 million judgment against insurer on summary judgment.
- Plaintiff’s counsel in a series of insurance coverage lawsuits against condominium association’s liability insurer for repeated denials of a defense and indemnity, recovering over $2 million for client through multiple settlements and a summary judgment award.
- Numerous ownership and control disputes involving closely held entities, including minority oppression and dissenters’ rights claims.
- Defense counsel in putative class action seeking approximately $40 million in statutory damages and penalties under Arizona’s Planned Community Act, A.R.S.§ 33-1801, et seq., and anti-transfer fee statute, A.RS.§ 33-442; after four years of litigation, obtained denial of class certification and dismissal of all claims.
- Class counsel, with co-counsel, in certified state court statutory damages class action under Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227, lasting over 12 years, resulting in favorable settlement after summary judgment award valued at approximately $60 million.
- Class counsel, with co-counsel, in certified federal court declaratory judgment class action seeking invalidation of confirmed Chapter 11 reorganization plan and discharge injunction of major national corporation based on alleged failure to give constitutionally required notice to creditors.
- Plaintiff’s counsel, with co-counsel, in patent infringement suit in Eastern District of Texas related to reconfigurable word-width memory design against leading FPGA manufacturer resulting in $6.5 million settlement (additional suit against another FPGA manufacturer pending in Northern District of California).
- Plaintiff’s counsel, with co-counsel, in legal malpractice suit against multiple Portland, Oregon law firms that jointly undertook and lost contingency-fee breach of contract and trade-secret suit against leading Silicon Valley design verification company based on attorneys’ failure to join a necessary party (settled on confidential terms).
- Plaintiff’s counsel, with co-counsel, in 2001 public interest suit challenging Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System’s refusal to fund certain medically necessary procedures, resulting in 3-2 decision by Supreme Court of Arizona finding policy unconstitutional.
- Plaintiff’s counsel, with co-counsel, in 2009 public interest suit challenging constitutionality of multiple provisions of 2009 AZ H.B. 2564.
- Plaintiff’s counsel, with co-counsel, in 2012 public interest suit challenging constitutionality of multiple provisions of 2012 AZ H.B. 2036; Ninth Circuit held statute unconstitutional and U.S. Supreme Court denied review.
- Plaintiff’s counsel in public interest suit challenging constitutionality of Maricopa County Public Health Care District’s investment of $10 million of public funds in a start-up insurance company formed as a vehicle for the District to bid on an estimated $3 billion government contract to serve as the Regional Behavioral Health Authority for Geographic Service Area 6 encompassing Maricopa County and parts of Yavapai and Pinal Counties.
- Plaintiff’s counsel, with co-counsel, in insurance coverage and bad faith action based on denial of claim under employee theft policy, leading to multi-million dollar settlement.
- Plaintiff’s counsel in fraud suit against seller of self-storage facility and real estate agents resulting in recovery of approximately $900,000.
- Plaintiff’s counsel in telemarketing fraud and elder abuse suit against national direct-marketing coin and collectibles company for price gauging an elderly, cognitively impaired widow out of the bulk of her once multi-million dollar retirement fund (settled on confidential terms).
When Chris is not actively involved in casework, he enjoys cycling and offshore kayak fishing