Norman C Ankers

Commercial Litigation, Litigation

Norman Ankers is a trial and appellate lawyer with more than four full decades of experience in high stakes litigation before juries, judges, arbitrators, and federal and state and appellate panels, throughout the United States. He is a partner in the firm’s Commercial Litigation Practice where he regularly handles complex commercial litigation matters.

Norman has extensive experience in litigation involving business torts, shareholder and partnership disputes, and class action defense. He has secured multiple monumental verdicts and has regularly obtained dismissals of multimillion-dollar claims, protecting those results in the appellate courts.

Representative Experience

-Conducted longest Zoom bench trial in Michigan state court during pandemic (2020-2021) (Court rejected request for $30 million buyback remedy in shareholder dispute, where he represented defendants).

-Secured multimillion-dollar arbitration award in favor of automotive supplier following hearing in litigation between the supplier and its terminated chief executive.

-Secured US$28m judgment pursuant to jury verdict in a case arising out of a competitor’s conversion of business assets.

-Lead counsel for client in securing a pre-answer dismissal of a class action against a global automotive supplier for alleged product defects, successfully arguing the motion to dismiss and conducting oral argument in the federal Sixth Circuit which resulted in affirmance of the dismissal.

-Lead counsel for client in securing a pre-answer dismissal of a class action and qui tam action filed in state court against pharmacies for alleged violations of a Michigan statute, and lead counsel for client in the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court, the latter of which upheld the trial court’s dismissal.

-Secured US$7.5m jury verdict arising out of the termination of an agricultural implement dealership, affirmed in 2012 by the Sixth Circuit.

-Secured US$6.413m compensatory and punitive damages award in what is believed to be the largest award of compensatory and punitive damages for the filing of a wrongful involuntary bankruptcy petition in the history of United States jurisprudence.

-Secured US$2.15m federal court jury verdict in favor of Michigan Manufacturers Service, Inc. against Robertshaw Controls arising out of the termination of a distributorship.

-Arbitral award of US$6.76m arising out of the breach of a federal court settlement agreement, confirmed in the trial court and upheld by the Sixth Circuit.

-Dismissal of a US$7m shareholder oppression claim.

-Arbitral award of nearly US$2m in favor of a client arising out of a failure to sell the business by a business broker for the best possible price.

-Dismissal of a putative class action alleging that an automotive dealership violated federal and state truth-in-lending requirements.

-Jury verdict of breach of fiduciary duty in favor of a minority shareholder following a two-week jury trial, coupled with a bench ruling providing relief for the shareholder under Michigan’s shareholder oppression statute, affirmed by the state appellate court.

-Injunctive relief following hearing in a trade secret and intellectual property misappropriation case.

Harvard Law School

JD

University of Michigan

BA