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bernard_marcus

Mr. Marcus has tried numerous multi-million dollar commercial litigation cases in state and federal courts throughout the country. Recently in 2009, Mr. Marcus was part of the trial team in the case of Salvatore v. Mobile Diagnostech, Inc., et al., in which the firm obtained a $59 million civil RICO verdict and judgment following a two-week jury trial in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The case was brought by limited partners in an MRI business against the partnership's general partners and managers, and included derivative claims for civil RICO violations, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty arising out of unauthorized, multi-million dollar loans taken from the partnership and the general partners' acquisition of partnership units using partnership funds. The verdict and resulting judgment is one of the very few successfully prosecuted civil RICO verdicts in the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Marcus also recently successfully represented a client in a shareholder squeeze-out case involving two equal owners of a closely held corporation. The claims included shareholder oppression and breach of fiduciary duties arising out of one owner's attempt to squeeze out the other owner by unilaterally terminating his employment and excluding him from participating in the business, and then paying himself large salaries and bonuses.

Mr. Marcus also successfully defended a public company and its directors and officers in a RICO/securities fraud class action in the Eastern District of Virginia.

In addition, he served as defense liaison counsel on behalf of 71 defendants in connection with the State of West Virginia's action against asbestos manufacturers for damages and removal of asbestos from all state-owned buildings.

He has also been appointed defense liaison counsel in antitrust insurance coverage litigation brought in the Western District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Marcus has also served as defense liaison counsel in antitrust class action and related opt-out litigation transferred to the Western District of Pennsylvania by the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation.

Mr. Marcus served as lead counsel for a group of corporate and individual defendants in the Phar-Mor Securities Litigation which was comprised of 40 consolidated suits involving hundreds of millions of dollars in the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Marcus also recently co-chaired the case of Salkovick v. Giant Eagle, Inc. After a two-week jury trial in 2010, the firm obtained a defense verdict for a corporate chain stemming from allegations of sexual harassment brought by employees of an independently owned/licensed chain store in a state court action in Marshall County, West Virginia, where defense verdicts are rare.

Mr. Marcus has successfully tried to a jury significant personal injury claims and has successfully defended against similar claims for corporate clients. He has been consistently successful in obtaining mass picketing injunctions against striking union workers in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Mr. Marcus has considerable experience in litigating significant real estate disputes in states as diverse as Texas, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

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Practice Concentration

  • Complex commercial litigation including Antitrust, Securities, Employment Law, Real Estate, Lender Liability, and Insurance

Education

  • University of Pittsburgh, J.D., 1969
  • Syracuse University, M.B.A., 1968
  • Syracuse University, B.S. (Accounting), 1965

Honors

  • Law Review 1968-1969, Notes Editor
  • Cum Laude
  • University of Pittsburgh Honors Scholarship
  • W.I. Patterson Scholarship
  • American Jurisprudence Award in Bills and Notes

Admitted to Practice

  • Pennsylvania and the U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania
  • West Virginia and the U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Third, Fourth and Sixth Circuits
  • U.S. Supreme Court