Trust and Fiduciary Litigation

• After substituting in as counsel when the client was on the eve of judgment being entered against it, Ms. Tepas was successful in having a Corporate Shareholder Derivative lawsuit dismissed in its entirety, with prejudice, for lack of standing, and successfully defended the dismissal on appeal.
• Successfully defeated motion to dismiss against trust beneficiary client in a multi-million dollar Breach of Trust action against regional corporate trustee.
• Represented family business client in five-day mediation in contentious Breach of Fiduciary Duty action and secured favorable settlement.
• Secured dismissal of multi-count lawsuit alleging Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Fraud, Shareholder Oppression, Breach of Employment Agreement on behalf of Illinois asset management company, which was affirmed on appeal.
• Obtained preliminary injunction against trustee barring its use of trust assets to defend pending Breach of Trust claims.

Commercial Litigation

• Secured dismissal, with prejudice, of complaint alleging Breach of Business Brokerage Contract on behalf of North Carolina technology company.
• Obtained dismissal of lawsuit and appeal of Breach of Contract action on behalf of regional financial institution client.
• Defended national residential alarm services company in multiple Lanham Act lawsuits alleging Unfair Competition and False Advertising (Federal Court, Florida).
• Successful in securing dismissal of complaint alleging violations of Illinois Securities Law, Breach of Contract, and Conspiracy related to capital investments in local start-up.
• Successfully defended national corporation client against multi-million dollar claw-back action relating to Stanford Ponzi Scheme, and submitted amicus brief to the Texas Supreme Court in related class-action litigation (Federal Court, Texas).

Employment Litigation

• Drafted, argued, and won motion to dismiss on behalf of public employer entity accused of violating former employees’ contractual and constitutional right to retiree health care benefits.
• Served as part of the litigation team for global corporate client in a multiple-plaintiff, multiple-defendant child sex abuse case.
• Successfully defeated requests for Temporary Restraining Order on the basis of alleged violations of Non- Compete, Non-Solicitation, and Non-Disclosure agreements.
• Conducted months-long investigation and counseled client board of directors through leadership transition following multiple allegations of sexual harassment.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of national health care client in case filed by employee alleging ADA and FMLA violations (Federal Court, Indiana).