About Us
The WNJ Appellate Practice Group is one of the state’s premier appellate practices, counting among its members former Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Bill Schuette and former federal appellate clerks from the 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Circuits. Over the past five years, we have:
Appeared in the U.S. Supreme Court 11 times
Litigated in many federal Circuits
Participated in well over 100 Michigan Court of Appeals and Michigan Supreme Court matters
Submitted amicus curiae briefs on behalf of many prominent organizations, including three separate sections of the Michigan State Bar, the Michigan Manufacturers Association, the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel Inc., the Defense Research Institute, the Product Liability Advisory Council, the Michigan Bankers Association, the Michigan Aggregates Association, and three states
We represent a broad array of clients in courts throughout the country; many are Best-In-Class in their industries, including Amway, BorgWarner, CMS Energy, The Dow Chemical Company, DTE Energy, Farmers Insurance Group, Fifth Third Bank, The Huntington National Bank, Kennecott, Robert Bosch, and Wells Fargo Financial Leasing. We have also efficiently obtained favorable results for numerous smaller clients and individuals.
What Sets Us Apart: Innovation and Value
The WNJ Appellate Practice Group delivers great value, attention, and efficiency as your appellate counsel:
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- We offer value- and success-based billing arrangements and are open to discussing flat fee proposals, particularly for high-volume appellate work.
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- WNJ is the first law firm in Michigan to license West km®, knowledge management software that allows us to use past work product to increase efficiency and lower cost.
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- Our lockstep compensation system, rare among AmLaw 200 firms, removes incentives to hoard work when it is best handled by another one of our attorneys. This ensures that our clients’ work is directed to the attorney who has expertise in the required subject matter.
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- WNJ is the only Michigan member of TerraLex®, a global network of more than 155 top qualified, independent law firms in the U.S. and nearly 100 countries. Our member-ship allows us to provide a combination of exceptional service and local market knowledge difficult to replicate even by the largest of national law firms.
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- We have developed the One Court of Justice Blog, the first and only blog to provide comprehensive coverage and in-depth analysis of Michigan appeals courts and decisions (www.ocjblog.com). No law firm knows the Michigan appellate landscape better.
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- The ABA's Council of Appellate Lawyers (CAL) is the only national appellate bench-bar organization in the U.S. The Chair of WNJ's APG is CAL Chair-Elect and will become CAL Chair in August 2009, providing ready access to experienced appellate local counsel and high visibility among the more than 1,100 state and federal appellate judges, appellate court attorneys, and appellate lawyers who comprise the ABA's Appellate Judges Conference.
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Experience - Michigan
Exercising a combination of hard work and ingenuity, our attorneys have taken the lead in some of the most important Michigan appellate cases in recent years, literally establishing the meaning of "the practice of law" in Dressel v. Ameribank, 664 N.W.2d 151 (Mich. 2003). Other prominent successes include:
Tomecek v. Bavas, __ N.W.2d __ (Mich. 2008) (ruling in favor of plaintiffs in an easement dispute involving the Land Division Act and implied utility easements of necessity)
Houdini Props., LLC v. Romulus, 743 N.W.2d 198 (Mich. 2008) (adopting amicus of the Michigan State Bar’s Appellate Practice Section regarding nature of appellate pleadings)
Moore v. Detroit Enter., L.L.C., 755 N.W.2d 686 (Mich. Ct. App. 2008) (establishing when private security personnel act under color of state law for purposes of a Section 1983 action)
Sadowy v. Detroit Edison Co., 739 N.W.2d 87 (Mich. 2007) (ordering the Court of Appeals, on an expedited basis, to hear an interlocutory appeal from an adverse summary disposition ruling in a multimillion-dollar stray voltage case)
Czymbor’s Timber v. Saginaw, 733 N.W.2d 1 (Mich. 2007) (vacating adverse Court of Appeals decision, paving the way for regulatory amendments that will result in preemption of local law plaintiff sought to displace)
Schaendorf v. Consumers Energy, 739 N.W.2d 402 (Mich. Ct. App. 2007) (landmark case holding that the discovery rule cannot extend limitation periods for stray voltage claims)
Metro v. Amway Asia Pacific Ltd., 2006 WL 2035510 (Mich. Ct. App. 2006) (rejecting $1 billion claim in class litigation alleging oppression and breach of fiduciary duty in a Bermuda corporation squeeze out)
Randolph v. Reisig, 727 N.W.2d 388 (Mich. Ct. App. 2006) (overturning adverse summary disposition ruling that invalidated an automatically renewing right of first refusal for violating the rule against perpetuities)
Trostel, Ltd. v. Dep’t of Treasury, 713 N.W.2d 279 (Mich. Ct. App. 2006) (enforcing voluntary disclosure agreement seeking return of single business tax paid under protest)
Consumers Energy v. Beard, 699 N.W.2d 303 (Mich. 2005) (overturning adverse judgment in multimillion-dollar dispute involving adverse possession and prescriptive easements)
Michigan Chiropractic Council v. OFIS, 716 N.W.2d 561 (Mich. 2005) (dismissing on standing and ripeness grounds claim that it was improper for no-fault carriers to add preferred provider organization (PPO) clauses in their own policies in exchange for a reduction in premium)
Echelon Homes, LLC v. Carter Lumber Co., 694 N.W.2d 544 (Mich. 2005) (adopting amicus position that statutory conversion requires actual knowledge that the property at issue is stolen, embezzled, or converted)
Henry v. Dow Chem. Co., 701 N.W.2d 684 (Mich. 2005) (adopting amicus position and refusing to recognize common-law tort claim for medical monitoring)
In re Estate of Reisman, 702 N.W.2d 658 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005) (first published opinion interpreting Michigan’s Powers of Appointment Act of 1967 as it applied to an appointment clause in a trust document)
Herald Co. v. Kent County Sheriff's Dep't, 680 N.W.2d 529 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004) (affirming successful media FOIA request regarding an internal affairs investigation into a deputy’s alleged misconduct)
Preserve the Dunes, Inc. v. MDEQ, 684 N.W.2d 842 (2004) (adopting amicus position in case involving the scope of the Michigan Environmental Protection Act)
Klapp v. United Ins. Group Agency, Inc., 663 N.W.2d 447 (Mich. 2003) (setting standard for determining intent of contracting parties)
Morales v. Auto-Owners, Inc. Co., 672 N.W.2d 849 (Mich. 2003) (successful amicus representation in decision overruling long-standing line of authority denying prejudgment interest during interlocutory appeal periods)
American Bumper & Mfg. Co. v. TransTechnology Corp., 652 N.W.2d 252 (Mich. Ct. App. 2002) (applying section 2-607 notice provision of the UCC to dismiss $9 million automotive recall claim)
Experience – Non-Michigan
The WNJ Appellate Practice Group also has extensive experience litigating outside the Michigan appellate system. Some of our recent experience includes:
- Engquist v. Oregon Dep't of Agriculture, 128 S. Ct. 977 (2008) (successful cert. petition regarding class-of-one equal protection employment claim)
- Wallace v. Kato, 127 S. Ct. 1091 (2007) (co-counsel in U.S. Supreme Court case regarding the time when a claim for unlawful arrest accrues)
- In re Sealed Appellant, 2007 WL 4245417 (5th Cir. 2007) (represented one Global Fortune 150 company against another in persuading the Fifth Circuit to reject a 28 U.S.C. § 1782 discovery request for use in a billion-dollar licensing dispute pending in German court)
- ITT Indus. v. BorgWarner, Inc., 506 F.3d 452 (6th Cir. 2007) (in this multi-million-dollar cleanup dispute, the Sixth Circuit held, in a landmark ruling, that an administrative order by consent (AOC) is not a basis for a contribution action under CERCLA Section 113)
- United States v. Grossman, 501 F.3d 846 (7th Cir. 2007) (special appellate consultant in a successful appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals from an adverse judgment involving a $2 million criminal forfeiture proceeding and Michigan's race-notice recording statute)
- CETAC v. Kempthorne, 492 F.3d 460 (D.C. Cir. 2007) (represented citizens group challenging federal government's land-in-trust decision)
- Cuno v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., 126 Sup. Ct. 1854 (2006) (successful amicus curiae representation in U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to vacate Sixth Circuit decision that held investment tax credits unconstitutional)
- Robert Bosch Corp. v. ASC Inc., 2006 WL 2595301 (6th Cir. 2006) (persuaded the Sixth Circuit to bind party to standard terms and conditions that it had never seen or received)
- Koons Buick Pontiac GMC, Inc. v. Nigh, 125 S. Ct. 460 (2004) (successful amicus curiae representation in U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overrule Fourth Circuit and interpret the Truth In Lending Act as capping damages for non-mortgage, non-lease violations of the Act)
- Amway Distributors Benefits Ass'n v. Northfield Ins., 323 F.3d 386 (6th Cir. 2003) (persuaded the Sixth Circuit to become first court in the nation to bind an excess insurer to undisclosed changes made to a renewal policy by the primary insurer)
- Weston v. AmeriBank, 122 S. Ct. 1172 (2002) (successfully opposed petition for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court in class action alleging Truth In Lending Act (TILA) violations, drafting and filing the opposition brief on only four days' notice from client)
- Wrench LLC v. Taco Bell Corp., 256 F.3d 446 (6th Cir. 2001) (successfully reinstated lawsuit in the Sixth Circuit for theft of the Taco Bell Chihuahua ad campaign, which ultimately resulted in $42 million judgment in favor of clients)
Contact
For more information or a consultation, please contact Appellate Practice Group Chair John Bursch at 616.752.2474 or .