Mark practices commercial litigation and co-chairs the firm’s appellate practice section, handling civil appeals in the state and federal courts. For 25 years, he has represented clients in a wide variety of areas, including business torts and contracts, securities fraud, trade secrets, employment, professional malpractice, officer and director liability, and real estate litigation. Mark has been named a Best Lawyer by the Best Lawyers in America since 2009, and is also recognized by Arizona’s Finest Lawyers.
Representative Cases
- For more than 10 years, Mark represented the Royal Palms Resort, one of the top boutique resorts in the world, in a series of lawsuits filed by neighboring property owners over the Resort’s operations. The final case went to trial in 2012. As lead trial counsel, Mark won a complete victory including payment of the Resort’s attorneys’ fees.
- From 2008-2010, Mark represented clients in successfully defending appellate challenges to a $9.75 million jury verdict in a commercial contract case. [County of La Paz v. Yakima Compost Co., 224 Ariz. 590, 233 P.3d 1169 (App. 2010)]. The Arizona Supreme Court declined to review the decision, and the judgment was later paid in full, with interest, totaling more than $14 million.
- Mark represented a leading law firm in obtaining dismissal of a multimillion dollar malpractice claim, and successfully defended the judgment on appeal. [Goble v. Manning, 2011 WL 1376147 (Ariz. App. April 12, 2011)].
- For more than 4 years, Mark represented clients in defending a trade secret case, ultimately obtaining dismissal of all claims and proceeding to trial on a counterclaim for abuse of process. As co-lead trial counsel, Mark obtained a jury verdict of $11 million. [See “Jury Awards $11M to Former McKesson Rep,” Arizona Business Journal May 28, 2009]. The verdict was one of the largest in Arizona in 2009, and is believed to be the largest abuse of process verdict in history.
- Mark represented the Arizona Department of Transportation in proceedings before the Arizona Court of Appeals and Arizona Supreme Court, successfully defending a challenge to the legality of more than 900 easements granted to the Department between statehood and 1967, which were improved with roads and highways forming an essential part of the state’s transportation infrastructure. The plaintiffs claimed that insofar as the easements were on State Trust Land, they violated the federal Arizona-New Mexico Enabling Act. The Supreme Court ultimately affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the case. [Mayer Unified School Dist. v. Winkleman, 219 Ariz. 562, 201 P.3d 523 (2009)].
- In 2007, Mark persuaded the Arizona Court of Appeals to reverse a trial court’s dismissal of his client’s commercial contract claims arising out of a large public construction project. The case then settled on favorable terms. [Aercon Florida, L.L.C. v. Ames Const., Inc., 2007 WL 5448139 (Ariz. App. Nov. 15, 2007)].
- Over the course of more than 4 years, Mark represented the State of Arizona in defending two class actions and one individual action arising out of the infamous “alternative fuel” legislation that threatened to cost the State as much as $800 million. The defense was completely successful; the State won all three cases, two at the appellate level. [Baker v. Arizona Dept. of Revenue, 209 Ariz. 561, 105 P.3d 1180 (2005)].
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