Michael J. Esler was born in Chicago in 1945. He attended St. Mary of the Lake Seminary and University of Illinois (BA 1967) before obtaining his JD from the University of Chicago in 1971. He was admitted to practice before the Oregon Bar in 1971, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1972, and, in 1980, the US Supreme Court. Mike has written and spoken for the Oregon State Bar Continuing Legal Education program, the National Business Institute, Northwest Securities Administrators, Multnomah County Bar Association, Practicing Law Institute, and the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, and serves as an Oregon State Bar Disciplinary Counsel.
Significant appellate cases include:
· Hayes v. Olmsted, 173 Or App 259, 21 P.3d 178 (2001) (minority shareholder squeeze/freeze out case in which the shareholder recovered about three times the highest offer of the company);
· Ainslie v. First Interstate Bank of Oregon, 148 Or App 162, 939 P.2d 125 (1997) (securities case in which plaintiffs received a jury verdict, which, including ORICO treble damages and punitive damages, totaled more than $10.8 million);
· Employers’ Fire Ins. v. Love It Ice Cream, 64 Or App 784, 670 P.2d 160 (1983) (insurance carrier liability based on bad faith refusal to settle);
· FTC v. Francis Ford, Inc., 673 F2d 1008, cert denied, 459 US 999 (1982) (abusive use of adjudicatory hearing to create an industry rule);
