In what the Chicago Tribune called an “extraordinary ruling” that came after the plaintiffs and defendants jointly tendered a settlement agreement to the Court for its approval, the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois recently appointed Novack and Macey Partner Monte Mann as the Court’s Independent Counsel to investigate the circumstances under which Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman (“Milberg Weiss”) came to represent one of the plaintiffs in a shareholders’ derivative action brought against the Boeing Company and certain of its officers and directors. The Court’s inquiry stems from the recent criminal indictment of Milberg Weiss on federal charges of paying kickbacks to people to serve as plaintiffs in class action lawsuits and shareholders’ derivative actions.

The Court ordered all six of the plaintiffs to appear in Court and be questioned under oath by Monte Mann to determine how they became plaintiffs in the case, whether they received kickbacks, when they bought their Boeing stock and how much stock they owned. Mr. Mann’s interrogation of the witnesses as Independent Counsel for the Court ended this month. The Court has not yet ruled on the proposed settlement.

About Monte Mann and Novack and Macey
The publisher of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer has called Monte Mann “one of the top litigators in the city [of Chicago].” He represents clients in high-stakes commercial litigation, including commercial contract disputes and others involving corporate governance, business torts, real estate, partnerships, close corporations, securities, restrictive covenants and trade secrets. He has handled all aspect of such matters, including evidentiary hearings, trials, mediation, arbitration and appeals.

Novack and Macey LLP is a litigation firm that concentrates exclusively on complex commercial cases. For further information about this case, please contact Monte Mann at 312-419-6900 or by e-mail at mmann@novackandmacey.com.