RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Arent Fox LLP trial team, led by partner Steven Bledsoe, delivered a resounding victory in a multi-week trial in Riverside Superior Court for the sellers of a Nissan dealership -- 3MJ LLC and EPL Properties LLC -- in a contentious lawsuit brought by the buyer, Leo Boese. Among other things, Mr. Boese sued for breach of contract, negligence, and fraud, claiming that the defendants failed to make certain market study-related disclosures at the time that Mr. Boese purchased the dealership.

“Our team did a superb job of bringing out the truth and persuading the judge to rule in our clients’ favor, both in drafting numerous pre-trial motions, which the court granted, and in trial,” said Aaron Jacoby, practice head of Arent Fox’s highly-regarded Automotive practice. “They were able to take a complex case with a strong emotional element and deal with the issues raised by Mr. Boese rationally, in a legal and business context that won the day.”

In rendering a complete defense verdict for 3MJ and EPL, Superior Court Judge Sharon Waters agreed that there was no breach of contract, negligence, or fraud in their actions toward Mr. Boese, and found that Mr. Boese’s testimony to the contrary was not credible and not supported by the evidence.

Mr. Bledsoe’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, particularly breach of contract, consumer class actions, intellectual property, securities, and insurance coverage litigation. He has tried matters before juries, judges, and arbitrators and has represented clients in a variety of industries including automotive, aerospace, consumer wholesale, defense, electronics, energy, food and beverage, health care, satellite television, and software.

In addition to Mr. Bledsoe, the Arent Fox litigation team included Paul Rigali who served as second chair, and Steve Haskins who was the team’s principal brief writer.