Practice Areas Overview

General Litigation

At Canel, Davis & King , our lawyers are equipped to help individual and corporate clients with most any civil litigation matter. Over the years, we have handled a wide variety of cases, from personal injury to antitrust. We have found that our skills as experienced trial lawyers are transferable from one subject matter to another. Our clients have, too.

We have had extensive experience in the following areas:

• Construction Defect Litigation
• Building Products Liability Litigation
• Environmental Litigation
• Civil Rights Litigation

Some of our past cases include:

Construction Defect Litigation

In 2003 we obtained settlements and jury verdicts in excess of $2 million in Dubuque, Iowa for property owners against various contractors. The defendant contractors had erected a parking garage on an adjoining parcel of land that damaged our clients' buildings.

We have also successfully represented several building owners in litigation against architects, engineers and contractors to recover damages for design and/or construction defects.

Building Products Liability Litigation

Our firm has defended manufacturers of building products against products liability, warranty and consumer fraud claims.

Environmental Litigation

We have represented companies in Superfund litigation to recover favorable allocations of environmental investigation and remediation costs at various sites around the United States.

Civil Rights Litigation

Together with Gerry L. Spence of Jackson, Wyoming, we represented Dennis Williams, one of the "Ford Heights Four," in a malicious prosecution case against Cook County, Illinois and certain sheriff's deputies. Mr. Williams spent 18 years in prison, 15 of those on death row, for a crime he did not commit. All four cases were settled in April 1999 for $36 million. Williams v. County of Cook, Case No. 97 L 4886 (Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois). We continue to be involved in other high profile civil rights cases.

Injunctions

In June 2004, we obtained an injunction in the Circuit Court of the Fifth Judicial Circuit in Marion County, Florida for a philanthropist who had donated a museum, artwork and millions of dollars to a large university foundation. We sued the foundation alleging it breached its promise to care for the Museum in perpetuity in exchange for the gift. The Circuit Court required the foundation to fund and maintain the Museum pending the final disposition of the case. The case settled during the appeal of the injunction order.

SOME OF CANEL, DAVIS & KING'S REPORTED CASES:

United States Gypsum Co. v. Indiana Gas Co., Inc., et al., 350 F.3d 623 (7th Cir. 2003);

Fabiano v. Palos, 784 N.E.2d 258 (Ill. App. 2002);

Midwest Gas Services v. Indiana Gas Co., 317 F.3d 703 (7th Cir. 2002);

LID Associates v. Dolan, 756 N.E.2d 866 (Ill. App. 2001);

Disciplined Investment Advisors, Inc. v. Schweihs, 650 N.E.2d 578 (Ill. App. 1995);

Joslyn Manufacturing Co. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 23 F.3d 1212 (7th Cir. 1994);

Sobel v. Franks, 633 N.E.2d 820 (Ill. App. 1994);

Heritage Commons Partners v. Village of Summit, 935 F.2d 1489 (7th Cir. 1991);

Bellevue South Assoc. v. HRH Construction, 579 N.E.2d 195 (N.Y. Ct. of Appeals 1991);

Labovitz v. Dolan, 545 N.E.2d 304 (Ill. App. 1989);

Village of Lisle v. Village of Woodridge, 548 N.E.2d 1337 (Ill. App. 1989);

Roxalana Hills, Ltd. v. Masonite, 813 F.2d 1228 (4th Cir. 1987).

If you or your company is in need of a trial lawyer, contact us .

Canel, Davis & King
10 South La Salle Street
Suite 3400
Chicago, Illinois 60603
Phone: 312.372.4142
Fax: 312.372.6737