In addition to good lawyering, perseverance and stamina are also crucial elements in achieving a victory for a client. Back in 2000, New Jersey-based Metallix Refining Inc., a precious metals recycling company, sold a division to another party, which agreed to a partial cash payment upfront, but also to pay a royalty on every product the purchaser sold to Metallix’s clients for a three-year period after the closing. When the purchaser quickly re-sold the division to a third party, Rhode Island-based Alpha Metals, Inc. (a subsidiary of a multinational conglomerate, Cookson, based in the UK), without informing Metallix,
Metallix received none of the royalties it had been entitled to receive.
Partners Michael Saffer and Arla Cahill sued Alpha for restitution in a “lost profits” case, as well as the initial purchaser’s Rhode Island law firm, arguing that both had known about the royalty arrangement and re-sold the division without recognizing the royalty obligation to Metallix. In a case that required 54 days of depositions, eight different experts and numerous appeals to the Appellate Division, Mandelbaum Barrett PC represented Metallix against the multinational electronics giant. Ultimately, Mandelbaum Barrett PC was able to win for Metallix a settlement worth $3.3 million.