Thomas J. Wiegand

Tom Wiegand is a trial lawyer who represents clients across the country in complex business litigation, class actions, white collar criminal matters, personal and family trust disputes, antitrust matters, and state and federal government investigations. Mr. Wiegand wrote his third-year thesis for Prof. Phillip Areeda, the author of the definitive treatise on antitrust law. After law school Mr. Wiegand worked with the negotiation think tank and consulting business of Prof. Roger Fisher, author of Getting to Yes. Mr. Wiegand then gained his litigation and trial experience over 20 years at Winston & Strawn LLP before joining MoloLamken in 2011.

Mr. Wiegand has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in complex business litigation matters involving a wide variety of claims, including common law and UCC contract claims, statutory and common law fraud, fiduciary duty, and myriad federal and state statutory claims, including RICO, TILA, FCRA, the Lanham Act, the Sherman Act, and various securities laws. He also has represented clients in numerous state and federal class actions, including federal classes that are grouped through the federal Multidistrict Litigation Panel, which have involved cutting-edge procedural and substantive issues.

Mr. Wiegand also works as a mediator in a range of commercial and trust disputes.  Capitalizing on his days with Roger Fisher and the Harvard Negotiation Project, and his experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide range of complex litigation, he finds satisfaction in helping parties resolve their disputes without the further aid of a court.

Representative Matters

• Obtaining federal appellate court reversal of trial court order that denied remand to state court under CAFA of a plaintiff class action (Sudholt v. Country Mutual Ins. Co., 2023 WL 6381375 (7th Cir.))
• Obtaining favorable award for class appellate counsel who successfully challenged sufficiency of class settlement
• Obtaining favorable award for counsel representing thousands of individual named plaintiffs in context of class proceedings and settlement
• Representing and advising beneficiaries and trustees in New York Surrogate's Court relating to substantial private trusts
• Providing appellate case assessment for ongoing IP litigation
• Obtaining two reversals in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals of denials of motions to compel arbitration by the trial court (Berkeley County School District v. Hub International, 944 F.3d 225 (4th Cir. 2019) and 2022 WL 17974626 (4th Cir.))
• Obtaining summary judgment on behalf of Atlas Van Lines defeating claims in two separate putative class actions under the Motor Carrier Act (Mervyn v. Atlas Van Lines, 2017 WL 1437159 (N.D. Ill.), aff'd 882 F.3d 680 (7th Cir. 2018) and Mervyn v. Nelson Westerberg, Inc. and Atlas van Lines, 2016 WL 1270416 (N.D. Ill.))
• Representing several RMBS Trustees in repurchase claims against originators of subprime home mortgage loans based on breaches of representations and warranties
• Obtaining at arbitration an order to refund client’s entire investment in a feature-length film project based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Interpreter of Maladies (April 2015)
• Representing former NFL athletes in objecting to class settlement regarding concussions and achieving improvements to the settlement
• Obtaining favorable settlement for professional service firm against group of former employees and their new employer for breach of fiduciary duty
• Obtaining favorable settlement for group of Google employees who were sued by their former employer Groupon relating to a non-compete agreement
• Obtaining favorable settlement against ad agency and its client that infringed Car-Freshner’s famous trademarks
• Defeating motion for class certification of a set of consolidated class actions involving the recall by the CPSC of over 4 million units of a children’s arts and crafts toy (In re Aqua Dots Prods. Liab., 270 F.R.D. 377 (N.D. Ill. 2010))
• Defeating named plaintiffs' motion for class certification involving claims of cybersquatting relating to domain names on the internet (Vulcan Golf, LLC v. Google Inc., 254 F.R.D. 521 (N.D. Ill. 2008))
• Winning summary judgment dismissing the claims against all named plaintiffs seeking to represent a putative class of home equity borrowers in Alameda County, California, against a consumer finance company
• Winning dismissal of the claims of a putative class action relating to accessing credit report information to advertise for loans (Zawacki v. Discover Fin. Servs., 2007 WL 625454 (N.D. Ill.))
• Winning summary judgment dismissing all claims brought against UOP LLC by Archer Daniels Midland Company on UCC warranty theories
• Obtaining dismissal of a consumer class action against DaimlerChrysler in Cook County, Illinois (Evitts v. DaimlerChrysler Motors Corp., 834 N.E.2d 942 (Ill. App. Ct. 2005))
• Defending Lear Corporation in federal court jury trial over a $75 million contract claim by a supplier
• Obtaining summary judgment against plaintiffs in Jefferson County, Mississippi, on behalf of a consumer finance company in a “mass joinder” fraud action
• Obtaining dismissal by the court of a federal RICO count at the conclusion of a six-week criminal trial (United States v. Serpico, 2001 WL 803703 (N.D. Ill.))
• Representing Sears, Roebuck and Co. in several putative national consumer class action lawsuits and state attorney general investigations (including Poe v. Sears, Roebuck and Co., 1998 WL 113561 (N.D. Ga.); Kelly v. Sears Roebuck and Co., 720 N.E.2d 683 (Ill. App. Div. 1999); and Feuerman v. Sears, Roebuck and Co., 1996 WL 648966 (S.D.N.Y.))
• Representing Reader’s Digest in its successful Illinois appeal that reversed a trial court’s class certification decision
• Representing Interstate Brands in a 22-state product recall of Twinkies and other snack cakes due to allegations of improper asbestos removal from the bakery (including class actions and government investigations)
• Successfully representing Interstate Brands in a DOJ antitrust division contest over its acquisition of Continental Baking
• Defending Gateway, Inc. in a putative national class action of purchasers of a certain PC configuration, which concluded successfully when the trial court’s certification of a nationwide class was overridden by the Seventh Circuit’s direction that an arbitration clause had to be enforced and that a class arbitration was not permissible (Hill v. Gateway 2000, Inc., 105 F.3d 1147 (7th Cir. 1997))
• Serving as national coordinating counsel for a series of class actions involving consumer lending

Publications

• Preparing to Prepare to Mediate, The Circuit Rider (May 2023)
• In New York, a Trust Beneficiary Has Powerful Rights, Law360 (Jan. 23, 2018) (with Justin Ellis)
• Virtual Round Table: Litigation & Dispute Resolution 2014, Corporate LiveWire (Feb. 2014)
• Opting Out of a Class Action: Timing Crucial for Plaintiff Companies, Corporate Counsel (Fall 2013) (with Lucas M. Walker)

News & Appearances

• Mediation: Advanced Techniques, Moderator, Presented at 7th Circuit Judicial Conference, August 2023
• A Symposium on the American Jury, 7th Circuit Bar Foundation, full day CLE, May 2023
• Advanced Commercial Mediation Training, Facilitator, CLE presented by NYSBA, Spring 2023
• Ethics and Experts, CLE in Spring and Fall 2021
• The First Amendment in the Internet Age, 3-part CLE Series, Summer 2021
• Tips and Techniques for Conducting and Defending Rule 30(b)(6) Depositions, CLE in Spring 2020
• In-House Lawyer Communications: Ethical and Professional Considerations, CLE in Spring 2020
• Favorable ruling in Surrogate's Court for ML client trust beneficiary, April 2018
• Prominent litigator Tom Wiegand joins ML, The American Lawyer, February 16, 2011