Minneapolis Alternate Dispute Resolution Lawyer
Chad Snyder
As a dedicated Minneapolis Alternate Dispute Resolution lawyer, I am committed to bringing to your legal problems the skills and experience I gained litigating complex disputes at a big firm, but also the attention of a counselor at law who will take the opportunity to understand the impact your case is having on your life or business.
My firm can provide solid legal representation in any of the following areas:
- Insurance Coverage
- Employment contract litigation (including non-competition and non-solicitation agreements)
- Breach of Contract litigation
- Unfair Business Practices
- Commercial Fraud
- Securities Litigation
- Business Contracts
- Business & Corporate Services
In life and in business, conflicts happen. Sometimes those conflicts are rooted in honest and good-faith disagreements, and sometimes they arise from acts of negligent, reckless or even intentional misconduct. Whatever the source of those conflicts, the Law Offices of Chad A. Snyder is committed to the idea that the law and the legal system can and should be tools to resolve them.
Lawsuits, of course, are not the only option available, and my firm offers a variety of approaches to conflict resolution, including:
Contract Review.
- Sometimes the best way to resolve a conflict is to prevent it from ever happening. With that in mind, I work with clients as they negotiate new contracts to identify and clarify terms or language that might otherwise lead to disagreements in the future.
Mediation and Negotiation.
- No amount of planning will prevent every dispute. But when they do arise many disagreements can be settled through honest and frank discussion. A lawsuit is always an option, but in many cases negotiation, perhaps through a good mediator, is more productive and cost-effective. In these cases, I help clients identify the core issues in the dispute – for themselves and the other party – and to find common ground so the parties can walk away with an agreement that serves everyone’s interests.
Litigation.
- There are times when you have to go to court to ask a judge and jury to protect your rights and interests. For more than 10 years, this has been the focus of my practice – representing clients in courts in Minnesota and across the country. The litigation process can be complicated and sometimes a little overwhelming, and I work with my clients through each phase of the process to develop a strategy for the case and to be sure they know what to expect.
- There will always be big law firms ready and eager to take on multi-million dollar cases. But not everyone can afford those big firms, and not every case is big enough to justify the expense of a big firm. Most cases are measured in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, not in millions. The dollar value may be smaller, but those cases - your cases - and the stories behind them are as big and as important to you as those multi-million dollar fights are to the companies waging them. You should have a lawyer who understands that, and who will hear and understand your story, make sense of all the rules and procedures, and help you reach a fair and just result.
I want to be that lawyer.
That's why I opened this firm. I spent the first 8 years of my legal career at one of the nation’s best litigation law firms. I represented clients around the country in complex disputes over property losses, claims of fraud, breaches of contract, and interpretation of insurance policies. What I often missed in those big cases was the personal connection with my client, the sense that we were working together to solve a problem. And so with this firm, my firm, I am committed to bringing to your legal problems my skills and experience as a large-firm litigator, but also the individual attention that comes from working with a smaller firm.
I look forward to working with you.
Verdicts and Settlements:
- After a hail storm damaged the roof of my client’s home, his insurance company refused to pay more than a grossly inadequate sum to replace the roof. After a short trial, the court ruled in favor of my homeowner client, awarding him the amount he had sought from his insurer.
- My client made automotive loans through arrangements with auto dealers. After one of those dealers was sued by a customer for fraudulent conduct, my lender client demanded that the dealer buy back the loan as required by the terms of its contract. The dealer refused. Ruling favor of my client, the court held the dealer was bound by its contract and was required to not only repurchase the loan, but to pay the costs my client incurred because it was forced to seek enforcement of its rights in court. The ruling was followed by a prompt settlement.
- When a former employee and his new employer started soliciting my client’s customers – in violation of trade secrets statutes and a non-competition agreement – I went to court to seek injunctions against that unlawful conduct. Once they were served with copies of those motions, the defendants quickly agreed to a settlement that protected my client’s interests.
- Fire gutted my clients’ beautiful $1.5 million home, and their insurance company balked at paying for the true cost of repair. Through on-going negotiation, including letters that pointed out the ways in which courts had disagreed with the insurer’s interpretation of key policy provisions, I was able to avoid litigation and obtain a payment that fairly compensated my clients for their losses.
- A few months after purchasing a business, my clients discovered that the seller’s accounting records for the prior couple of years did not accurately reflect the store’s sales. Under the threat of a suit for fraud and breach of warranty, the seller agreed to a settlement that returned a substantial portion of the purchase price.
If you or someone you know needs the assistance of an experienced Minneapolis Alternate Dispute Resolution lawyer, call Chad Snyder today at 866-618-7388, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule a free consultation.
Practice Areas and Legal Definitions
Employment law:
Employment law is a growing and ever-changing body of state and federal statutes, rules, regulations, ordinances, judicial precedents and administrative rulings touching on the legal rights and obligations of employers and employees, and of their respective affiliated organizations. One or another aspect of employment law affects virtually every facet of commercial activity in the modern marketplace.
Securities Litigation:
In the course of financing their expansion, businesses commonly turn to one or more activities involving the sale of securities, ranging from the funding and formation of start-up companies to buying and selling professional practices, assets, divisions and companies, and engaging in private stock offerings and re-sales. Businesses may also get involved with such things as structuring venture capital financing, forming off-shore sales and sourcing entities, structuring commercial and partnering transactions and syndicating real property acquisitions.
Business contracts:
Business contracts are written agreements spanning a broad range of the business relationships that occur in the life of a typical company. They can include non-compete agreements, non-piracy agreements, non-disclosure agreements, restrictive covenants, employment agreements, producer agreements, sales representative agreements, consulting agreements, management agreements, franchise agreements, licensing agreements, deferred compensation agreements and independent contractor agreements.
Intellectual Property:
The term "intellectual property" refers to a "creation of the intellect" that has commercial value, such as copyrighted literary or artistic works, and ideational property, such as patents, appellations of origin, business methods, names, images, and designs used in commerce and in industrial processes.
Breach of fiduciary duty:
The formation of a "fiduciary relationship" begins when someone places special confidence and trust in another who has substantially superior knowledge and training, and also relies on that person to act in his or her best interest. If this trust is knowingly and voluntarily accepted, a “fiduciary” relationship is said to exist. This places a legal duty on the stronger of the two to act diligently in the best interest of the weaker party and never, under any circumstances to secure any advantage at the weaker party’s expense. There are a limited number of circumstances in business transactions where a fiduciary relationship comes into play. Courts tend to rigorously enforce fiduciary duties, and in the event of a willful breach often award punitive damages as well as compensatory damages. Some common examples of fiduciary relationships are a trustee-beneficiary relationship, a doctor-patient relationship, a lawyer-client relationship and a corporate officer-stockholder relationship.
Licensing and commercial contracts:
Business services attorneys counsel clients in a wide range of commercial and intellectual property (IP) transactions. They provide assistance in structuring, drafting, reviewing and negotiating commercial and IP agreements related to the development, acquisition and commercialization of technology, IP, goods or services. The types of agreements involved in these transactions include:
- Software license, maintenance and support, source code escrow, end user license, patent and other technology license agreements
- Development agreements
- Purchase and supply agreements
- Manufacturing agreements
- Distribution, reseller, value-added reseller (VAR) and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreements
- Referral, marketing agreements
- Employment, consulting, technical services and outsourcing agreements
- Joint venture, strategic partner, technology transfer agreements
- E-commerce and Internet-related agreements (including web-based hosting agreements, application service provider (ASP) agreements, web site development, privacy policies and website terms of use)
- Non-disclosure agreements
Sales Commission Disputes:
In avoiding sales commission litigation there is no substitute for an artfully drafted agreement spelling out precisely how and at what rate sales representatives are to receive commissions. Common usage and custom are also taken into consideration by courts in determining the issues, even where there is a written agreement.
Contract Remedies:
Contracts are the very stuff upon which the marketplace is founded, and they provide the basis for a large share of business litigation. The remedies for breach of contract include money damages and injunctive relief expressly directing one of the parties to perform a contractual obligation. This remedy involves a form of injunction called a “specific performance” decree. The remedy of specific performance is often called an “extraordinary” equitable remedy, in that courts will not grant specific performance except in a sharply limited number of circumstances. Punitive damages are not an available remedy in a contract lawsuit.
Business Litigation:
Business litigation is the area of law that provides assistance in the preparation and presentation of a lawsuit or other resort to the courts to determine a legal question or matter in business situations. Business can be any activity or enterprise entered into for profit, usually a company, a corporation, partnership or any such formal organization. Business lawyers advise and represent businesses and financial institutions in such areas as business torts, class actions, complex contracts, financial forensics, government investigations, international dispute resolution, professional relations, real estate disputes, securities and antitrust, technology and intellectual property, professional malpractice, shareholder and corporate governance and telecommunications. Business lawyers place an emphasis on achieving or defending against pre-judgment remedies, including pre-judgment orders for writs of possession, attachments, temporary restraining orders, and injunctions, as well as arbitration or mediation settlements and monetary compensation resulting from lawsuits. Transactional business lawyers represent clients in matters relating to, but not limited to, organizational, operational and contractual documents for corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies, commercial transactions, mergers, real estate acquisitions, leasing and development and commercial financing.
Business and Corporate Services:
Business and corporate services involves advising companies and investors in the purchase, sale and mergers of businesses. The services provided include forming and funding start-up companies, buying and selling practices, assets, divisions and companies, engaging in private stock offerings and re-sales, structuring venture capital financing, forming off-shore sales and sourcing entities, structuring commercial and partnering transactions and syndicating real property acquisitions.
If you or someone you know needs the assistance of an experienced Minneapolis Alternate Dispute Resolution lawyer, call Chad Snyder today at 866-618-7388, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule a free consultation.
If you or someone you know needs the assistance of an experienced Minneapolis Alternate Dispute Resolution lawyer, call Chad Snyder today at 866-618-7388, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule a free consultation.
ADDRESS OF THE FIRM:
Law Offices of Chad A. Snyder, LLC
333 Washington Avenue North
Suite 326
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Phone: 866-618-7388
Hours: M-F, 8:00AM-5:00PM
MEMBERS OF THE FIRM:
Attorney Chad A. Snyder
- Jurisdictions Attorney is Licensed in: State of Minnesota, State of Wisconsin, District of Minnesota, Western District of Wisconsin, and Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
- Date Admitted to the Bar: 1998
- Colleges Attended, Degree & Year Graduated: University of Iowa College of Law, JD, 1998; University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, BA, 1993 (majors in journalism and political science, minors in economics and Latin American studies)
- Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Gary Jones sues over lost elections (The Oklahoman)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — State Republican Party Chairman Gary Jones has filed a lawsuit that claims he was cheated out of election as state auditor and inspector in 2002 and 2006.Jones filed the lawsuit Monday in Logan County. It asks for unspecified damages from former Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan and his wife, former state Sen. Gene Stipe and former Auditor Clifton Scott, among others.Jones ... - Pa. Investor Gets 15 Years For $35M Ponzi Scheme (CBS 3 Philadelphia)
A gym owner-turned-investment fund manager was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme that left investors short $35 million once the fraud unraveled. - 20 arrested on more than 100 felony charges (KFVS 12 Cape Girardeau)
A big bust ends up in the arrest of 15 people for more than 100 felony charges in Union County. - Tax Informants Are On The Loose (Forbes)
A new federal rewards program dishes out cash to people who turn in friends, relatives and employers for fudging their tax returns. - Rajaratnam denies insider charges, blasts wiretaps (MalaysiaNews.net)
The Sri Lankan-born billionaire is the most prominent of 20 people who face criminal or civil charges in the largest U.S. hedge fund insider trading case on record and Wall Street’s first insider ..... - 2 charged with running $190M Ponzi scheme (Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune)
Federal regulators filed an "emergency law enforcement action" Tuesday afternoon charging a Minneapolis money manager and a Burnsville radio personality with running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 1,000 people out of more than $190 million in fraudulent currency investment scheme. - Grayslake man gets 30 years for selling heroin that caused OD death (Daily Herald)
Still protesting his innocence, Priest Little was sentenced to 30 years in prison Tuesday for supplying an Ingleside woman with a fatal dose of heroin nearly a year ago. - Madoff Victim’s Proposed Probe of Liquidator Denied (Update2) (Bloomberg)
Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The liquidator for Bernard Madoff’s business doesn’t need to give evidence revealing why he chose to ignore victims’ fake profit from the fraud when calculating their claims in the case, a judge ruled. - Rajaratnam denies insider charges, blasts wiretaps (Reuters.co.uk)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam attacked a U.S. regulator's lawsuit on Tuesday, denying insider trading charges and saying government wiretaps violated his constitutional rights. - Wild Police Chase Ends In Hialeah Gardens (CBS4 Miami)
A wild police chase through Hialeah and neighboring Hialeah Gardens ends with the arrest of a suspected truck thief. CBS4 has learned the suspect is a 53-year-old Hialeah man who family members say was despondent and acting irrationally since learning that his 52-year-old brother had died last night from a heart attack.
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