Michael B. Mattingly

Experience

Counseled Equity Firm through its First Acquisition

Client: Prather Capital Partners

Dinsmore represented Prather Capital Partners, a newly established private equity firm, through its first acquisition. Our counsel included deal structure assistance, preparation and negotiation of the asset purchase agreement and ancillary documents, as well as the preparation and negotiation of the equity capital raise and senior debt financing documents. The transaction will enable Prather Capital Partners to lay the groundwork for their bio-medical manufacturing platform which will meet the needs of a fast paced industry.

Successful Defense of Client in Age Discrimination Suit and Appeal

We represented AMPAC Plastics Inc., a plastics manufacturer, in the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in a case regarding an age discrimination filing. The plaintiff filed an age discrimination suit after he was terminated for performance issues. The plaintiff, who was consistently top salesman at the company, failed to generate new business as opposed to fostering the growth of old business. He and a younger salesman were put on the same performance improvement plans, whereby they were both required to generate two new clients of a defined value each month.

While neither salesman technically generated two new clients a month, the younger salesman generated an extremely substantial client in one month. The plaintiff was terminated for non-performance while the younger employee was retained. As a result of his termination, the plaintiff filed an age discrimination suit.

After taking the plaintiff’s deposition and defending four witness depositions, we filed a Motion for Summary Judgment providing a multi-faceted argument. Our client was granted Summary Judgment on the plaintiff’s discrimination claims with the court agreeing with all facets of our defense.

After the plaintiff appealed the district court’s decision, the 6th Circuit affirmed the Southern District of Ohio’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of our client on the plaintiff’s claims for age discrimination.