George D. Sax, Associate
Mr. Sax concentrates his practice in civil and commercial litigation. Mr. Sax was formerly a litigation associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he represented numerous corporate clients in a variety of matters, including breach of contract, class actions, commercial litigation, Chapter 11 restructuring, consumer fraud, insurance coverage, multidistrict litigation, product liability, and toxic tort matters. Since joining Schoeman Updike Kaufman & Scharf in 2009, his practice has expanded to include representation of government entities in defense of Section 1983 civil rights litigation.
Representative Matters:
- Defense of government entity in pending Section 1983 lawsuits for alleged civil rights violations.
- Defense of life insurer in pending breach of contract litigation.
- Local counsel to pharmaceutical company in putative nationwide class action in connection with alleged improper off-label marketing of prescription drugs.
- Representation of large tobacco manufacturer in several related judicial and arbitral proceedings involving claims for more than $1 billion in “non-participating manufacturer” adjustments to payment obligations under 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between tobacco companies and 46 states.
- Representation of debtor corporation in Chapter 11 filing and reorganization, including participation in contested confirmation hearing before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana resulting in court approval of client's $1.5 billion plan of reorganization.
- Defense of product manufacturer in the largest case ever tried to verdict in the Law Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, as well as in related proceedings in the client's concurrent Chapter 11 restructuring which resulted in an agreed upon limit on the client's uninsured liability to the plaintiffs in the Cook County lawsuit.
- Defense of consumer fraud and breach of contract class actions against large corporate clients in arenas including the Illinois Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, and trial level federal and state courts in Illinois, California, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
- Defense of grocery product manufacturer in toxic tort lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Gallatin County, Illinois.
Professional Activities:
Educational:
- Judge, first-year moot court, Northwestern Law School, spring 2007.
- Instructor, National High School Institute, Northwestern University (journalism division), summer 2000.
