Charles E. Murphy

Charles E. Murphy is Of Counsel in the Litigation Practice Group of Clark Hill PLC and has substantial litigation and arbitration experience in securities, construction, business, health care, commercial and contract disputes, minority shareholder oppression, corporate control, fraud, misrepresentation, interference with contracts and business relationships and other business torts, complex litigation, breach of warranty, distributor/supplier relationships, manufacturer's representative and franchise terminations, commission disputes, creditor-debtor actions, trade secrets, restrictive covenants, unfair competition, and trademark and copyright infringements.

Charles has a substantial medical marihuana practice advocating for clients on legal and regulatory policy at the state and local government level, including for a medical marihuana industry group; administrative licensing applications for growers, processors, caregiver providers, safety and security compliance, and transporters, at the state and local level; real estate lease structuring, purchasing, and zoning; zoning litigation (obtained reversal in June 2017 of a City of Warren zoning board of appeals decision not to grant a variance to a grower facility licensee); counsel and drafting of state statute and local ordinance proposals (state recreational referendum initiative and City of Detroit opt-in initiative ballot proposals under the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act); election law disputes, including obtaining a September 2017 writ of mandamus compelling the City of Detroit to place an initiative petition on the ballot; campaign finance law compliance for ballot measure committees; review of financial payment systems and risk; business entity structuring and capital raising for investors and licensees; and litigating industry related shareholder and member disputes.

Charles has significant experience in securities law and regulation representing broker-dealers, principals, and registered representatives in sales practice cases involving financial services and insurance products and representing shareholders, officers and directors in securities related disputes. He has conducted customer and industry arbitrations, securities compliance, regulatory and disciplinary proceedings and has navigated departures and hires of registered representatives. For most of his career, Charles has represented individual physicians, physician groups and hospitals, including cases involving staff privileges, interference with hospital contracts, physician shareholder disputes, state certification requirements, and licensing board investigations and hearings. He has been selected to serve as an arbitrator in physician staff privilege hearings at hospitals. He has special expertise in trust and estate litigation involving breach of fiduciary duty, will and trust contests and accounting and legal malpractice. Charles has handled employment termination, discrimination and sexual harassment cases and has extensive experience negotiating and drafting contracts and licensing agreements.

He has tried jury and bench trials in federal and state court, FINRA and AAA arbitrations throughout the United States, and administrative agency hearings.

His recent litigation resolutions include:

• Defending former CFO of U.S. Manufacturing against claims arising out of the 2014 acquisition of U.S. Manufacturing by Wynnchurch Capital in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

• Representing the SEC Receiver for Legisi Marketing, Inc. vs. Sierra Equity, et al., in a FINRA arbitration. Receiver was appointed in an SEC Enforcement Proceeding that shut down the $72 Million Legisi internet Ponzi scheme. The FINRA arbitration involved securities fraud claims against the broker-dealer and representatives who sold restricted stock in former shell companies to Legisi Marketing. Arbitrators awarded $2,750,000 to Receiver after 4 weeks of hearings.  See Wall Street Journal 10-9-15.

• Representing SEC Receiver in separate securities related cases against Royal Palm Real Estate Investment Fund LLP et. al. and against Elite Consulting Group, LLC and Edgetech, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

• Represented the shareholders and former officers of Car.com in AAA securities arbitration in Phoenix, Arizona and a federal securities action in the Central District of California arising out of the acquisition of Car.com by Autobytel related to a financial restatement by Autobytel.

• Defended Delphi’s Director of Capital Planning in the SEC enforcement action against Delphi and its former officers and related securities matters, in the Eastern District of Michigan. Settled after 5 weeks of jury trial.

• Obtained favorable settlement of breach of fiduciary duty claims in Oakland County Probate Court and Circuit Court actions against former trustees of a trust and manager of a real estate LLC on behalf of beneficiaries of trust and members of LLC.  Orchestrated seizure of control of the trust and LLC.

• Successfully defended Merrill Lynch Trust Company in a breach of fiduciary investment duty claim brought in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

• Represented Hunt Construction, the general contractor for the Northwest Airlines Mid-Field Terminal Project at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in numerous construction cases in federal and state court arising out of delays, scheduling, acceleration, and termination of sub-contractors with over 100 million dollars at issue.

• Successfully obtained dismissals of four cases at trial and appellate level brought by the Fort Street Presbyterian Church against the Presbytery of Detroit in the Wayne County Probate Court alleging mismanagement of two endowment funds and breaches of fiduciary investment duties.

• Represented two registered representatives of UBS in a FINRA Review of closed-end fund trading practices at the UBS Scottsdale, Arizona office. FINRA Review discontinued following depositions.

• Represented broker-dealer, investment advisor and two principals in FINRA arbitration involving claims of securities fraud and suitability.

• Represented a regional bank in a FINRA arbitration against a broker-dealer and insurance company arising out of the inappropriate sale of bank-owned life insurance (BOLI) to officers of the bank.

• Achieving a $7,000,000 settlement buy out during arbitration hearing on behalf of a minority shareholder of a precast construction company.

• Successfully shepherding and negotiating departures of registered representatives from numerous broker-dealers and negotiating employment agreements with broker-dealers.

• Represented several high level Collins & Aikman executives against Collins & Aikman Corporation, et al., in an adversary proceeding in United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division. Case involved issue of whether the Collins & Aikman “Top Hat Plan” for executives complied with the Plan and ERISA so as to be excluded from the debtor’s estate.

• Obtained a favorable settlement on behalf of two beneficiaries of a substantial family trust against a bank and one of the largest Michigan law firms in a case involving breach of the prudent investor rule and breach of fiduciary duties in the management of a hedge fund which stuffed its gain to the trust.

• Served as an internal arbitrator at Henry Ford Health Systems in a physician staff privilege hearing.

• Represented the Russian Federation and its Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAAE) in a federal action in the Eastern District of Michigan to recover $300 million of smuggled isotopes from a Russian company and its majority shareholder who had fled to St. Kitts.

• Defending and achieving a favorable resolution and dismissal of a Florida construction company in an action brought by its former president in Fort Myers, Florida.

• Serving as a facilitator in an automobile supplier contract dispute involving Johnson Controls, ThyssenKrupp Steel Services and other entities.

• Successfully obtaining judgment and collection in Oakland County Circuit Court against a series of real estate LLC entities, including reverse piercing.

• Representing elderly investors in two FINRA arbitrations involving the inappropriate sale of variable life and annuity products.

• Successfully representing Comerica Bank in a complex will and trust contest and obtaining multiple judgments in the Wayne County Probate Court.

• Obtaining summary dismissal of a business claim brought by a broker-dealer against a departing representative.

• Obtaining a no-cause following trial for Bondpage.com (Cambridge Group Investments), an internet bond broker-dealer, in a FINRA securities arbitration brought by a customer in Los Angeles, California.

• Representing the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit and the American Red Cross in separate will and trust contests in Oakland County Probate Court.

• Defending Chase Manhattan Mortgage Company in several real estate cases in Wayne County Circuit Court.

• Successfully defending a trustee in an undue influence and breach of fiduciary duty case in the Wayne County Probate Court.

• Defending a registered representative in a FINRA arbitration brought by several customers over a failed investment sold to the customers by an unrelated promoter.

• Representing a Michigan flooring contractor in several construction litigation disputes.