Jack Kalmink and Mary Kalmink represent a long-standing client of the firm who, along with other investors, invested $13,000,000 in a building project in Texas. As an inducement to get the client to make this investment, two of the investors signed Personal Guarantees for a total of $5,000,000. The project failed and the lenders foreclosed on the property. The client sought to recover on the Personal Guarantees to recoup some of its losses. The investors refused to pay on the Personal Guarantees, so Jack and Mary Kalmink filed lawsuits on behalf of their clients in federal courts in Phoenix and San Diego where the investors lived. The San Diego investors filed a motion to dismiss the case as a matter of law. Mary Kalmink drafted the briefs in response to the motion to dismiss. The Judge issued a written opinion, denying the investors’ motion, thus allowing the lawsuit for $2.5 million to proceed in San Diego, and precluding a similar motion in the Phoenix lawsuit.
Mary A. Kalmink
Mary Kalmink Clark HillDetroit
Mary A. Kalmink
Of Counsel
Mary A. Kalmink practices in the firm’s Litigation and Employment Practice Groups. Mary’s areas of expertise include class action, personal injury, product liability, employment relations, and commercial disputes.
While at the Wayne State University Law School, Mary received the Fern Walter, Silver Key and Traitel Scholarships for academic merit. She was awarded the American Jurisprudence Award for Legal Writing and Research and Order of the Coif. Mary was a member of the Wayne State University Law Review and served as Editor of the Annual Survey of Michigan Law.
Mary served as special counsel to United States District Judge John Feikens on Procter & Gamble v. Bankers Trust, a landmark case dealing with leveraged financial derivatives.
She is national counsel on food contamination for a major meat producer. In connection with her defense of claims involving food products, Mary made presentations to the Food Industry Counsel. She published an article entitled "Daubert and its Progeny" in the NFPA Journal, the monthly publication of the National Food Processors Association. Annually, she publishes a chapter entitled “Attorney Fees” in Michigan Law of Damages and Other Remedies. Additionally, Mary is an accomplished lecturer and public speaker. She delivered a speech entitled “The Ten Most Common Mistakes That Lead To Product Liability and How To Eliminate or Minimize Them” at the Food and Drug Law Institute in Washington, D.C.
In addition to handling a variety of litigation, Mary advises clients on various employment issues and handles employee training on issues such as sexual harassment. Mary also represents employers on tax rate and related issues before the Unemployment Insurance Agency.
Mary was honored as one of Michigan's Top Lawyers in Litigation by dbusiness, Detroit's premier business journal.
