Cozen O’Connor: Client Stories

Winning Approval for Your Multi-Billion-Dollar Utilities Transaction

When SteelRiver Infrastructure announced plans to sell Peoples Natural Gas Company and Peoples Gas Company in Pittsburgh to the water utility Aqua America, it expected a protracted and contentious fight to win regulatory approval of the sale from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC).

Teaming Up To Pave the Way for Your Major Manufacturing Project

When Pennsylvania-based Giorgi Global Holdings Inc. (GGH) — a holding company with operations in the agricultural, food, and packaging sectors — needed a one-stop shop for government relations and legal assistance in connection with plans for CANPACK, its foreign subsidiary, to build its first factory in the United States, the company turned to Cozen O’Connor.

Persevering On Your Behalf

Cozen O’Connor won a defense victory in a case where plaintiffs sought more than $15 million in damages. Following a two-week trial in the U.S. District Court in Nashville, Cozen O’Connor thoroughly debunked plaintiffs’ causation theory, attacking the methodology and credibility of plaintiffs’ witnesses using a team of scientists and engineers, including one of the foremost experts on Doppler radar. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of Federal Insurance Company, part of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.

Closing Your Deal

Utz Quality Food’s production and distribution centers were all based in the Mid-Atlantic region, which limited the company’s ability to produce and sell products nationally. That changed in April 2011 with Utz’s purchase of Zappe Endeavors, the maker of the nationally distributed “Dirty” Chips brand of kettle-cooked potato chips and Zapp’s Potato Chips.

Launching An Industry

In 2007, when Tom Gravina and Michael Peterson founded Evolve IP, a cloud technology company, they were not simply launching a new business, they were launching a whole new industry. “People barely knew what the cloud was,” says Gravina, who is now chairman and CEO. Gravina credits Cozen O’Connor with helping transform Evolve IP from a great idea into a thriving tech company.

Growing Your Business

Before it created the most popular series of in-home fitness and weight loss solutions in the country, such as P90X, Turbo Jam, and 10-Minute Trainer, Beachbody was just a couple of guys with a great idea.

Handling Your Aviation Litigation

On Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, a business jet just purchased by ExcelAire, a New York-based company with a charter fleet of small luxury aircraft, was flying from Brazil to ExcelAire’s headquarters on Long Island. Before leaving Brazilian air space, the jet collided with a passenger aircraft, resulting in the deadliest aviation accident in Brazil’s history at the time.

Exercising Your Copyrights

When The Fhitting Room®, a high-intensity boutique fitness studio in New York City, needed high-energy representation to protect its trademarks and copyrights, it turned to Cozen O’Connor. Since 2013, our intellectual property attorneys have assisted The Fhitting Room to obtain several trademark and copyright registrations, and has helped enforce the company’s valuable trademarks and copyright protected content against third parties worldwide.

Building A Luxury Consignment Empire

More than 15 years ago, Linda Lightman picked up her sons’ old video games and sold them on eBay. When the video games ran out, Linda turned her eyes toward her own collection of designer clothes. They too were soon flying out of her closet, and Linda’s Stuff was born. When her luxury consignment business grew from more than just a side gig, Linda, a former labor & employment attorney, called Cozen O'Connor.

Managing Your Employee Relations

In 1883, Barney Kroger invested his life savings of $372 to open a grocery store in downtown Cincinnati. The Kroger Co. is now one of the nation’s largest retailers, reporting annual sales of more than $90 billion.

Helping You Help Others

Samaritan’s Purse saw the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Iraq as hundreds of thousands of refugees fled the war-torn city of Mosul and knew its DC-8-72 cargo aircraft could help. There was just one problem: Long-standing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations forbid U.S. aircraft from flying into Iraq. Samaritan’s Purse turned to Cozen O’Connor for help clearing this hurdle.

Transforming Your Production Company

When Hollywood-based independent film finance and production company Sidney Kimmel Entertainment (SKE) decided to make its joint venture with Ivanhoe Entertainment permanent, Cozen O’Connor was there to help navigate and negotiate the transaction.

Advancing Your Coffee Experience

Todd Carmichael is used to facing big challenges on his own – he sailed solo across the Atlantic and set the world speed record for crossing Antarctica alone on foot. But when he and his business partner, JP Iberti, decided it was time to sell an equity stake in La Colombe Torrefaction (LCT), they turned to Cozen O’Connor for help.

Selling Your Health Care Company

Health Advocate, the nation’s leading independent provider of healthcare advocacy services, has relied on Cozen O’Connor as its outside general counsel since it was a 14-person start-up. Over the last eleven years, Health Advocate has sought the firm’s advice on everything from compliance to capitalization. Recently, the company utilized the full range of Cozen O’Connor’s corporate capabilities to complete its lightning-speed acquisition by Omaha-based West Corporation for nearly $265 million.

Defending Climate Science

In two landmark decisions which together affirm the right of scientific researchers to freedom of expression, privacy and reputation, Cozen O’Connor achieved significant legal victories on behalf of noted Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann.

The Complete Package

With the arrival of corporate attorney Gregg Kander in Cozen O’Connor’s Pittsburgh office, Cumberland Packing Corporation is realizing the sweet benefits of such an arrangement to a greater extent than ever before.

Revitalizing Your Cities

Commercial real estate giant Liberty Property Trust recently broke ground on a transformative project to revitalize 19-acres of formerly industrial waterfront in Camden, N.J. Opportunities for urban redevelopment on this scale are exceedingly rare. Cozen O’Connor’s real estate team is working closely with Liberty to help them make their transformational vision for Camden a reality.

Selling Your Skyscraper

Against the backdrop of uncertain U.S. and international property markets, the Italian pension fund, Fondo Pensioni per il Personale Cariplo, decided to sell a 389,000-square-foot office building that it owned in Midtown Manhattan. Cozen O’Connor represented the fund in this sale.

Protecting Your Portfolio

Celgene Corporation is one of the largest biopharmaceutical companies in the world, with more than 4,000 employees and $3.6 billion in annual revenue. Its mission is to discover and develop treatments for cancer and other severe inflammatory conditions. To that end, Celgene’s most valuable asset is its intellectual property portfolio.

Expanding Your Restaurant Family

The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), on behalf of the City of Philadelphia, manages and develops The Navy Yard, a former naval shipyard that is currently being redeveloped into a bustling urban business campus spanning 1,200 acres, now with 10,000 employees and 130 companies, and zero fine dining restaurants.

Building Your Research Hub

Philadelphia’s University City Science Center aims to build the world’s most diverse, dynamic and attractive hub for research and commercialization in science and technology. The goal is admittedly not a modest one. In 2014, Cozen O’Connor began working with them to achieve it.

Revitalizing Your City’s Center

Long stretches of Market Street east in Center City Philadelphia have been in decline for nearly four decades. The planned redevelopment of a 4.4-acre site, running from just two blocks east of iconic City Hall to Independence Mall, is poised to reverse that trend and breathe new life into the critical Market East corridor. Cozen O’Connor represents the joint venture partnership (composed of National Real Estate Advisors, JOSS Realty, Young Capital and SSH Real Estate) backing East Market’s revitalization.

Changing Your Skyline

On June 30, 2014, Liberty Property Trust, Cozen O’Connor’s client, and Comcast Corporation closed on a transaction to undertake one of the largest private development projects in the history of Pennsylvania. The planned $1.2 billion Comcast Innovation and Technology Center (CITC) is a 59-story mixed-use skyscraper in Center City with more than 1.3 million square feet of office, retail and public space topped by a 222-room Four Seasons hotel.

Protecting Your Patent

Cozen O’Connor’s seasoned team of patent litigators secured a major victory, protecting Kyowa Kirin Inc.’s patent rights and exclusivity for Sancuso®, an adhesive patch that administers granisetron via groundbreaking transdermal technology and is used to prevent nausea and vomiting in patients receiving chemotherapy.

Lobbying Your Position

Datamyne Case Study

Greening New York City’s Waterfront

Five years ago, Lincoln Equities engaged Cozen O’Connor to help win approvals to undertake a major new waterfront development on Hallets Point, a peninsula in New York City’s East River. When complete, this $1 billion project will transform an underserved and impoverished corner of Queens into a vibrant and accessible mixed-income community.

Fetching the Funds to Fuel Market Expansion

When Petplan, a leading pet health insurance provider in North America, needed counsel with the skill and savvy required to close a significant acquisition, CEO Paul Guyardo turned to Cozen O’Connor.

Charting New Courses in the Complex Cannabis Market

Clearing Hurdles to Build Your Portfolio

When FIKA, a chain of specialty espresso bars celebrating chocolate and the Swedish coffee culture, found itself in need of investors, our client saw an exciting opportunity to grow its portfolio. But the situation was complex. So, Cozen O'Connor structured a transaction that would protect our client while, at the same time, enabled FIKA’s business to continue operations until a sale could close.

Doing the Diligence for Your IP Acquisition

When brand management company Marquee Brands, LLC needed counsel for a massive due diligence project, it turned to Cozen O’Connor for help. The project culminated in Marquee’s acquisition of the outdoor sports and lifestyle brand Dakine and all related intellectual property.

Accelerating Your Company’s Growth

Eurofins Scientific, the Brussels-based international life sciences company, is one of the fastest-growing public companies in Europe and is executing an ambitious five-year “growth acceleration programme.” M&A attorneys at Cozen O’Connor have represented the laboratory testing giant since 2010 and have played a key role in many of Eurofins’ largest and most complex transactions to date.

Securing Your Business’s Legacy

Wilco Electronic Systems, the largest African American-owned telecom services provider in the Philadelphia region, turned to Cozen O’Connor when they needed to make a deal with internet giant Comcast Corporation.

Growing Your City and State

A model small business loan program established several years ago by the Wilmington UDAG Corporation (WUC), a nonprofit economic development corporation operated by the City of Wilmington, with Cozen O’Connor’s assistance is now being replicated to benefit small businesses across Delaware.

Negotiating Your Real Estate Expansion

When Yards Brewing Company decided to leave its current Delaware River location for a much larger space in bustling Northern Liberties, they called Cozen O’Connor to negotiate the deal.

Securing Your Nonprofit’s Future

Before Cozen O’Connor began representing Hold Your Horses (HYH), HYH had spent years bouncing around from place to place, disrupting the lives of their already vulnerable clients, and sometimes balancing care and mission with the concerns of the property owners who loaned them temporary space. HYH provides equine-facilitated psychotherapy to people with a range of physical, cognitive, emotional, communication, and sensory impairments.

Going the Distance

Over five months and two continents, Cozen O’Connor’s client, eMarketer, successfully negotiated a blockbuster deal to be acquired by Axel Springer for $242 million. The deal combines powerful distribution and content capabilities: Germany-based Axel Springer is one of the world’s largest digital publishers, and U.S.-based eMarketer is one of the most trusted providers of digital marketing, sales, and consumer behavior analysis.

Client Stories

Revitalizing Your City’s Center

Experience & Client Stories

Cozen O'Connor Experience

Search Experience