The Timeshare Beat Home | Today's Headlines | Back to Previous Page

Court Dismisses $1.5 Billion Contract Claims in Major Victory for Starwood Hotels

Press Release: Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP
May 27, 2004
NEW YORK, NY -- A New Jersey Superior Court trial judge has dismissed a $1.5 billion contract suit against Starwood Hotels, ITT Corporation, and Sheraton brought by a New Jersey company that claimed it had an exclusive worldwide telecommunications contract with Sheraton Hotels and Caesars casinos. Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP defended the companies in the suit.

After 24 days of trial over two months, a Camden County judge dismissed the claims brought by Intelnet International. The company claimed it had exclusive rights to provide telecommunications and media services -- telephone, in-room movies and Internet services -- to all Sheraton hotels and Caesars casinos for a seven-year period.

"Starwood inherited this litigation through its acquisition of ITT/Sheraton in 1998," said Richard Ben-Veniste, a partner in Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw's Washington, D.C., office, who, along with New York partner Robert Ward, led the litigation team.

"Starwood's resolve to stand on its right to a judicial determination has been vindicated by the judge's verdict rejecting the plaintiff's contract claims," said Ben-Veniste.

In a May 20th ruling, the Court found that one of the agreements with ITT was back-dated and that plaintiff's testimony was a newly manufactured attempt to convince the Court otherwise.

Prior to trial, Mayer Brown was successful in obtaining a key summary judgment ruling in favor of the defendants, eliminating the claims brought under the other agreement at issue in the case. Mayer Brown was opposed by Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP, along with Henry Miller, a partner in Clark, Gagliardi & Miller, a well-known trial lawyer and former president of the New York State Bar Association, who took the lead role for the plaintiff in trying the case.

Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP is among the 10 largest law practices in the world with more than 1,300 lawyers in seven U.S. cities (Charlotte, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, and Washington) and six European cities (Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt, London, Manchester, and Paris). The firm also has an independent correspondent relationship with Jauregui, Navarrete, Nader y Rojas, S.C., one of Mexico City's most respected law firms.

Source: Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP