Daniel Fazio

Competition/Trade Secrets

• Obtained a temporary restraining order enjoining competitive employment by a former employee of a for-profit university based on claims of trade secret misappropriation, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of confidentiality agreement
• Obtained a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on behalf of one of the world's largest hedge funds against a former employee based on misappropriation of trade secrets
• After simultaneously filing three actions in three jurisdictions, obtained favorable outcome for a life sciences company seeking temporary and preliminary injunctive relief to enforce restrictive covenants against former employees and their new employer
• Obtained a temporary restraining order on behalf of an international consulting firm enjoining customer and employee solicitation and trade secret misappropriation by former employees who had joined competitive start-up
• Obtained significant monetary relief on behalf of a professional services firm in actions against former employees and their new employer for breach of restrictive covenants and related claims
• Obtained full remediation and substantial monetary settlement on behalf of a technology firm in action for misappropriation of trade secrets against its former executive
• Obtained full remediation and substantial monetary relief on behalf of a medical device manufacturer in action for misappropriation of trade secrets against its former sales employee
• Obtained significant monetary relief on behalf of a professional services firm in forfeiture-for-competition action against a former senior executive
• Successfully represented a medical device manufacturer and its employee in two-front litigation against a competitor defending against claims of tortious interference with contract, breach of non-competition agreement and misappropriation of trade secrets
• Obtained favorable resolution for a spirits manufacturer in action against a departing senior executive for breach of restrictive covenants
• Successfully represented an individual defending against claims of breach of non-competition agreement, defeating motion for a temporary restraining order and resulting in an abandonment of claims by the former employer 

Wage & Hour

• Represented a manufacturer in putative statewide class/collective action alleging minimum wage and overtime violations under the FLSA and Illinois state law; after limiting conditional class certification to a single facility, complete dismissal was obtained as a sanction for the named plaintiffs’ perjury
• Represented an international consulting firm in a FLSA collective action alleging the misclassification of employees as exempt for overtime purposes; obtained denial of conditional certification of a putative class of employees who had been jointly reclassified from exempt to non-exempt 
• Represented a major life insurance company in a nationwide class action alleging unlawful commission payment practices; obtained dismissal of substantially all claims at the pleading stage
• Represented a major life insurance company in a nationwide class action alleging unlawful commission payment practices; while the motion to dismiss was pending, the named plaintiff settled his individual claims for nuisance value
• Represented a major restaurant chain in a putative statewide class/collective action alleging minimum wage and overtime violations under the FLSA and Illinois state law; following the named plaintiff's deposition, the plaintiff withdrew pending collective action certification motion and settled his individual claims for nuisance value
• Represented a major life insurance company in a statewide class action alleging its agents were misclassified as independent contractors
• Represented a transportation company in a class action alleging its drivers were misclassified as independent contractors
• Represented a transportation company in a multi-plaintiff suit alleging its drivers were misclassified as exempt for overtime purposes 
• Represented a luxury fashion company in a class action alleging it misclassified its interns as exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements of New York law
• Represented a major financial institution in a call-center class/collective action alleging off-the-clock violations under the FLSA and Illinois law 

ERISA

• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of the spirits manufacturer in an ERISA denial-of-benefits matter brought by a former senior executive and prevailed on ERISA counterclaim, resulting in forfeiture of substantial severance compensation that had been paid to the executive
• Represented multiple defendants in a multi-defendant action brought by a hospital against a group of insurance companies and self-insured employers, challenging the methodology used to calculate payments for out-of-network services it provided to defendants' members
• Represented a Tier 1 automotive supplier in an ERISA class action alleging breach of fiduciary duty in relation to pension plan

Discrimination/Retaliation

• Served as the lead counsel to a major financial services company in the US Supreme Court and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in an age and race discrimination action, ultimately resulting in the Seventh Circuit affirming the summary judgment in the company's favor on all counts
• Obtained complete dismissal at the pleading stage of action seeking to hold executive search firm liable under Michigan law for its client's allegedly discriminatory failure to hire the plaintiff as its general counsel 
• Obtained complete dismissal at the pleading stage on behalf of an international consulting firm of action alleging race and sex discrimination under Title VII 
• Obtained complete dismissal at the pleading stage on behalf of an international consulting firm of action asserting claims under the ADEA, Title VII, the ADA and FMLA
• Obtained summary judgment for an airline in a religious accommodation case
• Obtained summary judgment for an airline in a national origin discrimination case 
• Obtained summary judgment for a spirits manufacturer against a claim of Title VII retaliation by its former senior executive 
• Obtained summary judgment for a hospital system against claims of race and age discrimination brought by a former director 
• Obtained a highly favorable resolution for an airline in an age/sex discrimination class action arising out of the closure of a facility 
• Obtained a highly favorable resolution for a professional services firm in a national origin discrimination class action 

• The Legal 500 United States
  • Recommended, Labor and Employment Disputes (Including Collective Actions): Defense (2022)
  • Next Generation Lawyer, Labor and Employment Disputes - Defense (2017-2020)
• Named among 500 Leading US Corporate Employment Lawyers by Lawdragon (2021-2022)
• Named an "Up and Comer" in the editions of Lawdragon, Human Resources Executive's Guide to The Most Powerful Corporate Employment Lawyers (2018-2020)    
• Named a Benchmark Litigation "Labor and Employment Star" (2018-2021) 
• Named a finalist for Benchmark Litigation's "Labor & Employment Illinois Attorney of the Year" award (2019)