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Steven H. Hoeft is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the Firm’s Chicago office. He is the head of the Trial Department’s Construction and Real Estate Litigation group. Steven’s practice is focused on securities and commodities, product liability, intellectual property litigation, construction and real estate litigation. He has worked extensively with manufacturers, inventors, banks, underwriters and investors, and has had first chair responsibility for jury and bench trials, preliminary injunction hearings, arbitrations and appeals.
Steven has represented manufacturers in multi-state, multiple claimant cases involving products as diverse as asbestos, fire retardant treated plywood and commercial laundry equipment. His role in these cases has ranged from front line trial responsibility, to creating and coordinating a national defense strategy, to resolving insurance coverage issues.
Steven’s experience in the intellectual property field has included nationwide patent and trademark litigation. He has represented manufacturers accused of infringing patents in many fields, including medical devices, lighting fixtures and bottles.
In the field of securities and commodities law, Steven has represented institutional investors as plaintiffs and underwriters as defendants in cases brought under the 1933 and 1934 Acts. He was one of the attorneys representing defendants in the In re VMS Securities Litigation, represented individual and institutional plaintiffs in In re Olympia Brewing Company, and was the lead defense lawyer in a case involving issues of first impression under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
Steven is a member of the bars of the State of Illinois; the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth, Seventh, Eighth and Eleventh Circuits; and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (trial bar). He is also a member of the American Bar Association.
Representative Experience
TAL Apparel Limited v. Esquel Appeal in which he succeeded in having the plaintiffs patent invalidated and obtained a multimillion dollar fee award on behalf of the accused infringer
Midland Hotel v. Donnelley Directory in which he first persuaded the Illinois Supreme Court to vacate a $500,000 damage award in favor of the plaintiff and then persuaded the jury to award the plaintiff only $1 as nominal damages
City of Geneva v. DuPage Airport in which he successfully defeated constitutional challenges to a $70 million bond issue and prevented the closing of one of the busiest airports in Illinois
An American Arbitration Association (AAA) Constitution Arbitration, in which he successfully defended a surety against a $5 million claim on a performance bond, and persuaded the arbitration panel to order the claimant to pay the surety’s attorneys’ fees
Roberson v. Volvo Truck in which he represented the plaintiff on a six-day jury trial, which resulted in a $5.1 million award in favor of the plaintiff
Education:
Northwestern University School of Law, J.D. (summa cum laude), 1976
North Central College, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1973 | 