Terry Booth is a commercial litigator. Before joining the firm, he was a partner at Piper & Schmidt, in Milwaukee for over 20 years, and served as House Counsel for Progressive Casualty Insurance Company.

Areas of Practice

Mr. Booth’s litigation practice concentrates on:

• Commercial litigation
• Federal, state and local government issues and litigation
• Appellate advocacy
• General contract disputes
• Construction defects and issues
• Product liability
• Intellectual property
• Insurance coverage
• Bad faith litigation
• Property and casualty losses
• Real estate issues
• Employment disputes
• Business torts

Representative Matters

Mr. Booth has been practicing law for over 35 years. He has successfully resolved over 600 lawsuits and over 60 appeals in The Wisconsin Supreme Court, The Wisconsin Court of Appeals, and The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; thirty-one published opinions have resulted from those appeals. Representative published appellate cases include:

• Estate of Sustache v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., 2008 WI 87, 311 Wis. 2d 548, 751 N.W.2d 845 (involving fundamental issues of insurance companies’ duty to defend; the decision has been cited extensively as precident in subsequent appellate decisions).
• Beacon Bowl. Inc. v. Wisconsin Elec. Power Co., 176 Wis. 2d 740, 501 N.W.2d 788 (1993) (involving product liability, statutory treble damage and statutory interpretation issues in the context of a fire which destroyed the building housing the Beacon Bowl; the trial lasted more than three weeks).
• Szalacinski v. Campbell, 2008 WI App 150, 314 Wis. 2d 286, 760 N.W.2d 420 (involving issues of the application of Wisconsin’s safe place law in the context of a hotel fire in which several guests were injured; the trial lasted over two weeks and included the testimony of over 35 witnesses).
• Union Pacific R.R. Co. v. Motive Equipment, Inc., 2006 WI App 58, 291 Wis. 2d 236,
  714 N.W.2d 232 (involving preemption by federal law under the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA), 45 U.S.C. §§51-60, and preemption by federal law under the Locomotive Inspection Act (LIA), 49 U.S.C. §§20701-703.
• Grogan v. Public Service Com’n of Wisconsin, 109 Wis. 2d 75, 325 N.W.2d 82 (Ct. App.
  1982) (involving the scope of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s rulemaking authority in the context of the application of its rule prohibiting the sale of natural gas for use in outdoor lighting, Wis. Admin. Code PSC 136.02(4).
• Grand View Windows, Inc. v. Brandt, 2013 WI App 95, 349 Wis. 2d 759, 837 N.W.2d 611 (involving the application of Wisconsin Consumer Act, Wis. Admin. Code §ATCP 110.02, in the context of a home improvement contractor performing work on a residence).
• Vision Financial Group, Inc. v. Midwest Family Mut. Ins. Co., 355 F.3d 640 (7th Cir.
  2004) (involving the application of a commercial insurance policy’s false pretense and dishonesty exclusions in the context of a fraudulent scheme to steal computer equipment and furniture leased to a hotel).

Mr. Booth has been lead counsel in many jury trials, 18 in a recent 9-year period. He has tried cases involving complex multi-million dollar claims in trials that have lasted up to three weeks, and that have involved over 35 witnesses. He has handled a wide variety of cases, including cases involving complex contracts, issues involving federal, state and local governmental entities, statutory and contractual obligations and liabilities of limited liability company members, conspiracy claims, trade secret issues, breaches of employment agreements, misrepresentation claims, fraud allegations, conversion issues, civil theft claims, class action lawsuits, intellectual property issues, real estate claims, property and casualty losses, complicated insurance coverage issues, bad faith claims and multi-jurisdictional claims.

Mr. Booth has extensive experience in planning and conducting discovery in complex litigation, including informal investigations, formal written discovery, and over a thousand hours of oral depositions. In handling his cases, he has had considerable involvement with technical, financial and other expert consultants. He has also had extensive experience in evaluating and litigating damage issues. Those damages have included losses of business income and losses of business value, including the value of its intellectual property and good will.

Mr. Booth is also an electrical engineer and a patent attorney.  With that background, he has handled many cases that have involved technical and engineering issues.

Community

A community thrives when its members take an active interest in its health. So Mr. Booth joins many others in his involvement in:

• State Bar of Wisconsin
• Waukesha County Bar Association
• Wisconsin Defense Counsel (Chairman, Insurance Coverage Committee, 10 years)
• Speaker at multiple State Bar of Wisconsin conventions
• Speaker at multiple Civil Trial Counsel of Wisconsin conventions
• Co-Author of Contributory Negligence and Subrogation chapters of State Bar of Wisconsin publication: The Law of Damages in Wisconsin (Russell M. Ware ed., 6th ed. 2014)
• Volunteer mediator, Mediation and Restorative Justice Center
• Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
• Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association

Admissions

Mr. Booth is admitted to practice in:

• Wisconsin Supreme Court, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, Wisconsin trial courts
• United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and United States District Courts in Wisconsin and the Northern District of Illinois
• United States Patent and Trademark Office (Patent Attorney)