Michael Forde tried two cases on behalf of three Sprint ‘affiliates’ in cases they filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery and Cook County Circuit Court. These affiliates of Sprint Nextel Corporation were third parties who had the exclusive right to provide Sprint mobile service in certain large geographic areas. After Sprint announced its $35 billion merger with Nextel Communications, Inc., these affiliates filed separate suits against Sprint in Delaware and Cook County alleging that the merger would result in a breach of their exclusivity rights. In the Delaware case, the Court of Chancery issued an injunction barring Sprint Nextel from engaging in certain marketing activities. In the Illinois case, the court issued an injunction requiring Sprint Nextel to divest itself of the Nextel network and assets in our client’s service area. The Appellate Court affirmed this decision. Sprint ultimately resolved the case by acquiring our clients for approximately $831 million in cash and assumed debt.
