Mr. Kay-Oliphant’s practice focuses on complicated and “bet the company” contractual matters, commercial fraud and other business torts, and mass tort claims. At the firm, he has focused on Anti-Terrorism Act litigation against defendants in the telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and banking industries, as well as plaintiffs in anti-trafficking lawsuits against defendants that have allegedly benefitted from participating in ventures with human traffickers. In one example, Mr. Kay-Oliphant represents nearly 100 construction workers who are suing a U.S. company that helped oversee the construction of stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Mr. Kay-Oliphant also maintains a complex commercial litigation practice. He has a wide array of experience in the state and federal courts in Illinois, as well as in the federal courts in New York and Washington, D.C. He has handled all phases of litigation, from pre-complaint negotiations, drafting, defending, and attacking complaints at the pleading stage, managing and litigating discovery, attacking and defending experts, summary judgment, settlement negotiations, and all the way through bench and jury trials.
He has won at trial. In one example, he led a trial team that successfully defended a Missouri energy company accused of breach of contract, and won a zero-damages verdict following a five-day jury trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In another case, he successfully prosecuted, as first chair, an Illinois business’s claims against its former counsel, winning a two-week jury trial in Illinois State Court and successfully defending appeals to the Illinois Court of Appeals and the Illinois Supreme Court.
He has appellate experience before the Illinois Court of Appeals and the Illinois Supreme Court as well as in Federal Courts of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, and has won appeals before both the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the Illinois Court of Appeals. Mr. Kay-Oliphant also has extensive experience in arbitrations before both JAMS and AAA.
Before joining Sparacino PLLC, Mr. Kay-Oliphant was a partner at Massey & Gail LLP and an associate at the international law firms Latham & Watkins in New York City and O’Melveny & Myers in Washington, D.C. Examples of Mr. Kay-Oliphant’s prior representations include:
- Successfully secured a settlement for the parents of Seth Rich in their lawsuit alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims, against Fox News in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Joel Rich and Mary Rich v. Fox News Network LLC, et al., 18-cv-02223 (S.D.N.Y.).
- Successfully defended, as first chair, Southwest Airlines against a consumer class action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Negotiated a favorable settlement as between Southwest, the class, and objectors, and then successfully defended the settlement on appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Successfully defended, as first chair, Southwest Airlines against another consumer class action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Won dismissal of all claims, with prejudice, at the pleading stage, and then successfully defended that dismissal on appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Successfully prosecuted, as first chair, claims regarding violations of the Illinois Open Meetings Act by the Illinois Commerce Commission on behalf of an energy company and an Illinois non-profit company. Negotiated a favorable settlement which included payment of clients’ attorneys’ fees.
- Successfully defended, as first chair, a consumer-interest group in a complex discovery dispute related to a widely-reported case regarding internet-safety, intellectual property, and piracy issues before the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia and the Southern District of Mississippi.
- Successfully defended, as first chair, an international airline in Illinois state court against a consumer class action. Achieved full dismissal based on federal preemption under the Montreal Convention.
- Successfully prosecuted, as first chair, breach-of-contract and conversion claims on behalf of a major financial institution, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Achieved a favorable settlement on the eve of trial after winning summary judgment on defendant’s liability.
- Successfully defended, as first chair, breach-of-contract and property tort claims, on behalf of a major financial institution, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Won summary judgment on all claims, ending the lawsuit.
- Secured an $8M+ arbitration award in favor of a private equity firm in its breach-of-contract claim with regard to the sale of a healthcare company.
- Represented an exclusive distributor in bet-the-company litigation against its sole manufacturer in both Illinois state court and in the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois and the Southern District of New York. Achieved a favorable settlement for the client.
Mr. Kay-Oliphant graduated with a B.S. from Northwestern University in 2001, where he was a Hardy Debate Scholar and member of the Northwestern Debate Society. He graduated from Emory University School of Law, with Honors, in 2005, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Emory Law Journal and a William Agnor Scholar. After law school, Mr. Kay-Oliphant clerked for the Honorable W. Eugene Davis of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. He has been selected as a SuperLawyer in every year since 2022.
Mr. Kay-Oliphant is admitted to the state bars of Illinois and New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as numerous U.S Courts of Appeals and federal district courts.
You are advised that not all client results are included and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
