Ellen Koehler Lyons

Overview

Ellen Lyons focuses her practice on accountants’ liability, banking and lending, consumer finance matters, representing online businesses, and consulting regarding offers of judgment. She has particular experience with offers of judgment and proposals for settlement made under Florida or federal law.

Ellen has tried breach of contract, negligence, unfair and deceptive trade practices, trade secret, embezzlement, and fraud cases. She has arbitrated rescission, breach of contract, and fraud cases. She litigates cases involving regulations such as the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, GAAS, GAAP, and banking laws including FDCPA, TCPA, UDAAP, FCRA, TILA, and RESPA. She recently litigated extensive issues regarding Regulation X of RESPA. Ellen has also handled hedge fund litigation and securities matters.

She has more than two decades of experience helping businesses achieve their goals. Her efforts range from proactive needs assessment to strategic litigation. Ellen handles matters from inception to resolution, and efficiently manages teams in large, bet-the-company cases.

Ellen recently represented an online company facing a manufacturer’s Lanham Act claim. The client’s counterclaim for tortious interference with advantageous business relationships resulted in discovery to substantiate the client’s claim, and a negotiated deal that reinstated the client’s ability to sell genuine manufactured goods with favored status and pricing.

She has written numerous articles on offers of judgment, proposals for settlement, and banking regulations and practices. As general counsel of Alpha House of Tampa, a safe home for homeless pregnant women and mothers with young children, Ellen works closely with the board to achieve fast, cost-efficient results.

Ellen Lyons Unlocks a Successful Resolution

When a major manufacturer of gate openers and accessories cut off sales to an online reseller without warning, the reseller turned to Carlton Fields for relief. The manufacturer not only refused to sell its electric gate openers to our reseller client but also altered its products’ warranties so it could claim the products our client sold were not genuine, even though they were, in fact, made by the manufacturer. The manufacturer instructed other companies to stop selling to our client as well, forcing them to buy from others to continue representing that they sold all major brands.

The manufacturer then brought a Lanham Act claim against our client. The client counterclaimed for tortious interference with advantageous business relationships. Ellen pursued discovery to substantiate the client’s claim that the products they sold were indeed genuine. Attempts to initiate an early mediation were rebuffed until the discovery of a smoking gun document, an email from the manufacturer to one of its distributors, that also is a retailer, demanding they refuse to sell to our client.

This case had the potential to harm the client significantly, with estimated loss of revenue in the millions. A judgment of no liability was not enough — our client needed a business solution. Ellen negotiated a deal that not only allowed the client to sell genuine manufactured goods but also gave the client favored status as a reseller of the products, with favorable pricing.