Elizabeth Zamora Meraz

My focus

I focus my practice on three main industries: healthcare, financial institutions, and real estate and construction. I represent clients in all stages of litigation and while I am often able resolve matters through negotiation and settlement, avoiding a lawsuit altogether, I have represented clients through to final hearing in arbitration and trials before judges and juries.

Healthcare Litigation

I defend healthcare companies in litigation matters, arbitration, and regulatory proceedings throughout the country. I currently represent a Fortune 10 healthcare company in numerous arbitration proceedings involving its retail pharmacy network. I represent that same company in several litigation matters challenging its retail pharmacy practices and as third-party respondent in discovery across the country.

I represented a medical device manufacturer in a high-profile litigation against a large hospital system concerning allegations that its patient monitoring equipment did not perform as anticipated.

I also have experience advising large healthcare networks, and hospitals in disputes ranging from landlord-tenant actions between healthcare networks and individual physicians and practice groups to breach of contract matters with healthcare vendors as well as malpractice actions. I counsel clients on matters governed by regulations that have not yet been tested by the courts and assist them in creating standard operating procedures and risk mitigation plans.

Real Estate and Construction Litigation

I’ve worked with institutional lenders in the foreclosure of commercial properties and residential real estate development projects. I also counsel and represent commercial landlords in forcible actions that often go into supplemental enforcement proceedings to collect on the final judgment.

I counsel developers and property owners in conjunction with lawsuits filed by the City of Chicago alleging violations of the Building Code in both civil and administrative courts.

I have also represented contractors in breach-of-contract disputes with general contractors on large development projects.

International

I counsel companies with headquarters abroad in pre-litigation disputes that arise out of their local operations. When those disputes lead to litigation, I am able to guide clients through the American system and use my foreign language skills to help bridge the gap in understanding.

I have also helped clients in the U.S. prepare documents in English and Italian and have them validated under The Hague Convention for use abroad.

Intellectual Property

I have successfully challenged registration refusals by both the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the United States Copyright Office. I help clients prepare preliminary patent applications and investigate patent infringement on a national scale.

Representative experience

• Resolved dispute in FINRA arbitration alleging breaches of fiduciary duty and elder abuse
• Defended against motion to compel production of proprietary and trade secret information in third-party discovery
• Prevailed in several complex payor-payee dispute before the American Arbitration Association

Looking ahead

As we make our way out of the pandemic and the dust settles, it will be more important than ever for companies with impacted affiliates or subsidiaries to maintain corporate formalities. I see more and more plaintiffs aiming to pierce the corporate veil and recover wherever they can. We need to be ready to protect our clients’ interests and ensure they are able to stay profitable in the wake of these claims.