Scott M. Dinner

What do you focus on?

I focus on litigating business disputes such as business conspiracy, trade secret, misappropriation, breach of fiduciary duty, and other unfair business practices. I also handle disputes involving contract claims, including non-compete agreements, shareholder agreements, and LLC operating agreements. In addition, I represent minority and majority owners in ownership disputes and cases involving shareholder oppression and minority squeeze-out claims.

In my antitrust practice, I assist clients in navigating a range of complex antitrust regulations and laws. While I have significant experience handling antitrust litigation matters, I also provide an array of counseling and advisory services to my clients. This includes developing and implementing antitrust compliance and training programs, conducting audits to uncover potential exposure, and working with clients to implement effective sales and distribution strategies, including minimum resale price requirements and customer or territorial resale restrictions. I also have intimate familiarity with the reach of the federal Capper-Volstead Act antitrust exemption and state analogue exemptions, and assist agricultural cooperatives and associations in ensuring that they fall within the scope of these exemptions.

I ensure matters run smoothly by conducting in-depth legal research and providing analysis, reviewing discovery, drafting pre-trial motions to trials, post-trials and appeals, and assisting expert economic witnesses in drafting expert reports and in preparing to testify at hearing.

Representative Experience

• Wrote an amicus brief on behalf of recording artists in a United States Supreme Court case involving the class action cy pres doctrine
• Obtained dismissal of two of three damages claims and a partial dismissal of the third claim, and negotiated a favorable resolution in a business dispute between a government contractor and a sub-contractor
• Defended an international food chain against copyright infringement claims
• Obtained a declaratory judgment in favor of a property owner after a three-day bench trial
• Successfully pursued antitrust claims against some of the world’s largest manufacturers of computer memory
• Conducted Capper-Volstead compliance analysis for a large agricultural association
• Obtained an $84 million settlement for clients in a case alleging that the defendant deliberately stripped annuity policyholders of their dividend
• Defended (as first chair) a government contractor against multi-million-dollar breach of contract claims

What do you see on the horizon?

I see the rise of big data and the internet of things fundamentally transforming the way cases are litigated. Having legal counsel intimately familiar with these new data sources and how to leverage them will be critical to obtaining successful results in and out of the courtroom.

Prior Experience

Before joining Nixon Peabody, Scott was an associate in commercial litigation at two Virginia-based law firms. In his previous firm, Scott served as the firm’s point person for all strategic decisions related to e-discovery, including collection, preservation, spoliation, and forensic examination.