Scott M. Dinner

What do you focus on?

Commercial Litigation

I help clients resolve business disputes in and out of the court room. I have represented clients in a variety of disputes involving real estate, unfair competition, complex contracts, torts, and corporate governance.

Antitrust

I assist clients in navigating a range of complex antitrust regulations and laws. I have significant experience handling antitrust litigation matters, and 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.

Capper-Volstead Act

I have an intimate familiarity with the reach of the federal Capper-Volstead Act, which creates an antitrust exemption for agricultural cooperatives, as well as the agricultural cooperative laws of numerous states. The failure of a cooperative to comply with these laws can subject them, and their members, to substantial liability. My familiarity with these laws was gained through years of litigating their contours. I now use this familiarity to assist agricultural cooperatives, associations, and farmers in ensuring that they are in compliance with these laws and covered by the antitrust exemptions that these laws provide.

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.