Ryan S. Bewersdorf is senior counsel with Foley & Lardner LLP and a member of the firm’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations, Consumer Financial Services, and Intellectual Property Litigation Practices as well as the Automotive Industry Team.
Mr. Bewersdorf has been rated AV Preeminent, the highest performance rating, in Martindale-Hubbell’s peer review rating system. He was also selected for inclusion in the 2012 Michigan Super Lawyers – Rising Stars® edition for his work in business litigation and bankruptcy & creditor/debtor rights. He also received the 2012 Up & Coming Lawyer Award, presented by the Michigan Lawyers Weekly.
Mr. Bewersdorf is an experienced business counselor and litigator. As a counselor, he routinely advises on contracts and negotiation strategy, including frequently in the areas of automotive purchase orders, terms and conditions, and long term contracts. Mr. Bewersdorf’s litigation practice concentrates on helping clients in their legal disputes in state and federal courts, including litigating adversary proceedings in bankruptcy courts. He handles a wide variety of matters, which include patent litigation, supply chain disputes, breach of contract claims; commercial real estate disputes, including workouts and receivership; prosecution and defense of bankruptcy preference actions and fraudulent transfer claims; defamation and other business torts such as fraud; and obtaining and defending against preliminary injunctive relief in state, federal district and bankruptcy courts. Mr. Bewersdorf also has significant experience in representing clients in alternative dispute resolution forums, including mediations and multi-panel arbitration proceedings.
Mr. Bewersdorf represents clients in a broad range of industries, including automotive, real estate, finance, banking, manufacturing, distribution and technology.
Among the numerous cases he has successfully handled, Mr. Bewersdorf has:
- Obtained numerous receiverships over commercial properties and multi-family real estate complexes. Recent engagement involved appointment of receivers on multiple properties across the state that were part of a $80 million defaulted loan portfolio.
- Obtained numerous temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctive relief for automotive clients threatened with the potential shutdown of their operations based on supplier breaches of contracts. He has also successfully defeated actions and dissolved temporary restraining orders for automotive clients.
- Represented an automotive client in a $65 million breach of warranty claim involving the supply of defective automotive component parts manufactured in Brazil. The case was settled one week before trial resulting in a multimillion dollar settlement in the client’s favor.
- Defended an automotive client against a $60 million breach of contract case regarding early termination of a long term supply agreement in which $40 million was dismissed on summary judgment and a favorable resolution was reached on the remainder at issue.
- Won an arbitration award in excess of $10 million in an automotive supplier dispute involving steel surcharges.
- Counsel to reorganized Dura Automotive Systems in connection with bankruptcy preference claims which resulted in the successful filing of hundreds of lawsuits and millions of dollars of recoveries.
- Counsel to Venture Industries in connection with bankruptcy preference claims which resulted in the successful filing of hundreds of lawsuits and millions of dollars of recoveries.
- Counsel for the liquidating trustee for the Centrix Financial Liquidating Trust (sub-prime auto loans) prosecuting more than $100 million in claims against insiders and others.
- Successfully represented lenders in numerous commercial foreclosure matters resulting in obtaining receivers, foreclosing mortgages and negotiating loan work-outs and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure.
- Represented a retired officer of the United States Air Force regarding defamation claims brought by a former Air Force Academy Cadet. Defeated plaintiff’s claims on summary judgment very early in the case.
- Successfully defeated a beer distributor’s motion for injunctive relief seeking to enjoin one of the largest breweries in the world from terminating the distributor under a nationwide realignment of its beer distributors.
- Represented an architectural consulting firm and immediately after filing a motion to dismiss, plaintiff agreed to dismiss all claims. The case was a personal injury action arising from the defective construction of prison cells. The claims dismissed included negligence and constitutional torts.
- Represented a Canadian based international supplier of plywood in a multiparty dispute regarding allegedly defective plywood.
- Won partial summary judgment on claims arising from a multimillion dollar promissory note under Article 3 of the Uniform Commercial Code.
- Won numerous motions for summary judgment for banking clients faced with lawsuits for improper foreclosure in the wake of residential housing bubble.
Mr. Bewersdorf’s published court decisions include:
- DCM Ltd. Partnership v. Wang, 555 F. Supp. 2d 808 (E.D. Mich. 2008) (regarding breach of promissory note)
- In re NM Holdings Company, LLC, f/k/a Venture Holdings Company, LLC, et al., 376 B.R. 194 (Bankr. E.D. Mich. 2007) (regarding bankruptcy preference actions under 11 U.S.C.§ 547)
Chapters, Articles and Presentations:
- “Driverless Car Technology – Legislation Slow To Keep Pace,” http://www.dashboard-insights.com/ (April 15, 2013)
- "Inside the Minds: Trends In Alternative Dispute Resolution," chapter titled "A Primer On Alternative Dispute Resolution In Today's Legal System" (Aspatore Books 2012)
- "Strategies Regarding Automotive Contracts," presented to automotive supplier's executives (November 2012)
- Co-author, “Bankruptcy Preference Payments: Defining “Ordinary” in the Industry – Beyond Common Research,” Unsecured Trade Creditors Committee, American Bankruptcy Institute Committee News, Vol. 10, Number 2 (May 2012)
- “Purchasing and Sales Law Boot Camp,” presented to client’s legal, sales and purchasing departments (January and September 2012)
- "Non-Compete Agreements: Enforceability, Reasonableness and the Court’s Discretion to Blue Pencil," Michigan Business Law Journal, Fall 2011, Vol. 31, Issue 3
- "Enforceability of International Forum Selection Clauses," Michigan Business Law Journal, Fall 2010, Vol. 30, Issue 3 (published January 2011)
- "Protecting Competitive Business Interests Through Non-Compete Clauses: What Interests Can Legitimately Be Protected?" Michigan Business Law Journal, Summer 2010, Vol. 30, Issue 2
- "Conventional Wisdom: Serving Foreign Defendants in Michigan Federal Courts," Michigan Business Law Journal, Spring 2010, Vol. 30, Issue 1
- "Recent Issues With Injunctive Relief in Trademark and Copyright Cases," presented at Guarding The Treasure: IP Valuation & Remedies (New York, New York, October 2007)
Mr. Bewersdorf also has significant real world business and engineering experience working for publicly traded corporations. After graduating college with a mechanical engineering degree, Mr. Bewersdorf worked in the automotive industry as a product development engineer at Johnson Controls, Inc. (NYSE: JCI), a Fortune 100 company and one of the world’s largest tier one automotive suppliers. He also worked in engineering sales at SPX Corporation (NYSE: SPW), a Fortune 500 industrial conglomerate. During engineering school Mr. Bewersdorf was a co-op intern at a joint venture of ALCOA (NYSE: AA), a Fortune 100 producer of aluminum products.
Mr. Bewersdorf received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School (2003). He also has a M.B.A. (2000) and B.S.E. in mechanical engineering (1997) both from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
He is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts in the State of Michigan and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, as well as the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
Mr. Bewersdorf is also active in civic and pro bono activities. On a pro bono basis, he represents families in need in divorce matters. Also on a pro bono basis for the Michigan Innocence Clinic, through the University of Michigan Law School, he screens and investigates cases on behalf of prisoners, with new evidence that may establish that they are actually innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted. He is a graduate of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s 2010-2011 Leadership Detroit Class XXXII.