E-mail:
hm@psh.com
Mr. Merten represents businesses, financial services institutions and individuals in complex civil litigation. His practice focuses on commercial products liability, insurance, media, and intellectual property matters. Mr. Merten‘s achievements have earned him recognition in The Best Lawyers in America since 1997, in both the Media Law and Commercial Litigation Categories, as well as Super Lawyers and Chambers USA, both in commercial litigation.
He is a member of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (Products Liability, Business Torts and Commercial Litigation and Insurance Coverage Sections and Chair of the Intellectual Property Committee). He is also a participant in Lawyers for Civil Justice, an organization of corporations and defense attorneys working towards civil justice reform. Mr. Merten is active in Defense Research Institute (Product Liability, Insurance Law and Commercial Litigation Committees). He is also a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association, Federal Bench Bar Committee, the American Bar Association (Litigation Section), the Maritime Law Association and the Media Law Resource Center. He is on the Board of Directors of Defense Counsel of Rhode Island.
Mr. Merten is admitted to practice in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and before the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island and the U.S. Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from the Boston University School of Law. His undergraduate degree was earned cum laude from Princeton University.
REPRESENTATIVE CASES:
- Obtained judgment as a matter of law for a chemical manufacturer sued for allegedly supplying contaminated chemicals which plaintiff claimed destroyed one of its jewelry manufacturing businesses
- Successfully defended a national financing company against class actions alleging violations of the Truth-in-Lending Act
- Successfully defended the manufacturer of a gas detector against claims that its equipment failed to detect the presence of gas which exploded, severely injuring plaintiffs
- Obtained a multimillion dollar judgment against, and helped federal authorities convict, a group of conspirators who diverted millions of premium dollars collected from independent truckers
- Obtained a judgment declaring that the Rhode Island campaign finance statutes respecting referenda were unconstitutional
- Proved that a garage had sent inflated repair bills to an auto rental fleet over the course of several years, at times billing for “repairs” to parts which did not exist in certain makes and models
- Convinced a federal district court to withdraw an order against a local newspaper because it was an unconstitutional prior restraint
- Successfully represented a minority shareholder in fraud, deceit and breach of fiduciary duty claims against a majority shareholder
- Obtained judgment for a manufacturer of an anti-diarrhea drug that allegedly caused plaintiff’s intestinal diverticulae to rupture
- Successfully defended the decision of a national insurer to deny coverage to the victim of a serious stabbing incident
- Acted as liaison for the Media Committee formed by the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island during a high profile criminal trial
REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS:
Coauthor: "Protecting Confidentiality in Communication with Excess Carriers," FDCC Quarterly, (Spring 2006)
Coauthor: “Aftermarket Aftershock: Assessing Kodak’s Effect on Business Planning for Parts and Service,”
Preventive Law Journal (Spring 1996);
Contributor: “An Overview of Vertical Restraints,”
27th and 25th Annual New England Antitrust Conference, Course Publication (1993 and 1991);
Contributor: “Horizontal Restrains and Collaboration Among Competitors,”
24th, 23d and 22d Annual New England Antitrust Conference, Course Publication (1990, 1989, 1988).
Contributor: case notes to
“Covered Events” for D.R.I.
Contributor:
“Media Law Letter” for the MLRC.
