On January 30, 2004 FI&C received an opinion from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana granting the multi-faceted motions to dismiss filed by FI&C on behalf of its client, a worldwide leader in the information aggregation industry.  The purported  nationwide class action litigation in Louisiana contains claims against FI&C's client regarding alleged violations of the Driver's Privacy Protection Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  Charlie Faruki, Jeff Cox, and Ron Raether are handling the defense of the client and successfully argued motions to dismiss based upon lack of standing and proof of the legal insufficiency of plaintiffs' DPPA claims.

Jeff Ireland presented a CLE program on February 24, 2004 in Cincinnati entitled "Keys to Effective Expert Witness Examination in Ohio."  The program, specifically geared for the civil litigator, focused on preparing the expert to giveboth deposition and trial testimony, preparation for cross examination and regrouping after destructive testimony.  Jeff's presentation also included handling of plaintiffs' expert witness testimony, maximizing defense expert witness examination, and the ethical considerations when dealing with expert witnesses.  Jeff is a frequent CLE lecturer, particularly in his areas of concentration, including antitrust, employment, trade and competitive issues. 

The January 23, 2004 edition of the Dayton Business Journal recognized the three Dayton area lawyers who have been named among the top ten in Ohio, including FI&C's Managing Partner, Charlie Faruki.  The recognition, published originally in Law & Politics Magazine and Cincinnati Magazine, is based on a comprehensive survey of attorneys throughout the state of Ohio.  The Dayton Business Journal article quotes the President of the Dayton Bar Association, when speaking of Charlie and the other top Dayton lawyers by crediting their success as deriving from their particular "ability to explain complex matters in a manner which (is) understandable." 

Once again, Charlie Faruki has been recognized as one of the "Best Lawyers in America" in the area of business litigation for 2003-2004.  The recognition appeared in the fall 2003 edition of "The Future of Litigation," a special supplement to The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel magazines.  Charlie was quoted in a January 16, 2004 article in the Dayton Business Journal entitled "Order in the Court -- In a Litigious World, Settlements Keep Dockets Manageable."  The article, focusing on the rate of settlements and trial opportunities in federal court quotes Charlie extensively regarding the preparation and trial of complex cases for corporate clients and the best way to find efficient resolutions of those cases.