Sonal Hope Mithani

Recognized by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as one of 2017's "Women in the Law" and named by Crain's Detroit Business as one of its "Notable Women in the Law" for 2019, Soni Mithani has more than 25 years of experience litigating complex commercial and governmental litigation matters, with an emphasis on non-compete and trade secret litigation, consumer class action litigation, construction litigation, real estate litigation, and municipal litigation, including several class action matters challenging the constitutionality of municipal fees. She also serves as the firm's General Counsel.

General Business and Complex Commercial Litigation  

Soni maintains a broad general commercial litigation practice that encompasses cases ranging in value from seven-to-nine figures. Her cases include disputes over the enforcement of non-compete and confidentiality provisions, insurance coverage work, securities litigation and scores of business-to-business breach of contract and breach of warranty matters. Her commercial litigation practice covers matters not only in trial courts but appellate courts, as well, where she has frequently obtained favorable decisions either reversing or upholding trial court rulings. She also provides general legal advice to several clients including large corporations, governmental entities, mid-size businesses, private schools and non-profit organizations.

Real Estate and Construction Litigation 

Soni represents entities in disputes involving real estate, including lien enforcement actions, lease disputes, eminent domain actions and actions to quiet title. She also represents owners and contractors involved in construction disputes. Her construction practice involves trial and appellate litigation and larger-scale arbitrations involving claims for liquidated damages, negligent design, recovery under the Spearin doctrine, delay, inefficiency, acceleration, schedule compression, changed conditions and contract abandonment. 

Municipal and Headlee Amendment Litigation and Counseling

Soni has handled cases on behalf of a variety of municipal entities including bond-related disputes, actions to enforce consent judgments against municipalities, ballot challenges, and claims involving the Open Meetings Act. She is also well-versed in defending challenges to imposed utility fees based on the theory that the fees are impermissibly-assessed taxes under the Michigan Constitution, having handled in the last five years more than a dozen cases brought against municipalities under the Headlee Amendment. She has also handled several claims challenging the reasonableness and appropriateness of municipal rates and fees under state and federal law and has counseled communities regarding the legality of their ordinances and rate setting methodologies. 

False Claims Act/Qui Tam Litigation 

Soni represents various entities and individuals who have been sued for allegedly violating federal and state false claims acts. She has defended against these qui tam claims in federal district and appellate courts. In this capacity, she has successfully defended against several multi-million dollar claims for damages. She has also obtained dismissal of the complaints prior to protracted litigation. She has also counseled clients in connection with issues concerning the Anti-Kickback Law and the Stark Law, along with other fraud and abuse issues.

Health Care Litigation 

Soni represents health care entities (including nursing homes, diagnostic groups, hospitals and DME suppliers) and health care practitioners (including physicians, pharmacists and nurses) in a variety of matters ranging from licensing investigations, contract disputes, peer review hearings, challenges to medical staff decisions, government investigations, claims for reimbursement and responses to subpoenas requesting information or testimony. She has worked with physician groups and other health care entities to ensure that they are properly reimbursed by payors for work performed. She has also successfully defended hospitals against claims brought by physicians alleging wrongful termination of privileges.