Chicago, Illinois – July 10, 2025. On June 27, 2025, FSC partners Jonathan Suder and Glenn Orman, along with Ray Niro Jr. of Chicago-based Raymond P. Niro Law, LLC, obtained a unanimous jury verdict in Chicago, Illinois Federal Court against The Heil Co. d/b/a Environmental Solutions Group and Anthony M. Romano (the “Defendants”) on behalf of its client Sonrai Systems LLC (“Sonrai”) for a total of $59.8 million. The 12-member jury awarded $29.8M in compensatory damages and $30.0M in punitive damages for malicious misconduct.
Sonrai brought claims in 2016 and 2017 against the Defendants for breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract stemming out of The Heil company hiring Romano away from Sonrai and taking Sonrai’s proprietary and innovative Vector technology system improperly through Romano. By late 2015, Sonrai had developed the revolutionary system within the waste management industry and had been on the verge of scaling up to provide the system industry wide when The Heil company lured Romano away from Sonrai improperly and Romano breached his fiduciary duty to Sonrai by taking the technology away from Sonrai and delivering it to Heil. Suder and Orman only appeared in the case earlier this year. After hearing roughly two weeks of testimony and evidence from the parties, the unanimous jury only needed less than three hours of deliberations prior to finding on behalf of Sonrai on every count asserted against the Defendants.
Counsel for Sonrai Jonathan Suder said, “Sonrai had a great new product to improve overall efficiency and safety in the waste hauling business. When they told Heil that Sonrai wasn’t for sale, Heil and Romano made the decision to take their critical technology anyway and without permission. After nine tough years of litigation, a jury said resoundingly to the Defendants that this is not how you do business. This verdict is a testament to both Chris Flood and Dennis Keizer’s commitment and integrity.”
CEO of Sonrai, Christopher Flood, was both relieved and thankful after the jury’s verdict. “After nine hard fought years, I am thankful that Jon and Glenn agreed to take over our case earlier this year and tell our story to a jury in convincing fashion. All we wanted to do was make the garbage business better, and not just for Heil but for everyone. We couldn’t be more thankful to them and have renewed faith in our legal system.”
The case was tried before The Honorable Judge Thomas M. Durkin and styled Sonrai Systems LLC v. Anthony M. Romano and The Heil Co. d/b/a Environmental Solutions Group, Civil Case No. 1:16-cv-3371. The Heil Co. was represented by Winston & Strawn LLP and Lynch Thompson. Anthony Romano was represented by Nathan Hall.