Following a closely watched trial and after ten hours of jury deliberations, Tom Marjerison secured an acquittal for his client, Faysal Kalayaf Manahe, on federal criminal charges alleging a Sherman Act violation for wage-fixing and no-poach hiring agreements. This prosecution arose out of the Department of Justice’s initiative focusing on criminal prosecutions of alleged wage-fixing and no-poach agreements. This jury verdict has national implications as additional anti-trust cases alleging similar conduct are set for trial across the country.
In addition to its national legal significance, the trial was closely watched by Maine’s immigrant community, which packed the courtroom for each day of trial. In an interview with Reuters, Tom Marjerison noted that “It is difficult to understand why the DOJ felt the need to bring the weight of a federal government down on Iraqi immigrants who were doing the best they could in running a health care business in Portland during a global pandemic.”
Jon Goodman, Bruce Merrill and Neale Duffett represented the three other defendants who were also found not guilty in a clean win for the defense. Additional media coverage of this case can be found at:
Tom Marjerison represents clients in civil and criminal matters in state and federal courts. In 2020, Tom was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Mark Lavoie, Jonathan Brogan, and the late Peter DeTroy were previous inductees from the firm.
Tom’s cases have ranged from the acquittal of a physician charged in federal court with multiple counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances in United States v. Hoffman to the Maine Law Court’s adoption of the implied co-insured doctrine in North River Insurance Co. v. Snyder. He has also successfully obtained defense verdicts in a number of high-value and high-profile trials.