Diane Festino Schmitt

Diane Festino Schmitt is a shareholder in Baker Donelson’s Baltimore office. Ms. Schmitt focuses on commercial, business and corporate litigation. She has more than 30 years of experience representing clients in federal and state courts.

In the creditors’ rights setting, Ms. Schmitt provides her international, national and local banking clients a full range of litigation, negotiation and dispute resolution services.

She handles affirmative litigation involving notes, guarantees, loan agreements, leases and contracts. She also regularly defends lender liability counterclaims, including cases that have been consolidated before the judicial panel on multi-district litigation.

Ms. Schmitt also has an active general commercial litigation practice that includes corporate governance class actions, hostile takeover suits, insurance coverage disputes, tax controversies and tort and contract actions for a diverse group of clients including health care institutions, economic investment firms, software companies, and other businesses. Ms. Schmitt has also briefed and argued numerous cases before Maryland’s Courts of Appeal.

EDUCATION:

• University of Maryland School of Law, J.D., 1984, with honors
• University of Maryland, B.A., 1981, cum laude

ADMISSIONS:

• Maryland
• Court of Appeals of Maryland
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

Representative Matters:

• Obtained a  verdict from the Maryland Tax Court following a full trial that the largest nursing home in Maryland was exempt from County transfer and recordation taxes on the purchase of  real property because the entity was charitable.
• Obtained summary judgment in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County Business & Technology docket for an 8(a) prime contractor on a federal procurement contract where the Subcontractor alleged breach of contract and quasi-contract claims. This finding was affirmed by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.
• Achieved a favorable settlement for a major national bank in defense of a class action suit in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. The settlement covered a class of 3,000 consumers who alleged the bank did not follow Maryland Commercial Law requirements when repossessing and selling vehicles the bank had financed. The settlement was reached during the early motion phase of the litigation, saving the lender significant legal fees.
• Defended a commercial foreclosure sale and confessed judgment suits against claims of lender liability and fraud in the inducement of the original loan in Maryland State Court.
• Obtained summary judgment for a major international bank in connection with tortious interference, conspiracy, and fraudulent conveyance claims in Maryland State Court raised by a junior creditor.

Professional Memberships:

• Member – American Bar Association
• Member – Maryland State Bar Association
• Member – Women’s Bar Association of Maryland

Community Service : Community Services Board of Directors – St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore