Daniela Paez

Daniela is a partner in Taft’s Commercial Litigation practice. She is a trusted advocate and adviser who focuses her practice on financial services litigation, fiduciary disputes, and critical motions and appeals. Daniela’s clients include major financial institutions, trust companies, corporate fiduciaries, Fortune 500 corporations, and private companies. She regularly helps clients navigate a wide range of issues related to fiduciary and wealth transfer disputes, broker-dealer and securities matters, and constitutional and complex legal questions. Daniela represents clients in federal and state trial and appellate courts across the country, and in arbitration before FINRA, the American Arbitration Association, and other arbitral forums. Clients value Daniela for her creative and strategic approach to resolving disputes and mitigating risk.

Daniela is a persuasive legal writer and skilled oral advocate who has special experience in appellate advocacy and complex motions. She has drafted dozens of winning dispositive motions and appellate briefs filed in federal and state courts, including the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Courts of Ohio and Alabama. Of note, Daniela was a core team member and primary drafter of the plaintiff’s winning summary judgment motion, successfully challenging the constitutionality of an Ohio state statute.

• Second chair in team that obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a major automobile manufacturer following a federal jury trial (2024).
• Won unanimous reversal from the Supreme Court of Alabama of denial of motions to compel arbitration of claims by seven customers who alleged that their signatures on the account agreements containing the arbitration provisions had been forged. Successfully argued the customers were equitably estopped from avoiding arbitration because their claims depended on the existence of the account agreements containing the arbitration clauses. The Alabama Supreme Court agreed and rejected the plaintiffs’ attempt to avoid arbitration based on their forgery allegations. Equity Tr. Co., et al. v. Morris, et al., No. 1200551, 2022 WL 3572609 (Ala. Aug. 19, 2022).
• Won summary judgment on all claims asserted against a major insurance company by an insured alleging that her policy was improperly terminated after she was allegedly misled into taking out loans against the cash value of her life insurance policy, and the trial court’s summary judgment ruling was affirmed by the New Mexico Court of Appeals. Sophie Tracy v. AXA Equitable Life Ins. Co., et al., No. A-1-CA-39250, 2022 WL 831884 (N.M. Ct. App. Mar. 21, 2022).
• Core team member and primary brief drafter of team that obtained summary judgment in its successfully constitutional challenge of an Ohio statute that allowed residents of certain communities to more easily change their assigned school district, eliminating preexisting statutory safeguards meant to prevent racial and socioeconomic segregation, and drafted key filings including winning summary judgment briefs. Plain Local School District Board of Education v. Mike DeWine, 2:19-CV-5086, 2020 WL 5521310 (S.D.OH Sept 11, 2020).
• Represented a self-directed IRA custodian in a putative class action alleging aiding and assisting a Ponzi scheme in violation of the Ohio Securities Act, and served as the primary drafter of the appellate briefs in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Ohio, which resulted in a seminal decision from the Supreme Court on a certified question of first impression on the reach of secondary liability under the Ohio Securities Act. Boyd v. Kingdom Trust Co., 154 Ohio St. 3d 196 (2018).
• Represented an executor, as part of a litigation team, and prevailed at the Supreme Court of Ohio in a precedent-setting matter regarding the requirements for the presentation of a claim against a decedent’s estate. Wilson v. Lawrence, 150 Ohio St.3d 368, 2017-Ohio-1410.
• Defended a national bank in litigation alleging breach of fiduciary duty and violations of the Ohio Uniform Fiduciary Act, and obtained summary judgment on all claims in a decision that was affirmed by the Fifth District Court of Appeals. Tsepas v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA, 2017-Ohio-1272 (Ohio 5th Dist. Ct. App.).
• Frequently represents and obtains favorable resolutions for corporate fiduciaries, including major national banks, in a variety of fiduciary-related claims in probate courts throughout Ohio.
• Successfully defended multiple broker dealers in arbitration trials before FINRA, including in eight-figure wrongful termination lawsuit following registered representative’s sale of unregistered promissory notes and in two-week arbitration of eight-figure claims arising out of alleged elder abuse and undue influence involving a senior investor.
• Regularly represents major financial institutions in customer disputes in state and federal courts and in FINRA arbitration, including defending against claims under state and federal securities and consumer protection laws, common law fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, elder abuse, and similar claims.
• Defended a self-directed IRA custodian in numerous cases in and outside of Ohio against customer claims under state and federal securities and consumer protection laws, along with tort and contract claims.
• Defended a retail pharmacy in an unfair competition and trade secrets matter, and after obtaining transfer to the Eastern District of Michigan for lack of personal jurisdiction, drafted a motion to dismiss that resulted in a dismissal with prejudice of most of the plaintiff’s claims. Prescription Supply, Inc., et al. v. Moussa “Mark” Musa, et al., Case No. 2:16-cv-12070 (E.D. Mich. February 27, 2017).

• Author, “UCC Article 4A for Litigators,” Westlaw Practical Law, Thomson Reuters, October 2023.
• Co-author, “One Subject Rule Strategy Can Defeat Dangerous State Laws,” Law360 Access to Justice, September 2021.
• “Ohio Supreme Court Clarifies the Definition of ‘Participating in or Aiding’ Securities Fraud,” Lexology, November 2018.