• Representative Clients

    • State Farm Mutual Life Insurance Co.
    • Pfizer and its affiliates
    • Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
    • Taco Bell
    • Metro-North Commuter Railroad

    Significant Representations

    • State Farm with preparation and authorship of successful petition for writ of certiorari and merits briefs in State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408 (2003), a landmark punitive damages case in which the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a US$145 million punitive award against State Farm.
    • Metro-North Commuter Railroad with preparation and authorship of successful petition for writ of certiorari and merits briefs in Metro-North Commuter Railroad Co. v. Buckley, 521 U.S. 424 (1997), in which the U.S.  Supreme Court limited emotional distress and medical monitoring claims under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA).
    • State Farm with preparation and authorship of briefs to the Illinois Supreme Court in Avery v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 835 N.E.2d 801 (III. 2005), in which the court decertified nationwide consumer and contract classes and reversed a US$1.05 billion judgment against State Farm.
    • State Farm with obtaining summary judgment and affirmance of summary judgment on appeal in Hill v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 166 Cal. App. 4th 1438 (2008), a certified nationwide class action in which the plaintiffs claimed that the insurer was obliged to distribute billions of dollars of surplus to class members.
    • State Farm in Hurricane Katrina litigation on the trial and appellate court levels, with appellate victories in Broussard v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 523 F.3d 618 (5th Cir. 2008), Tuepker v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 507 F.3d 346 (5th Cir. 2007), and In re Katrina Canal Breaches Wig., 495 F.3d 191 (5th Cir. 2007), cert. denied, 128 S. Ct. 1241 (2008).
    • Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in class actions and individual lawsuits regarding premiums, interest rates and investment allocations.

    Includes matters handled at Dechert or prior to joining the firm.