Jonathan J. Ross

I joined Susman Godfrey in 1994, becoming a partner in 1998. Along with my colleagues at the firm, I specialize in winning trials: both the preparation involved in positioning a case for trial, and the ability to convince the fact finder, be it jury, judge, or arbitration panel, of the merit of my client's case. I am equally adept at representing plaintiffs and defendants, and believe that an active practice for both plaintiffs and defendants makes me a more effective lawyer then one who concentrates solely on the plaintiff's or defendant's side.

In today's world of complex business litigation, clients have become risk-adverse, and more cases settle after extensive pre-trial maneuvers then used to. Why then the need for business litigation trial lawyers? There are two reasons. First, significant, beyond client expectation settlements only happen when the attorney handling the case prepares the case for trial, regardless of any settlement expectations. Only when the case is managed to be tried from the first day forward will these settlements happen. I believe in answering the following question in the first weeks of any engagement: what do I need to prove to obtain the verdict my client desires? How the case is managed from that point on flows from that question. I do not waste time trying to "win" discovery disputes. The only "win" that interests me is having the fact finder find for my client.

My experience is as varied as one would expect from an attorney who focuses on litigating cases, and refuses to specialize in anything but trial advocacy. Below is a representative sampling of cases I am currently involved in, as well as past results (weighted to the recent past).

The Hotchkiss School (1983)
Georgetown University (B.A. in History & Government, magna cum laude, 1987)
Yale Law School (J.D., 1992)

Law Clerk to The Honorable Lynn N. Hughes, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, 1992-94

• Morris Historical Medal for Best Senior Thesis in History, Georgetown
• Phi Beta Kappa, Georgetown
• Senior Editor, Yale Law Journal (1991-92)
• Managing Editor and Student Writing Editor, Yale Journal of International Law (1990-91)
• Named "Texas Rising Star" (2005) in Texas Monthly magazine.

• State Bar of New York (admitted 1993)
• State Bar of Texas (1994)
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1995)
• United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (1999)
• United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (2002)
• United States Supreme Court (2003)
• Eastern District of Texas (2006)
• Northern District of Texas (2003)
• Southern District of Texas (1995)
• Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas (2004)
• Northern District of Georgia (2004)
• Eastern District of New York (2007)
• Southern District of New York (2007)
• American Bar Association
• Houston Bar Association
• Houston Trial Lawyers Association

Current

• Represents the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of M. Fabrikant & Sons and Fabrikant-Leer International ("Fabrikant") in its action against eight financial institutions arising out of the bankruptcy of Fabrikant, formerly one of the leading companies in the diamond and jewelry wholesale market. The Committee contends, in part, that the defendants had actual and constructive knowledge of self-dealing on the part of the Fortgang family, which controlled Fabrikant as well as dozens of non-affiliated companies, and thus obligations of the estate to the defendants should be avoided, resulting in the return to the estate of the value of the collateral seized by the defendants, in an amount no less that $80 million.

• Represents the Liquidating Trustee of the Circuit City Estate in its opt-out action against various defendants who conspired to fix the price of cathode-ray tubes (“CRTs”), causing Circuit City to pay more for products containing CRTs (televisions and computer monitors) then it otherwise would have had to pay.Represents CompleteRx in a contract dispute with a former client concerning the winding up of their relationship. CompleteRx claims that the contract for service was terminated early without cause, and the former client has sued for an accounting regarding certain drug charges.

2011

• Represented Huntleigh USA Corporation in various actions arising out of the 9/11 attacks. Huntleigh provided checkpoint security at Boston's Logan Airport in regard to United Flight 175, one of the planes the Al-Queda terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center towers.

• Represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of M. Fabrikant & Sons and Fabrikant-Leer International ("Fabrikant") in its action against eight financial institutions arising out of the bankruptcy of Fabrikant, formerly one of the leading companies in the diamond and jewelry wholesale market. The Committee contends, in part, that the defendants had actual and constructive knowledge of self-dealing on the part of the Fortgang family, which controlled Fabrikant as well as dozens of non-affiliated companies, and thus obligations of the estate to the defendants should be avoided, resulting in the return to the estate of the value of the collateral seized by the defendants, in an amount no less that $80 million.
• Represented a class of Dynegy Inc. shareholders regarding the merger activity of that company. The shareholders allege that its board of directors breached their fiduciary duties with regard to Dynegy's recent merger attempts with affiliates of Blackstone and Icahn Enterprises. The shareholders allege both substantive violations (i.e., the merger price is not for fair value) as well as disclosure violations (Dynegy has failed to adequately disclose material aspects of the merger negotiations and valuations). After we obtained additional disclosures to the shareholders which cast doubt on the merits of the financial anaysis done by the company's advisors, the shareholders voted down the merger.

2010

• Represented Sim-Tex L.P. in a dispute with Coutinho & Ferrostaal, Inc. involving whether or not a contract was formed for the purchase of OCTG products. The dispute also involved issues of custom and practice in the OCTG industry and course of dealing regarding cancellation of purchase orders. The case settled the weekend before trial for a confidential amount.

2009

• Represented MasTec North America, Inc. in its action against Con Edison Company of New York for Con Ed's activities related to MasTec's construction of a fiber optic network in Con Ed's rights of way in New York City. MasTec alleges that Con Ed tortiously interfered with its contract with the Telergy Corporation to provide construction services by favoring its own telecommunications subsidiary over Telergy. Specifically, MasTec alleged that Con Ed prevented Telergy and MasTec from completing the fiber optic network in various ways, including withholding necessary services in its rights of way, in order to prevent Telergy from effectively competing against Con Ed's subsidiary and to prevent Telergy from being able to pay MasTec for the construction services provided. The case settled for a confidential amount.

2008

• Represented a leading insurance company with regard to its insured's defense of allegations of product liability in a home fire that included three fatalities and a surviving child with second and third degree burns over 33% of her body.

• Represented general partner of a Houston pharmacy group in partnerhship dispute with certain limited partners. Focusing on the business goals of the various parties rather then generating legal fees, was able to structure a multi-million dollar buy-out of the limited partners which allowed the client to regain effective control of the business and the business to survive.

2007

• Represented Enron in its litigation against the financial institutions who aided and abetted various insiders at Enron in the historic collapse of the company. Enron brought claims against 10 financial institutions. I was responsible for the prosecution of the case against Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank, both of which settled for substantial recoveries for Enron's creditors.

• Represented New York Network Management (NYNM) in a case against HIP New York. NYNM, an IPA that provided various providers to HIP for its members medical care, alleged that HIP erroneously denied claims far in excess of industry norms, significantly underpaid on other claims, and systematically moved those providers to other IPAs or directly to HIP itself in order to undermine NYNM's business. The case settled for a confidential amount.

2006

• Managed the firm's representation of over 2,000 clients in the Fen-Phen diet drug litigation against Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. These cases settled for over 1,100 clients who had "opted-out" (that is, filed lawsuits) resulting in millions of dollars in payments to the clients. The remaining clients who opted-in to a previous settlement favorably resolved their claims.

2005

• Obtained a $38 million jury verdict on behalf of Florida Health Plan Management against HIP New York. Plaintiff alleged that the defendant both understated its liabilities and overstated its assets in the sale of HIP Florida to the plaintiff. In addition to the compensatory damages noted above, the jury found that punitive damages were warranted. In the midst of the parties' presentation of evidence as to the amount of punitive damages to award, the case was settled for a confidential amount.

• Represented accounting firm Mann Frankfort in defense of various cases arising out of the collapse of Premiere Holdings. Achieved numerous dismissals of federal cases at the motion to dismiss stage. Remaining cases were settled.

• Filed a declaratory judgment action for Brazilian client Mineracao Curimbaba, a manufacturer of proppants, against competitor Carbo Ceramics, which asserted that Curimbaba's intermediate strength proppant violated various Carbo patents. Achieved settlement which will allow Curimbaba to sell its product in the United States with no royalty paid to Carbo.

2004

• Defended Intergraph against patent infringement claims brought by American Imaging. Achieved dismissal of the case on summary judgment grounds after a week-long Markman hearing. While the Federal Circuit upheld most of the district court's decision, one small aspect of the case was remanded. Obtained final dismissal of the case on summary judgment after the remand.

2003

• Represented the Texas Democratic Congressional Delegation at redistricting trial, focusing on the unconstitutionality of redistricting solely for partisan advantage and mid-decade redistricting. The three-judge panel split 2-1 in favor of the state's redistricting plan. In June 2006 the Supreme Court, on a 5-4 vote, rejected the claims of political gerrymandering and mid-decade redistricting, but did find Latino voter dilution in District 23 and order the redrawing of that district to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

2002

• Represented the trustee of the WRT Creditors' Liquidation Trust in bringing actions against accounting firm KPMG and financial advisor CIBC Oppenheimer Corp. for their involvement in the collapse of energy company WRT. Recovered settlements from both defendants for the benefit of the Trust.

2001

• Represented the trustee of the DeGeorge companies estate in a jury trial against GMAC subsidiary Residential Funding Corporation for putting DeGeorge out of business. The jury found for the defendant. On appeal, raised legal issues that led to the Second Circuit issuing an opinion remanding the case to district court for determination of factual issues that could require a new trial. The case settled before the district court made its determination.

• Represented Bobby Sue Smith Cohn in connection with various probate and estate issues arising out of the R.E. Smith estate. Successfully mediated dispute between the client and the trustees of various estate entities resulting in the client obtaining greater control of inheritance.

2000

• Defended Unocal against a $15 billion lawsuit brought by Argentine oil and gas company Bridas in connection with the right to build a pipeline across Central Asia. As part of the litigation conducted negotiations with the Turkmenistan Oil & Gas minister and other government representatives. The Court dismissed the lawsuit in Unocal's favor.

• Represented Apache Corporation against PetroChina, obtaining the first TRO ever granted by a U.S. Court against quasi-governmental entities of the People's Republic of China. The case settled favorably for the client 10 days after we obtained the TRO.

1999

• Tried case on behalf of Century Resources Inc. against New York real estate mogul Sheldon Solow in NY state court. I represented the geologists who made an oil and gas find, only to have their financial partner Mr. Solow freeze them out of the business. The case settled during trial for a confidential amount.

• Represented Citrus Trading Corporation in a dispute with Pan National Gas Company over Pan National's failure to deliver agreed upon quantities of LNG (liquefied natural gas). Pan National claimed force majeure due to the failure of the Algerian National Oil and Gas Company, Sonatrach, to deliver the LNG. We argued on behalf of our client that Pan National used normal upkeep of Sonatrach's facilities as an excuse to fail to make deliveries under a contract price favorable to our client. In an innovative approach that we suggested, the case settled after both parties' legal teams made a two-day presentation to a panel consisting of three executives from each party.

1998

• Defended Brazilian proppant manufacturer Minercao Curimbaba against allegations by its United States distributor, PropTech, that it had breached an agreement to extend the distributorship. The case settled on the eve of trial for a confidential amount.

1996

• Represented the employees of Burlington Industries against Burlington, Morgan Stanley, and NationsBank. This ERISA lawsuit alleged that the defendants looted the assets of the employees ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) pursuant to a scheme by which they arranged for Burlington stock to be sold to the ESOP at a highly inflated price. I was responsible for the depositions and the class action briefing, which was successful. The defendants settled for $22 million.

• Represented Degussa Corporation in claims against it in the Gulf War Syndrome cases filed in Galveston, Texas. Demonstrated to the plaintiffs their lack of a case against the client as well as strategic reasons why Degussa should not be in the case and achieved complete dismissal of the client in the early stages of discovery.

1995

• Represented Lloyds of London in an insurance dispute with Exxon arising out of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. I played a supporting role in all aspects of this very significant litigation.