Partner Houston, Texas Phone: 713.653.7813 Fax: 713.654.3399 jross@susmangodfrey.com* Print this Profile (PDF) Download Business Card Mr. Ross joined Susman Godfrey in 1994, becoming a partner in 1998. Along with his colleagues at the firm, Mr. Ross specializes 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 his client's case. Mr. Ross is equally adept at representing plaintiffs and defendants, and believes that an active practice for both plaintiffs and defendants makes him a more effective lawyer then one who concentrates solely on the plaintiffs or defendants' 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. Mr. Ross believes 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. Mr. Ross does not waste time trying to "win" discovery disputes. The only "win" he is interested in is having the fact finder find for his client. Born and raised in New York City, Mr. Ross came to Texas in 1992 for a trial clerkship with Judge Lynn N. Hughes. Thirteen years after the judge and his wife set him up on a blind date with Jeanie Gilliam, he is still here, sharing his life with Jeanie and their children Elliot, Isabelle and Grisha. Mr. Ross' experience is as varied as one would expect from an attorney who focuses on litigating cases, and refuses to specialize in anything but winning. Below is a representative sampling of cases that Mr. Ross is currently involved in, as well as past results (weighted to the recent past). CURRENT CASES Represents 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.   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 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 involves issues of custom and practice in the OCTG industry and course of dealing regarding cancellation of purchase orders. 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 alleged 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 alleges 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. Mr. Ross 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. Mr. Ross 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 majeur 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.Mr.Rosswas 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. Mr. Ross played a supporting role in all aspects of this very significant litigation. EDUCATION The Hotchkiss School (1983) Georgetown University (B.A. in History & Government, magna cum laude, 1987) Yale Law School (J.D., 1992) PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND BAR ADMISSIONS 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 HONORS & DISTINCTIONS 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) Law Clerk to The Honorable Lynn N. Hughes, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, 1992-94 Named "Texas Rising Star" (2005) in Texas Monthly magazine. *Internet mail is not fully secure or private. Therefore, please do not transmit confidential information via Internet mail. Transmission of information is not intended to and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please do not assume that your communications sent using Internet mail are privileged or confidential. Please do not send Susman Godfrey any confidential information via the Internet without previously consulting one of our attorneys. **Nothing on this web page is intended to represent that Susman Godfrey currently represents any particular clients mentioned because matters and client relationships naturally terminate from time to time.