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Robert S. Safi
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ROBERT S. SAFI, born El Paso, Texas, admitted to Texas bar, 2005.
I attended the Plan II Honors Program at The University of Texas at Austin, and then graduated with high honors from The University of Texas School of Law. As a law student, I served as an editor of the Texas Law Review and was awarded membership in Chancellors and Order of the Coif. After law school, I spent a year in San Francisco clerking for the Honorable Vaughn R. Walker, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. In 2010, I was recognized as a "Rising Star" of the Texas bar.
Since joining Susman Godfrey in 2006, I have enjoyed winning for my clients in the courtroom.
For example, in February 2009, Steve Susman and I obtained a unanimous jury verdict in favor of Northville Product Services in a suit for breach of a letter agreement for the sale of biodiesel. Biodiesel producer Green Earth Fuels repudiated the agreement after one of its investors, Goldman Sachs, decided it didn't like the deal. The court conducted an initial trial on whether the letter agreement was intended to be binding. I gave the opening statement and presented and cross-examined key witnesses. The jury found the letter agreement was binding even though the parties never signed the formal sales contract contemplated in the letter agreement. I then developed Northville's claim against Goldman Sachs for interference with contract. I handled all depositions and briefed, argued, and defeated Goldman Sachs' motion for summary judgment. The case settled for a confidential sum on the eve of a second trial.
In June 2009, with Mark Wawro, Alex Kaplan, and co-counsel Barry Scheck, I obtained a unanimous jury verdict and $5 million damages award for George Rodriguez in a federal civil rights action against the City of Houston arising from the much-publicized scandal in the Houston Police Department crime laboratory. Mr. Rodriguez was wrongfully convicted in 1987 of kidnapping and raping a teenage girl. After the Houston Police Department's chief serologist falsely reported that the true perpetrator Yanez could be excluded as a suspect. Mr. Rodriguez was convicted and spent 17 years in prison until he won his freedom in 2004, with pro bono assistance from Susman Godfrey and The Innocence Project. Mr. Rodriguez then filed suit against the City of Houston. A federal jury found that the City had been deliberately indifferent to the substantial risk that inadequate supervision or training in the crime lab would lead to due process violations similar to the one suffered by Mr. Rodriguez, and awarded $5 million in damages. The District Court entered judgment in excess of $9 million. The case is now on appeal.
I have also enjoyed winning for my clients before trial.
For example, with Neal Manne and Johnny Carter, I represent the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County ("METRO") in a lawsuit arising from METRO's plan to build a light rail line along Richmond Avenue in Southwest Houston. The plaintiff claimed that the route along Richmond Avenue violated a voter referendum that authorized METRO to expand its light rail system. Johnny Carter and I prepared a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the plaintiff lacked standing to sue METRO. The plaintiff reacted to the motion by voluntarily dropping many of her claims and filing a petition for writ of mandamus that asked the court of appeals to order the trial court not to rule on the motion. I prepared METRO's response to the mandamus petition. After the court of appeals ruled in METRO's favor, the trial court dismissed all remaining claims. The case is now on appeal.
Other representative matters include:
With Neal Manne and Shawn Raymond, I represented one of the world's largest retailers in one of the largest collective actions ever reported under the Fair Labor Standards Act. I successfully briefed and argued a key motion that resulted in my client obtaining individualized discovery from hundreds of plaintiffs. The case settled for a confidential sum before the close of discovery.
With Katherine Treistman, I represented Cemex in a dispute arising from a general contractor's refusal to pay for millions of dollars' worth of construction materials furnished by Cemex. The contractor agreed to settle on terms favorable to Cemex on the day I was scheduled to depose its damages expert. The amount of the settlement is confidential.
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