Ari Ruben represents plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes, complex commercial litigation across the United States. Ruben advocates for his clients — which range from multinational banks and Fortune 500 Companies to individuals and their families — with passion, persistence, and poise.  The outstanding results he has helped achieve speak for themselves.

Landmark Results

Ruben was instrumental in 2020’s historic Cellco settlements, where he represented many of California’s largest political subdivisions (including the University of California system, the California State University system, and the County of Los Angeles) alleging fraudulent overbilling by Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile.  Ruben was a leader on the offensive side of the case. For over a year, he traversed the country to take key depositions of Verizon and AT&T witnesses, obtaining critical admissions that helped lead to landmark settlements. Ruben also briefed, argued, and won numerous motions to compel that secured many of the case’s hottest documents. In large part due to his efforts, deals worth $175M were struck.  These are among the largest qui tam settlements of their kind in California history.

More recently, Ruben represented a proposed class of insurance policy owners against John Hancock Life Insurance Company over allegations of breach of contract and false illustrations. Ruben handled many key aspects of the case, taking several depositions of John Hancock witnesses, including its President & CEO. Ruben also defended several plaintiffs’ depositions and handled all other aspects of discovery. It is due in large part to Ruben’s efforts that the parties reached a class-wide settlement in 2021, before fees and expenses, for $93 million in cash plus non-cash benefits valued at up to $50.48 million, including a cost of insurance freeze for five years whereby owners of the policies are guaranteed not see a new COI rate scale even in the face of a worldwide pandemic or any new one to come.  When granting final approval, Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York held that the settlement provided an “absolutely extraordinary” recovery rate for the class, and lauded Ruben’s team’s “extraordinary work.”

Background

Before joining Susman Godfrey, Ruben practiced commercial litigation at a multi-national Vault 10 firm.  During that time, he represented an AIG affiliate that brought RICO, fraud, and contract claims valued at over $1 billion against defendants who purchased life insurance policies and sold them at inflated prices.  After a two-month bench trial in the S.D.N.Y., the parties reached a confidential settlement.

Ruben graduated cum laude from both Harvard Law School and Harvard College.  At Harvard, he earned the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize, which is awarded to the top honors theses in the graduating class.  Ruben finessed his writing, research, and analytical skills clerking for Judge Bruce M. Selya of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and for Judge Richard J. Sullivan, then of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.