Geng Chen

Geng Chen represents both plaintiffs and defendants in all types of commercial litigation in federal courts, state courts, and arbitrations across the country. Chen has amassed an impressive collection of litigation victories and favorable settlements for clients who vary from Fortune 500 industry leaders to classes of unfairly treated plaintiffs in several national class action lawsuits.

WINS

Chen recently secured a $266 million verdict on behalf of the City of Baltimore against McKesson and AmerisourceBergen in the City’s nearly seven-year lawsuit against the opioid distributors and manufacturers that fueled the worst opioid epidemic in the nation. At trial, Chen presented the team’s damages expert, whose analysis of Baltimore City’s past and future costs in responding to the opioid epidemic formed the basis for the jury’s $266 million award. Following the verdict, Baltimore — which forged its own path by bringing in the Susman Godfrey team and proceeding outside the MDL litigation — has officially brought in a total of $668.5 million in settlements and damages. This includes $402.5 million in settlements after the City declined to participate in the global settlements most cities, counties, and states pursued. Read more.

In the widely covered Melissa Ferrick et al. v. Spotify USA Inc., Chen helped obtain final approval of a favorable settlement valued at over $100 million on behalf of a class of songwriters and composers.  The deal included a $43.45 million cash fund and an agreement by popular online music streaming service Spotify to pay future royalties, as well as provide additional valuable prospective relief. This case made national news, receiving press from The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Forbes, Reuters, Bloomberg Law, and Law360.

Chen and a team from Susman Godfrey have secured multiple settlements with various banks accused of conspiring to rig LIBOR in In re: Libor-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation.  These settlements with banks including Barclays, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC, provide a total settlement fund of $781 million for the benefit of a class of plaintiffs that includes cities, pension funds and others known as the “over-the-counter” purchasers.  Notable, the plaintiff class represented by Chen and the Susman Godfrey team is also the only proposed class in the multidistrict litigation to win class certification.

Additionally, Chen is former counsel to Jawbone in various patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation cases involving wearable fitness tracking devices against competitor Fitbit in the International Trade Commission.

Chen takes seriously her commitment to representing all people who seek justice, no matter what their economic status.  She recently represented pro bono a whistleblower in a case arising out of illegal landlord practices that targeted vulnerable tenants in multiple neighborhoods in New York.  In that case, an aggressive litigation strategy led to an early, favorable settlement for her client.

BACKGROUND

Chen joined Susman Godfrey after clerking for the Hon. Jacques Wiener Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  Before that time she attended Harvard Law School, where she was an Executive Editor of the Harvard Law Review and a semifinalist in the Ames Moot Court Competition.

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