Katy Peaslee represents plaintiffs and defendants in complex litigation in State and Federal courts across the nation, covering everything from breach of contract to patent infringement to antitrust litigation. She has secured landmark deals and decisions for her clients in high stakes matters, regularly playing a pivotal role in each of the cases she takes on.

High Stakes Litigation

In 2020, Peaslee helped secure a preliminary $600 million+ dollar settlement with the state of Michigan on behalf residents of residents Flint who are pursuing claims for personal injuries and property damage arising from the water crisis resulting from lead contamination in the city’s water supply. Peaslee coordinated all aspects of discovery on behalf of plaintiffs and took a lead role in taking and defending key depositions, arguing discovery motions, and coordinating plaintiffs’ 16 testifying experts. To date, the team has secured court-approved settlements valued at $626 million with multiple governmental defendants, including the state of Michigan. Read more about the settlement in Law360’s coverage here (subscription required).

Peaslee also scored a victory before the Ninth Circuit in DaVita v. Amy’s Kitchen, a labor lawsuit where she defended Amy’s Kitchen against claims of alleged violations of the Medicare Secondary Payer Act and ERISA. In 2020, the Court of Appeals affirmed District Judge Jon Tigar’s grant of Amy’s Kitchen’s motion to dismiss in its entirety with prejudice. Peaslee co-argued the motion before the District Court and took a leading role drafting the brief on appeal. Read more about the case here (subscription required).

Peaslee defends online real estate marketplace company, Zillow, in a pair of suits brought by industry titan IBM, in which IBM has asserted a total of 12 distinct software patents. The matters are currently pending in the Western District of Washington after Peaslee and her teammates won a motion to transfer the matter from the Central District of California.

Peaslee is part of a team from Susman Godfrey team that filed a $1.6 billion dollar defamation lawsuit against Fox News Media on behalf of Dominion Voting Systems. This case has attracted widespread media attention from outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, CNBC, The Associated Press and LA Times, among many others. Peaslee and her teammates is also trying similar cases on behalf of Dominion against Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Lindell. The team has already defeated two motions to dismiss defeated Fox’s bid for an interlocutory appeal of the motion to dismiss order.

Peaslee was part of a two-lawyer team that was hired to pursue claims for breach of contract, account stated, tortious interference, and fraud and defend against counterclaims on behalf of Cosmos Granite in its multi-million-dollar case against Wall to Wall Tile & Stone just months before trial. Her team successfully negotiated a confidential settlement on behalf of Cosmos.

Background

Peaslee joined Susman Godfrey after clerking for Judge Katherine Polk Failla on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and Judge Milan Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  She graduated with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where she served as an Articles Editor for The University of Chicago Law Review.  She received her undergraduate degree with distinction from Stanford University.