Steven Shepard represents plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes commercial cases in state and federal courts across the United States, including courts in Arkansas, California, D.C., Delaware, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, and Texas.  Mr. Shepard has worked on a wide variety of complex commercial litigation including patent infringement, breach of contract, insurance coverage (representing the insured), fraud, unfair competition, antitrust, and False Claims Act (whistleblower) claims.  Mr. Shepard has also brought successful constitutional challenges against protectionist laws that discriminate against out-of-state businesses.  His clients include large retailers and financial institutions as well as individual inventors and whistleblowers. 

Mr. Shepard represents the nation’s largest retailer, Walmart, in a federal lawsuit challenging the Texas laws that bar publicly traded companies from selling liquor, and that restrict the number of permits that publicly traded companies may hold.  On March 20, 2018, the District Court ruled in Walmart’s favor by striking down these laws.  The District Court found that the laws violated Walmart’s rights under the Dormant Commerce Clause and the Equal Protection Clause.  Opinion here.

In October 2017, Mr. Shepard led a Susman Godfrey team that obtained a confidential, favorable settlement with General Motors LLC, in a “bellwether” case set for trial in In re: General Motors LLC  Ignition Switch Litigation.  Hundreds of lawsuits have been consolidated into this federal multidistrict litigation in the Southern District of New York, all of which allege that GM’s faulty ignition switches turned cars off and caused accidents.  Mr. Shepard’s success in this “bellwether” case helped to define the terms of negotiation in the remaining cases.  Mr. Shepard worked with Lead Plaintiffs’ Counsel, Hilliard Martinez Gonzales LLP, on this matter.  You can read more about this settlement here(subscription required).

In April 2017, Mr. Shepard was part of a Susman Godfrey team that won a $50.3 million verdict for client Green Mountain Glass in a federal patent-infringement jury trial in Wilmington, Delaware (total amount after fees and expenses TBD).  The jury found that defendant Ardagh Group willfully infringed Green Mountain’s patent No. 5,718,737, which claims glass recycling technology.  This verdict ranks among the National Law Journal’s “Top 100 Verdicts of 2017” – it was ranked #34 overall and the 4th highest IP verdict of 2017. 

In 2016, Mr. Shepard assisted another Susman Godfrey team in successfully representing a major retailer in constitutional litigation against Puerto Rico’s discriminatory transfer tax—a victory later unanimously affirmed by the First Circuit.

In 2015, Mr. Shepard helped secure one of the largest settlements ever awarded to a single whistleblower in a False Claims Act case.  Susman Godfrey attorneys teamed up with Vogel Slade & Goldstein, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and several different state attorneys general to secure over $450 million in settlements from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation and other defendants.  The case alleged that Novartis defrauded Medicare and Medicaid by illegally paying kickbacks to pharmacies so they would recommend Novartis’s medications to doctors and patients. 

Mr. Shepard currently represents Nasdaq, Inc., in a breach of contract action against the Selling Shareholders of FTEN, Inc., a fintech company that Nasdaq acquired in 2010. The litigation is pending in the Commercial Division of the New York Supreme Court.   

Mr. Shepard speaks Spanish (ILR Level 4).