Q: What are some of your proudest recent achievements?

A: I have been honored to be part of many talented teams at Simpson delivering great results for our clients.  Some notable recent engagements include the following:

  • Prevailing in a contentious preliminary injunction hearing for Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. in a challenge to a critical refinancing for the company that involved a potential trigger of payments in the credit default swap market. The court denied the injunction application after a full evidentiary hearing, and the refinancing closed days later.
  • Obtaining a reversal at the Second Circuit for Pfizer in a long-running battle regarding comparative advertising for Advil and Tylenol. The Court ruled that Pfizer could put on evidence that a prior consent judgment between the parties did not apply to pediatric products. The case settled shortly thereafter.
  • Winning on a class certification motion for The Toronto Dominion Bank in the Allen Stanford Ponzi case. The Court rejected plaintiffs’ request for certification of a global class of 17,000 investors in fabricated certificates of deposit in Antigua.  The case now continues solely as a claim by the Receiver’s appointee.
  • Achieving a host of summary judgment wins for Travelers Indemnity Company in a massive environmental contamination case involving Northrop Grumman’s historic manufacturing properties in Long Island. The Second Circuit affirmed the rulings, finding that Travelers owed no coverage for the pollution.
  • Arguing a landmark case for disabled veterans at the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, together with the Yale Law School Veterans Affairs Clinic. We are fighting for the right to bring a class action on behalf of all veterans who have waited longer than a year for an appeals decision on their disability benefits.  Unfortunately, veterans currently wait an average of five years for such decisions.