 |
 |
After
being hit with a $7 million punitive damages award in Oregon state court, a
Fortune 500 company hired Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury to handle post-trial
motions and the appeal. While the posture of the case made elimination of
the punitive award virtually impossible, Spotswood attorneys used
cutting-edge legal developments to persuade the appellate court to reduce
the punitive award to $1.05 million.
We mitigate risk even when a win is not a possibility. We create lasting strategies to meet the needs of our clients; whether that need is early resolution, cost-effective litigation, or vindication of important legal principles.
A Fortune 500 company hired Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury to develop a national litigation strategy for a wave of wage-and-hour class and collective actions asserting joint-employment theories. Spotswood attorneys developed and executed a strategy that resulted in precedential opinions from several different venues and gutted the class theories. In the lead case, Spotswood attorneys won summary judgment on the merits of the individual plaintiff's claims prior to a decision on class certification and, in the process, clarified a murky area of California jurisprudence. Spotswood attorneys persuaded the Ninth Circuit to affirm the case in its entirety.
We offer clients a more comprehensive, holistic approach to complex business litigation. In every situation we face, we consider the long-term, big picture legal implications.
After the close of discovery in a complex commercial dispute, Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury was hired to develop summary-judgment theories for a defendant. Spotswood attorneys developed a preemption theory, which had not been asserted in the defendant's answer. Spotswood attorneys persuaded the court to allow the answer to be amended and, using an obscure procedure, convinced the court to dismiss five of the six counts asserted by the plaintiffs as well as the claim for punitive damages.
We are creative lawyers who are not afraid to engineer new approaches to each case. We think outside the box and look beyond the accepted status quo.
Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury LLC was hired to defend an out-of-state manufacturer of hybrid batteries in a preliminary injunction proceeding by an Alabama automobile manufacturer. The expedited discovery schedule resulted in the production of hundreds of thousands of documents and included depositions in Alabama, Michigan, Texas, and London. Following a two-day hearing, the court found in favor of Spotswood's client, concluding that the automobile manufacturer had not met the injunction standards regarding likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm, and public interest.
We are a boutique firm built for flexibility.
Following a last minute decision to seek a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury, in a very short timeframe, crafted a successful petition for review of a Second Circuit decision regarding what constitutes the "charge" that must be submitted by an employee before he or she can sue under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Spotswood attorneys, as co-lead counsel, briefed the case on the merits in the Supreme Court and helped prepare in-house counsel for oral argument. Although the Supreme Court ultimately affirmed the Second Circuit's decision, Justices Thomas and Scalia wrote a dissent in favor of the position advocated by Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury.
We specialize in complicated cases that require a higher level of thinking.
In a putative nationwide class and collective wage-and-hour action involving temporary employees, Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury obtained summary judgment on federal overtime claims based on innovative arguments regarding the Motor Carrier Act exemption. Spotswood attorneys argued that prior decisions construing an amendment to the exemption were incorrect, and persuaded the federal judge that their interpretation was correct—a decision which had significant ramifications for motor carriers nationwide, as well as for other litigation faced by Spotswood's client.
In every case and in every situation we face, we consider the long-term, big-picture legal implications of the strategies that we create.
Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury was hired to brief the First Circuit, on behalf of amicus curiae, on important issues of federal preemption under the Federal Aviation Authorization Administration Act (FAAAA). In its published decision, the First Circuit accepted the position advocated by Spotswood attorneys. In the Supreme Court, Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury again filed a brief on behalf of amici curiae, which included the Air Transport Association, the principal airline trade association in the United States. The Supreme Court affirmed the First Circuit’s decision, using FAAAA preemption to free motor and air carriers from a patchwork of state regulations, as Congress intended.
We have the pedigree and the experience to compete with attorneys at any regional or national firm. We have represented clients in the U.S. Supreme Court, six of the eleven U.S. Courts of Appeal, and in state appellate courts across the country.
Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury, as national counsel, obtained pre-certification dismissal of a putative nationwide ERISA class action and putative New England state law class action alleging that a motor carrier jointly employed certain drivers who worked for independent transportation services contractors. In its decision, the district court ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to exhaust administrative remedies as contemplated by ERISA and had not complied with federal pleading requirements as clarified by the United States Supreme Court in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S. Ct. 1955 (2007). Following dismissal of the federal ERISA claims, the district court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the pendent state-law claims.
Since our founding in 2001, Spotswood Sansom has taken on some of the most important legal issues facing businesses in America.
After its client was sued in a "judicial hellhole," Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury developed novel jurisdiction and venue theories in an effort to transfer the case to a more favorable venue. Though the trial court denied the motion for transfer, Spotswood attorneys persuaded the Alabama Supreme Court to issue a writ of mandamus, forcing the trial court to grant the transfer. Following the transfer, the plaintiffs swiftly dismissed the suit.
In our home state of Alabama, Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury has been involved in virtually every high profile, complex litigation matter that has arisen in recent years.
