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Biography
Tom has a wide range of experience in state, federal, and administrative appeals and trials. His experience includes all aspects of media law, including defamation and invasion of privacy defense, as well as commercial litigation, intellectual property disputes, public utilities disputes, insurance disputes and defense, and class actions.
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Representative
Experience
- Successfully defended Lutron Electronics, Inc. in a $218 million patent infringement suit in a three-week jury trial; the jury found no infringement and further found the patent to be invalid
- Obtained, in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, reversal of a $13 million bankruptcy preference judgment
- Obtained, in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, reversal of a $2 million products liability judgment against a manufacturer
- Obtained, in the Texas Supreme Court, reversal in a multi-billion dollar dispute over regulatory accounting treatment of nuclear plants
- Obtained, in the Texas Supreme Court, reversal in an insurance bad faith case in which the Texas Supreme Court imposed significant limits on punitive damages
- Obtained, in the El Paso Court of Appeals, affirmance of the actual damages portion of the largest reported wrongful death judgment against a railroad at the time
- Obtained, in the Beaumont Court of Appeals, affirmance of a trial court’s judgment approving the settlement of a nationwide consumer settlement class
- Obtained, in the Dallas Court of Appeals, reversal of a $30 million summary judgment in a breach of contract case
- Obtained, in the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston, reversal of a $17 million judgment against an insurance company in a bad faith case
- Obtained, in the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston, reversal of an $8 million judgment against a telephone company in an antitrust case
- Obtained, in a Dallas trial court, an order vacating an $18 million judgment against an insurance company in an alleged misrepresentation case
- Represented amici curiae in federal and state courts in significant First Amendment, medical malpractice, and environmental cases
Media Cases
Media Cases - Obtained a defense verdict for a national network in a libel trial in El Paso federal court
- Obtained, in the Texas Supreme Court, mandamus relief for The Dallas Morning News in a case seeking to unseal discovery in a wrongful death suit
- Obtained, in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, affirmance of dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction for foreign publishers
- Obtained, in the Fort Worth Court of Appeals, reversal of a $2 million libel judgment against a publisher
- Obtained, in numerous federal and state trial and appellate courts, summary judgment for media defendants in defamation and invasion of privacy cases
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Activities and Affiliations
- Adjunct Professor: Southern Methodist University, Spring 2004-present (Ethics of Communication; Communications Law)
- Editorial Board: Communications Lawyer
- Director and Past-President: Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas (received Foundation’s James Madison Award in 1991)
- Past-President: Defense Counsel Section, Libel Defense Resource Center (now known as the Media Law Resource Center)
- Past Chair: Media Relations Committee, Dallas Bar Association
- Fellow: Texas Bar Foundation; Dallas Bar Foundation
- Research Fellow: The Center for American and International Law
- Member: American Law Institute; Forum Committee on Communications Law Litigation and Tort & Insurance Practice Sections, American Bar Association; Litigation and Appellate Practice Sections, State Bar of Texas; Appellate and Business Litigation Sections, Dallas Bar Association; Committee on New Legal Developments, Media Law Resource Center
- Past Member: Governing Committee, Forum Committee on Communications Law, American Bar Association; Texas Supreme Court Rules Advisory Committee; Yale Law School Executive Committee
- Listed: The Best Lawyers in America in first amendment law, 1993-present, in commercial litigation, 2005-2007, in appellate law, 2007; Texas Lawyer “Go-To” lawyer in media law, 2002; “Texas Super Lawyers” in appellate law, Texas Monthly, 2003-2006; Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers, media section, 2003 and 2005
- Author: “Hatfill: Are Standards for Defamation More Stringent for Matters of Public Concern?” Communication Lawyer, Winter 2006
- Co-Author: “Martha Stewart’s Explanations of Innocence: Securities Fraud or Protected Speech?” Communications Lawyer, Winter 2004; Annual Texas Survey of Media Privacy & Related Laws, Media Law Resource Center; “Representing Media Clients and Their Employees in Newsgathering Cases: Traps for the Unwary,” Communications Lawyer, Summer 2002
- Writer and speaker: topics include libel and slander; punitive damages; the Texas Public Information and Open Meetings Acts; trademark and copyright law; appellate practice; the use of expert witnesses; piercing the corporate veil
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Education and Professional Background
- Yale College, B.A. in history summa cum laude, 1976 (Phi Beta Kappa)
- Yale Law School, J.D., 1979 (Chair, Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization)
- Law clerk to the Honorable Robert M. Hill, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas, 1979-1980
- Admitted to practice: Texas, 1979; United States Supreme Court; all federal courts in Texas; U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Third and Federal Circuits
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