Judson Brown, P.C.
Overview
Judson Brown is a litigation partner in Kirkland's Washington, D.C., office. Judson's practice is concentrated on complex business litigation. He represents clients in federal and state courts, and in arbitrations, throughout the United States. Judson has represented numerous Fortune 500 clients in a wide variety of matters including breach of contract cases, product liability lawsuits, deal disputes, restructuring and bankruptcy-related matters, and antitrust, securities, and consumer protection class actions. Judson handles lawsuits across any industry and in any forum.
Experience
Representative Matters
U.S. ex rel. Oberg v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA): Trial counsel for PHEAA securing unanimous jury verdict in its favor in a $350 million False Claims Act case brought by a former U.S. Department of Education employee. The whistleblower filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging that PHEAA, a student lending agency, defrauded the government through a student lending subsidy program. The result was profiled in the American Lawyer and Law360.
BNSF Railway Company v. FirstEnergy Corporation: Trial counsel for BNSF in its lawsuit against FirstEnergy for breach and repudiation of a long-term contract for the transportation of coal to FirstEnergy’s coal-fired power plants. FirstEnergy claimed that its failure to ship coal was excused as force majeure because a recently enacted environmental regulation prevented its performance. After a two-week trial, the panel unanimously sided with BNSF. The parties subsequently reached a settlement, pursuant to which FirstEnergy agreed to pay $109 million to BNSF. The result was profiled in the American Lawyer and Law360.
Cerberus v. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce: Lead counsel for Cerberus-affiliated investment vehicles in lawsuit bringing breach of contract claims against CIBC, stemming from CIBC’s payment obligations related to cash and synthetic assets in its U.S. residential housing portfolio.
Charter Communications: Lead counsel for Charter Communications in multiple distribution and programming disputes, including in lawsuits brought by Univision and Showtime concerning their respective programming agreements. Secured a temporary restraining order preventing Univision from pulling its signal — i.e., “going dark” — in a decision reported in Forbes, the L.A. Times and other news outlets. Thereafter, both lawsuits settled favorably.
Houston Regional Sports Network: Lead trial counsel for Houston Astros in multiple trials concerning the involuntary bankruptcy commenced against the Houston Regional Sports Network, a partnership between the Astros, Comcast, and the Houston Rockets. Court ruled in favor of Astros — against Comcast — after multi-day valuation trial. The result was profiled in Law360 and other local and sports-related media outlets.
Dolan Media: Lead trial counsel for Dolan Media in contested valuation litigation. After three days of trial, the matter settled and the company emerged from bankruptcy days later.
Raytheon Company: Trial counsel for Raytheon in multiple breach of contract lawsuits in the ICC International Court of Arbitration against a European defense contractor.
Residential Capital: Trial counsel for Ally Financial and Ally Bank in connection with the bankruptcy proceedings of Ally’s mortgage subsidiary, Residential Capital, the fifth-largest servicer of residential mortgage loans in the United States, including a nine-day confirmation trial that resulted in approval of ResCap’s plan of reorganization and a third-party release for Ally.
Extended Stay America: Counsel for Blackstone Group in an $8 billion fraudulent conveyance lawsuit concerning the sale of Extended Stay America — a lawsuit identified in The American Lawyer as “one of the largest claims ever filed over a failed LBO” and the case most closely watched by litigators across the country.
Red Bull: Counsel for Red Bull in consumer protection and product liability class action lawsuits.
Innkeepers: Trial counsel for Innkeepers in litigation regarding private equity fund’s termination of $1.1 billion acquisition of hotel portfolio based on an alleged material adverse change. The matter settled on the first day of trial and the private equity fund closed on the hotel portfolio weeks later.
Raytheon: Counsel for Raytheon in multidistrict litigation involving over fifty product liability actions, which were successfully dismissed.
Calpine Corporation: Trial counsel for Calpine in breach of contract, restructuring, fraudulent transfer and securities matters, including $720 million securities class action, $5 billion refinancing litigation, $19 billion valuation litigation and over $1 billion fraudulent transfer litigation.
Visteon Corporation: Trial counsel for Visteon in $3 billion valuation litigation, and in contested — and approved — confirmation hearing.
Sunoco: Counsel for Sunoco in breach of contract disputes.
Barr Laboratories: Counsel for Barr in complex multidistrict commercial litigation involving drug pricing and Medicaid/Medicare fraud.
BASF: Counsel for BASF in international arbitration involving license and royalty fee disputes arising from the sale of agricultural products.
Litigation counsel for multi-national Fortune 500 company in government investigation.
Litigation counsel for financial services company concerning data security breach involving customers' personal information — leading to successful resolution in which regulators chose not to prosecute claims.
Clerk & Government Experience
Law ClerkHonorable R. Allan EdgarUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee2004–2005
Pro Bono
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Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- 2004Tennessee
- 2006District of Columbia
Education
- Duke University School of LawJ.D.2004Moot Court Board
- Northwestern UniversityB.S., Communication Studies & Mathematics2001