Recently, Tom Urban, a partner at Willcox Savage, won a highly publicized and precedential victory for his clients in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. A unanimous panel of the Fourth Circuit affirmed Judge Brinkema’s (EDVA) judgment in favor of Jeffrey Lohman, Esquire and his law firm (the Lohman Defendants), and three other defendants. A jury initially found in favor of Plaintiff Navient Solutions LLC after a one-week trial in August 2021, but Judge Brinkema granted Defendants’ Rule 50 motion (judgment notwithstanding the verdict). Navient had sued Lohman and the other Defendants based upon consumer lawsuits filed by Lohman against Navient for Navient’s harassment of its borrowers. The lawsuit also involved state claims of fraud and interference with contract, which were dismissed by Judge Brinkema and affirmed on appeal. This decision will protect the right of clients to obtain competent legal representation to combat violations of consumer statutes.
In its published opinion, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the judgment in favor of Defendants on Noerr-Pennington grounds. As the Court explained, “we find that defendants filed a series of actions with regard for the merits, i.e., to adjudicate plausible claims that Navient violated [a consumer protection statute]. Whether Navient did, in fact, violate the statute is not determinative. See Kaiser Found. Health Plan, Inc. v. Abbott Lab’ys, Inc., 552 F.3d 1033, 1046 (9th Cir. 2009) (finding immunity where failed suits “had a plausible argument”). Instead, because defendants pursued a contested issue of statutory interpretation, they did not engage in sham litigation, and their petitioning activity is immunized under Noerr–Pennington.”
Urban tried the case and defended against Navient’s appeal with RICO Attorney Jeffrey E. Grell of Ted Lyons & Associates, Mesquite, TX, as well as Mike Charnoff of Charnoff Simpson, Reston, VA, who represented the other three defendants.
Willcox Savage will continue to represent the Lohman Defendants to assist in collection of costs and to defend against a potential Petition for Certiorari.
About Tom
Tom is a member in the business litigation section in Willcox Savage's Tysons office. He represents various clients in class action cases, business disputes, defective products, RICO actions, and complex mortgage fraud cases.
In the past, Tom has served as national coordinating counsel for a drug company in products liability litigation, successfully defending his client in a jury trial in Galveston, Texas, and prevailing in a summary judgment motion on Daubert grounds in Austin, Texas. His other representations have included issues involving media and internet companies, antitrust, qui tam, toxic tort environmental, sex and race discrimination, Americans with Disabilities, attorney ethics, and First Amendment disputes. Tom has regularly acted as local counsel in large litigations in the Eastern District of Virginia.