RICO Appeals, Class Actions, and Complex Business Disputes

Tom is a member of the Business Litigation section in Willcox Savage’s Tysons office, bringing more than 30 years of trial and appellate experience in the Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. market. He represents clients in class actions, business disputes, fraud actions, antitrust, ethics, trade secrets, telecommunications, defective-product, and RICO matters, as well as complex First Amendment cases. Before joining the firm, Tom practiced at two Am Law 100 firms, litigated with several smaller Northern Virginia law firms, and led Urban & Falk as Managing Partner. He clerked for Judge Carolyn D. King of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and worked in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

Notable Work & Achievements

National and Local Counsel, Multi-Jurisdiction Complex Litigation

Tom has served as national and local counsel in business cases across Virginia, New York, Delaware, Washington State, Illinois, and the District of Columbia, including matters involving the RICO Act, First Amendment, FCC and telecommunications disputes, trade secrets, antitrust, and property rights. He frequently appears in the Eastern District of Virginia’s “rocket docket,” where speed and precision are essential.

RICO and Class Actions

He won a RICO defense judgment in the Eastern District of Virginia after an adverse jury verdict for a law-firm client sued by Navient Solutions LLC, then successfully defended the result on appeal in the Fourth Circuit. He also defeated putative class actions against a major insurance company with summary judgments in Washington and Illinois state courts, outcomes that avoided exposure in the hundreds of millions.

Appellate and Precedential Wins

Tom secured a precedential decision from the Supreme Court of Virginia in a complex property-rights case. In the Fourth Circuit, he won a decision protecting a rape victim’s anonymity in litigation against a technology executive. He also obtained a significant Virginia Court of Appeals ruling confirming a law-firm LLC’s right to sue while inactive.

Products Liability and Toxic Torts

As national coordinating counsel for a pharmaceutical company, Tom tried a products case to a defense verdict in Galveston, Texas, and won summary judgment on Daubert grounds in Austin. He has both defended and prosecuted product claims, including successfully suing Monsanto in a high-stakes dioxin class action on behalf of injured West Virginia residents.

Technology, Media, and First Amendment

Tom’s representations include media, telecommunications, and internet companies and cutting-edge technology matters. He has filed amicus briefing for First Amendment and women’s-rights organizations, including the National Organization for Women in the Depp v. Heard appeal; he represents FCC licensees in trial and appellate disputes against T-Mobile; and he is lead counsel in a $1.5 billion antitrust action against Amazon Web Services. Tom also recently was the lead attorney in successful negotiations on behalf of three FCC license holders to resolve litigation against a major telecommunications company.

Financial Services and Mortgage Fraud

Tom obtained an almost $800,000 verdict against a mortgage company for a settlement-company client in a fraud case that preceded the owner’s federal imprisonment. He has represented Aurora Loan Servicing and creditors of Lehman Brothers in financial-services litigation and has handled complex mortgage-fraud cases in multiple jurisdictions.

Pro Bono and Civil Rights Advocacy

Committed to pro bono service, Tom has secured appropriate educational opportunities for children with autism in a large Virginia school district and continues to advise parents of children with disabilities, pursued a prisoners’-rights appeal in the D.C. Court of Appeals, filed an opposition to certiorari for the Southern Poverty Law Center in the U.S. Supreme Court, and represented TransAfrica protestors in federal court in Washington, D.C.