Sean Suber

Sean has significant experience in all aspects of litigation in federal and state courts from discovery through trial and appeal. Notable representations include:

Food & Beverage Litigation

• Defending a food & beverage manufacturer in a billion-dollar multidistrict litigation class action arising from allegations that the food manufacturer systematically under-filled its coffee canisters.
• Secured the complete dismissal of a proposed class action against a food & beverage manufacturer, which claimed that its Bagel Bite products falsely advertised that they are made with real mozzarella and tomato sauce.
• Secured the complete dismissal of a proposed class action, which claimed that a food & beverage manufacturer misrepresented the amount of protein in their Peanut Butter & Strawberry snack sandwiches.
• Secured the complete dismissal of a proposed class action, which claimed that a food & beverage manufacturer deceptively labeled its caramel flavored syrup for not having a “real” vanilla flavor.
• Secured the complete dismissal of a claim that a food & beverage manufacturer falsely advertised dog food as being “wholesome,” “high-quality,” “safe,” and “complete & balanced.”
• Secured the voluntary dismissal of a proposed class action, claiming that a food & beverage manufacturer falsely marketed its salad dressings as being free of preservatives when, in truth, the dressings contain Xanthan Gum.
• Secured the complete dismissal of a claim that a food & beverage manufacturer deceived buyers of a dog food by labeling it as “natural” despite it allegedly having traces of weed killer.

Retail, Consumer Products, and Consumer Services Litigation

• Representing consumer goods company in proposed class action, claiming that the company’s plastic bags are mislabeled and unable to keep products fresh.
• Counseling and representing large national retailer in proposed class action that claims the retailer has failed to comply with the FTC’s pre-sale availability rule.
• Obtained favorable settlement for two former chief executive officers and a former chief operating officer of the nation’s largest mutual insurance company in policyholder derivative action claiming that the executives failed to properly run the company to provide “insurance at cost.”

Product Liability and Mass Tort Litigation

• Served as trial counsel in multiple product liability trials for an agricultural biotechnology corporation. Represented the company in its first eight-week jury trial, in which the trial team successfully reduced a punitive damages award by US$211M, and the verdict was further reduced on appeal. Then represented the company in a later case which led to an extremely favorable settlement on the verge of trial. 
• Represented large aviation company in handling the discovery and initial litigation for the consolidated cases that resulted from aviation accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
• Defended medical device company in multiple product liability wrongful death actions resulting in favorable settlements for the client.

Appeals

• Successfully oversaw the voluntary dismissal of several proposed class action victories against food & beverage manufacturers on appeal.
• Briefed an appeal in the Federal Circuit, which affirmed a US$680K attorney fee award for our client after our opponents advanced an “unusually weak” position in litigation.
• Briefed two high-profile appeals and the corresponding district court litigation in the Eleventh Circuit and the Eighth Circuit, which affirmed that our client did not arbitrarily create policies for the donation of kidneys and livers.
• Briefed an appeal before the Third Circuit, which affirmed the rejection of a constitutional challenge to an occupancy tax imposed by our client, a territory of the United States.
• Briefed and an appeal in the Fifth Circuit, which affirmed that our client was not for an ICD supposedly causing inappropriate shocks to a plaintiff’s heart.
• Assisted with briefing and oral argument preparation for pharmaceutical company in qui tam appeal involving the scope of the FCA’s public disclosure bar.

First Amendment & Media Litigation

• Defended a multibillion dollar case against a large media company that the New York Times said was “one of the most consequential First Amendment cases in a generation.”
• Served as a member of the trial team in what had, at one point, been widely reported as the “largest” and “one of the most significant” defamation cases in U.S. history, helping to achieve a “historically large” settlement for a beef manufacturer in the middle of trial. 
• Represented Illinois Lottery’s private manager in pre-publication counseling and negotiations with media publication about alleged failure to award prizes as promised.

Pro Bono

• Briefed and argued an appeal in an Illinois Appellate Court, leading to the reversal of a conviction for the unlawful stop and arrest our client for carrying a cup of unidentifiable liquid at night.
• Briefed and argued an appeal in the Eighth Circuit, securing the release of our client while pending appeal, and then helping with his compassionate release from federal prison under the First Step Act.
• Principal drafter of an amicus brief before the Supreme Court for a group of legal scholars in support of a petition for certiorari addressing whether the “overwhelming evidence” standard should not be used to consider the potential effect of an error only on the government’s case as opposed to the case as a whole.
• Principal drafter of an amicus brief before the Supreme Court for a group of Fourth Amendment scholars in support of a petition for certiorari addressing whether a pretextual search based on probable cause to suspect a mere parking violation is consistent with the Fourth Amendment.
• Principal drafter of an amicus brief before the Fifth Circuit in support of individual appellants and the Attala County NAACP in their suit against Doug Evans, a District Attorney in Mississippi, for the discriminatory striking of Black jurors from criminal trials.
• Principal drafter of an amicus brief before the Fifth Circuit in support of individual appellants in their suit against an ankle monitoring company and former judge of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court (“OPCDC”), arguing that the judge’s personal, financial, professional, and political ties to the company resulted in him ordering or steering defendants to ankle monitoring services with company, in violation of the Due Process Clause.