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Jeffrey L. Poston

Partner | He/Him/His
Partner | He/Him/His
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Areas of Focus

Overview

Clients across an array of industries trust Jeff to represent them in high- stakes litigation, where trial is unavoidable and where their business models and reputations are on the line. Jeff is a trial lawyer with over 30 years of experience defending clients in complex commercial disputes, technology matters and class actions in courtrooms all over the country. He has taken on the toughest cases for multiple Fortune 500 companies and succeeded in persuading courts and juries of the merits of clients’ motives and conduct. Clients appreciate Jeff’s creative approach to difficult cases and his ability to connect with witnesses and juries.

Jeff has extensive experience in the hospitality industry, defending hotel brands in owner disputes and antitrust, ERISA and cyber-related class actions as well as in global arbitrations before the ICC.

As co-chair of the firm’s Chambers USA-ranked Privacy & Cybersecurity Group, Jeff advises clients on US and global privacy laws and routinely leads investigations into cyber and privacy incidents and defends clients in regulatory inquiries and class actions. Jeff has navigated dozens of clients through the crisis of ransomware attacks, cyber intrusions and data loss and is attuned to the importance of preparing clients for these events through tabletop exercises.

Career & Education

    • Georgetown University Law Center, J.D.
    • University of Richmond, B.A., magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
    • Georgetown University Law Center, J.D.
    • University of Richmond, B.A., magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa

    • District of Columbia
    • Pennsylvania
    • U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
    • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
    • District of Columbia
    • Pennsylvania
    • U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
    • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

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Representative Matters

Recent Trials and Arbitrations

  • Lead trial counsel for Marriott in 2021 jury trial seeking $300 million in damages alleging an antitrust conspiracy amongst hotel companies to rig online keyword bidding auctions. The other hotel defendants all settled leaving Marriott as the sole defendant in front of a Texas jury. After 5 days of trial, the plaintiff, an online travel agency, withdrew all of its claims against Marriott and issued a public apology to Marriott and the Marriott family.
  • Lead trial counsel for a Class 1 railroad in a 2022 subrogation action with industry-wide ramifications, brought by a global insurance company challenging the railroad’s right to limit its liability and seeking to recover the millions it paid to its insured stemming from a derailment. After a week of trial, the jury unanimously found for our client concluding that it had properly limited its liability under the Carmack Amendment and rejected the insurance company’s claims and damages demand.
  • Lead trial counsel for a global hospitality company in a 2021 arbitration brought by a large hotel owner claiming our client failed to distribute nearly $40 million in alleged profits to the owner during the pandemic. The Panel ruled for our client and rejected the owner’s claims.

Privacy and Cyber Litigations

  • Lead counsel for an online pharmacy company in two separate data breach class actions brought in federal court. Successfully argued that the class representatives had agreed to arbitration and waived their rights to bring class actions leading to the dismissal of these actions.
  • Lead counsel for a large global technology company in matter stemming from a ransomware attack against our client’s customer. Both sides filed claims against the other and ultimately decided to mediate. Our client obtained a favorable settlement based on the mediator’s proposal.
  • Lead defense counsel for a large global hospitality company in a class action suit arising from a cyber intrusion into multiple hotel servers potentially involving the data of millions of individuals. Obtained dismissal with prejudice in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
  • Successfully defended health care plan in investigation by the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services alleging improper disclosure of PHI in violation of HIPAA. OCR closed the case and declined to issue any fine.
  • Successfully obtained dismissal of fraud claims in New York State Court on behalf of large data center in action seeking millions in damages for alleged failure to develop platform for new mobile gaming application.
  • Defended two large health plans in separate OCR investigations, both of which were closed without any fines being levied.

Hospitality Matters

  • Lead defense counsel for a large global hospitality company in suit alleging violations of ERISA’s “top hat plan” provisions and seeking $500 million in damages. After extensive discovery reaching back more than four decades, successfully argued summary judgment motion before the federal district court. Jeff then argued the appeal before the 4th Circuit and obtained affirmance of the dismissal.
  • Lead defense counsel for global hospital company sued in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland for tortious interference with contract arising from termination of hotel management agreement for hotel located in Beirut, Lebanon. Successfully argued that the Maryland action was collaterally estopped by a parallel arbitration in Paris, France leading to grant of summary judgment.
  • Lead counsel in ERISA class action alleging that a global hospitality company violated multiple provisions of ERISA in connection with the company’s 401(k) plan. Obtained dismissal of majority of claims at pleading stage and defeated class certification motion leading to voluntary dismissal with prejudice of remaining claims.
  • Represented global hospitality company against claims by a large hotel owner group in an arbitration challenging the inclusion of “service changes” as part of Gross Operating Revenue. The Panel ruled in favor of our client and awarded attorneys fees.

Healthcare Litigation

  • Jeff obtained dismissal of a multi-million dollar claim against a national health care company involved in the Medicare Advantage Program. The U.S. federal court dismissed the action due to the plaintiffs’ failure to exhaust administration remedies under the Medicare Advantage Program. Jeff argued the appeal at the 11th Circuit, which affirmed the victory at the District Court.
  • Defended, as lead trial counsel, a national health care company against claims alleging over $17 million in damages stemming from the alleged systematic underpayments to non-contracted healthcare providers. At the conclusion of trial, the court granted the company's motion for judgment and rejected all of the plaintiffs' claims.
  • After a three week arbitration, obtained a multi-million dollar award for a managed behavioral healthcare organization whose contract was improperly terminated by a national health plan.

Other Matters

  • Represented DuPont against monopolization counterclaims brought by Kolon Industries. On the eve of the trial, the Eastern District of Virginia granted summary judgment for DuPont and dismissed the claims with prejudice. This was the second major win in Crowell & Moring's work for DuPont stemming from trade secrets litigation against Kolon. The first was a jury award of $919.9 million for DuPont for theft of trade secrets related to Kevlar® business and technology used by DuPont and the class against the current owners finding that they could not be liable for the actions of the prior owners.
  • Represented the current owners of a power plant against claims by the EPA and a private class that they should be held liable for the conduct of the prior owners relating to the current emissions of the plant. This matter involved the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Program of the Clean Air Act. The Federal District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania dismissed the claims of the EPA and the class against the current owners finding that they could not be liable for the actions of the prior owners.
  • Represented the Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation in its litigation against two global financial institutions alleging that they aided and abetted Enron's demise through structured finance transactions that misled investors and the credit rating agencies. The resulting settlement, valued at nearly $6 billion, is reputed to be the largest bankruptcy settlement in U.S. history.
  • Successfully defended a Class 1 freight railroad in multiple actions arising from a collision with a commuter train in Massachusetts that injured hundreds of passengers. On the eve of the trial, the owner and operator of the commuter lines faced with potential spoliation sanctions settled the case on favorable terms to the client.
  • Successfully sued the federal and state governments for violating their own respective regulations in awarding a joint federal-state highway contract.
  • Represented a national real estate company accused of tortiously interfering with the acquisition of a competing company. After two weeks of trial, the jury unanimously found for Jeff’s client and rejected the plaintiff’s claims for damages.

Jeff's Insights

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Insights

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