REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE Steuart’s extensive representative experience includes:
- Representing a life insurance company in a putative class action asserting state law claims challenging the use of retained asset accounts in connection with payment of life insurance benefits. Summary judgment was granted for the insurer. Clark v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 2010 WL 3636194 (D. Nev.), appeal pending.
- Representing a life insurance company in a putative class action challenging the use of retained asset accounts in which both state law claims and ERISA claims have been asserted.
- Representing clients in connection with securities lending programs.
- Representing a major issuer of IRC 403(b) annuity products in a national class action seeking to challenge, under ERISA, certain alleged revenue-sharing arrangements between the issuer and, among others, a large public school teachers union to whose members the products are allegedly directed. The district court granted our motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on the grounds that ERISA does not apply to the 403(b) annuities, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed. Daniels-Hall v. National Education Association, 629 F. 3d 992 (9th Cir. 2010).
- Representing a major property insurer in class actions and other litigation arising out of property damage from Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes.
- Representing a major title insurer in antitrust litigation asserting price-fixing with respect to premiums.
- Representing an importer of bearings in a gray market trademark infringement case before the International Trade Commission. After a three-and-a-half-week trial before an Administrative Law Judge and further trial proceedings on remand, the ITC ruled in favor of our client, and the Federal Circuit affirmed. This is believed to be the first gray market trademark infringement case at the ITC in which respondents prevailed. In The Matter of Certain Bearings and Packaging Thereof, Inv. No. 337-TA-469, 2003 WL 21056379 and 2003 WL 23314765 (Administrative Law Judge), 2004 WL 1598763 (ITC), affirmed, SKF USA, Inc. v. International Trade Commission, 423 F.3d 1307 (Fed. Cir. 2005), cert. denied, 548 U.S. 904 (2006).
- Defending the trustees of a multi-employer pension fund in a class action alleging breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the creation and maintenance of the contribution and benefits structure applicable to the named plaintiffs and putative class. In a case of first impression in the D.C. Circuit, the District Court dismissed the claims against the trustees, based on our position that they did not perform a fiduciary function while engaging in such plan design activities. The D.C. Circuit affirmed the dismissal. Hartline v. Sheet Metal Workers’ National Pension Fund, et al., 134 F. Supp.2d 1 (D.D.C. 2000), aff’d, 286 F.3d 598 (D.C. Cir. 2002).
- Defending a large regional broker-dealer in a securities class action alleging that materially false and misleading statements were made in the prospectus and registration statement of a subprime lender. The action was dismissed on motion. In re Credit Trust Securities Litigation, No. 1:00-2174-MJG (D. Md. Aug. 2, 2002).
- Representing an annuity provider in a putative class action alleging various ERISA violations in connection with an IRA plan funded by a group annuity contract. Summary judgment for the defendants was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit. Cline v. Industrial Maintenance Engineering & Contracting Co., 200 F.3d 1223 (9th Cir. 2000).
- Representing a life insurance company whose group annuity contract was a funding vehicle for the NHL pension plan in a putative class action disputing the use of surplus plan funds. We won dismissal on jurisdictional grounds on appeal. Dailey v. National Hockey League, 780 F. Supp. 262 (D.N.J. 1991), rev’d, 987 F.2d 172 (3d Cir. 1993), cert. den., 114 S. Ct. 67 (1993).
- Representing an appraisal company in a complex multi-party profit-sharing plan dispute. A plaintiff class was certified, and a class action trial lasted several months. All claims against our client were favorably resolved on summary judgment or at the close of plaintiffs’ case at trial, and the court of appeals affirmed. The case primarily related to the valuation of employer stock held by the profit-sharing plan and was one of the first reported ERISA decisions dealing with stock valuation. Foltz v. U.S. News & World Report, Inc., 627 F. Supp. 1143 (D.D.C. 1986), 663 F. Supp. 1494 (D.D.C. 1987), aff’d, 865 F.2d 364 (D.C. Cir. 1989), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1108 (1989).
PROFESSIONAL HONORS AND AWARDS
- Selected as a Washington, DC Local Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation (2011-2012)
PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
- Former Chair, Employee Benefits Law Committee, Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, American Bar Association
- Member, Litigation Section, American Bar Association
- Member, Legal Ethics Committee, District of Columbia Bar
- Former Chair, Committee on Admissions and Grievances, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- Member, International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers Association
- Member, Board of Directors, Council for Court Excellence
- Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America
PUBLICATIONS AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
- Speaker, “Unclaimed Property – Navigating the Quagmire,” Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) Litigation Summit (June 18, 2013)
- Co-author, “Unclaimed Property Developments in Life Insurance,” National Association of Life Companies (February 7, 2013)
- Panelist, “Future Strategies and Next Steps,” CEFLI Unclaimed Property Summit Meeting II (November 13, 2012)
- Speaker, Webinar: "Navigating Through Uncertainty: Life Insurance Regulation and Unclaimed Property Audits," (November 15, 2011)
- Speaker on Life Insurance and Annuity Litigation Developments, National Organization of Life & Health Guaranty Associations 19th Annual Legal Seminar (July 21-22, 2011)
- Speaker on Recent Developments and Trends in Significant Life Insurance and Annuity Litigation, 2011 Insured Retirement Institute’s Government, Legal & Regulatory Conference (June 26-28, 2011)
- Speaker on Retained Asset Account Litigation, 2011 Association of Life Insurance Counsel Annual Meeting (May 14-17 2011)Speaker on Retained Asset Account Litigation Developments, Life Insurance Council of New York Annual Meeting (December 9, 2010)
- Speaker on ethics panel, Health and Welfare Benefit Plans: Responding to Change (October 15–16, 2007 and October 27–28, 2008, October 19–20, 2009, October 25–26, 2010); co-author of program paper, “Attorney-Client Privilege in the ERISA Context: The ‘Fiduciary Exception’”
- Co-author, “Ohio State and Federal Courts Reject Class Actions Alleging That Life Insurers Have an Affirmative Duty to Undertake Death Matches,” ABA TIPS Life Insurance Law Committee Newsletter (Summer 2012)
- Co-author, "Private Plaintiffs Seek to Require Life Insurers to Undertake Death Matches," ABA TIPS Committee News (Winter 2012)
- Co-author, "Retained Asset Account Litigation Developments," Life Insurance Law Committee News, American Bar Association, Torts Trial & Insurance Practice Section (Summer 2010)
- Co-author, “Class Certification in Haddock - An Outlier?” Law 360 (December 18, 2009)
- Speaker on financial services litigation panel, The Association of Life Insurance Counsel 2009 Annual Meeting (May 4-5, 2009); co-author of program paper, “Significant Trends in Financial Services Litigation”
- Co-author, “Fourth Circuit Decides False Claims Act Limitations Issue,” The Judicial View (January 2009)
- Speaker on revenue sharing panel, The Association of Life Insurance Counsel 2007 Annual Meeting (May 7–8, 2007); co-author of program paper, “Current Developments in Financial Service Provider Revenue Sharing Class Action Litigation”
- Co-author, “Recent Developments in ERISA Preemption,” The Brief, American Bar Association (Fall 2002)
- Author, “Proving Economic Substance of Financial Transactions” Derivatives Report, Vol. 2, No. 6 (February 2001)
- Author, “ERISA Class Actions,” The Brief (Summer 1999)
