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Russell Yager
Russell Yager
Experience | Education | Recognition | Activities | Publications
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Biography
Russ handles antitrust and general business litigation at both trial and appellate levels, with an emphasis on defending class actions. He has defended several Fortune 500 companies in cases involving complex issues of antitrust conspiracy, securities fraud, mail fraud, trademark infringement, federal taxation, and insurance coverage.
In Bemis v. Safeco, Russ recently worked with local counsel in St. Louis, Missouri, and Belleville, Illinois, to persuade the Appellate Court of Illinois, Fifth District, to reverse the order of a Madison County trial judge certifying a fourteen-state class of medical providers challenging Safeco's use of databases to help evaluate medical bills. This is a precedent-setting decision for our client occurred in a jurisdiction where courts have previously been reluctant to deny plaintiffs' efforts to certify multi-state class actions. See Bemis v. Safeco Insurance Company of Illinois, --- N.E.2d ---, 407 Ill. App. 3d 1164, 2011 WL 1204003 (Ill. App. Ct. Mar. 25, 2011)
Russ is V&E's Class Action Practice Leader.
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Representative Experience
Trial Court Representations
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- Currently representing one of the nation's largest property and casualty insurers in a series of cases challenging use of PPO agreements and computer databases to determine the amounts to pay for medical expenses covered by workers' compensation and personal auto policies
- As lead counsel for one of the nation's largest property and casualty insurers, Russ conceived and executed the precedent-setting removal of a five-year-old class action under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA). See Knudsen v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 435 F.3d 755 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 127 S.Ct. 79 (2006). This creative removal of a computer-bill-review case addressing payment of medical expenses under workers' compensation policies strengthened the positions of class-action defendants nationwide by persuading the Seventh Circuit to announce the now unanimous rule that adding new claims or defendants to a class action filed in state court before CAFA’s enactment in 2005 effectively “commences” new litigation and opens a new window for removal
- As lead counsel in Schuster v. Safeco Insurance Company of America, Case No. 09-2-17044-4KNT in the Superior Court of Washington for King County, secured an order striking the plaintiff’s class allegations in another computer-bill-review case, agreeing with our arguments that the factual record precluded the required finding under Rule 23(a)(3) that the plaintiff’s claims are typical of those of absent class members
Appellate Representations
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- As counsel of record for the petitioners in American Bible Society v. Richie, 522 U.S. 1011, 118 S. Ct. 596 (1997), persuaded the Supreme Court of the United States to vacate the decision of the Fifth Circuit in Richie v. American Council on Gift Annuities, Inc., 110 F.3d 1082 (5th Cir. 1997), that the defendant charities lacked immunity from antitrust claims asserted in a putative nationwide class action arising from the issuance of charitable gift annuities and to remand the case for dismissal based on the claimed immunity
- As lead appellate counsel for a national airline in Brennan v. Southwest Airlines Co., 134 F.3d 1405 (9th Cir. 1998), and Sigmon v. Southwest Airlines Co., 110 F.3d 1200 (5th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 118 S.Ct. 370 (1997), defeated plaintiffs’ appeals of orders dismissing two putative nationwide class actions challenging airlines’ collection of federal excise taxes
- As appellate counsel for one of the nation’s largest insurers in Sandwich Chef of Texas, Inc. v. Reliance National Indemnity Insurance Co., et al., 319 F.3d 205 (5th Cir. 2003), cert. denied, 124 S.Ct. 101 (2003), obtained reversal of order certifying RICO fraud claims on behalf of a nationwide class seeking recovery of alleged overcharges for retrospectively rated workers compensation policies
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Education and Professional Background
- Yale Law School, J.D., 1988 (Director, Yale Moot Court of Appeals)
- University of California, Berkeley, A.B. General Scholarship and Rhetoric with high distinction and highest honors respectively, 1985 (Phi Beta Kappa)
- Judicial clerk to The Honorable Phyllis A. Kravitch, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 1988-1989
- Admitted to practice: Texas, 1992; United States Supreme Court; U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits; all Texas courts; U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Districts of Texas
Professional Recognition
- The Best Lawyers in America® in business litigation, 2005, in commercial litigation and antitrust law, 2006 - 2011
- Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in insurance law, 2006 - 2011
Activities and Affiliations
- Member: Litigation and Antitrust Sections, American Bar Association; Business Litigation and Appellate Sections, Texas and Dallas Bar Associations
Publications and Presentations
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Full Biography
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Trammell Crow Center
2001 Ross Avenue
Suite 3700
Dallas, TX 75201-2975
Tel +1.214.220.7820
Fax +1.214.999.7820
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