Robert T. Smith

Representative Experience

• Successfully argued on behalf of a large insurance company, defending a preliminary injunction that enjoined various medical practices and owners from pursuing thousands of state-court lawsuits and arbitrations used to perpetuate an alleged fraud under New York’s no-fault insurance system. In a precedential opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the Anti-Injunction Act was no impediment to enjoining hundreds of pending state-court lawsuits because the insurance company’s claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act satisfied an exception to the Anti-Injunction Act, and the Federal Arbitration Act was no barrier to enjoining thousands of arbitrations because the insurance company’s RICO claims could be effectively vindicated only in federal court. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Tri-Borough N.Y. Med. Practice, P.C., --- F.4th ---, 2024 WL 4559452 (2d Cir. 2024).
• Principal author of successful appellate briefs that resulted in the vacatur of a judgment of conviction on charges of conspiracy to commit honest-services wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349 and federal-program bribery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 666. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed that the district court erred in effectively directing a verdict for the government on the “official act” element of the first charge and that this error infected the jury’s consideration of the second charge as well. United States v. Lindberg, 39 F.4th 151 (4th Cir. 2022).
• Successfully represented a State in defending two State laws regulating pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which, the PBMs claimed, were preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and Part D of the Medicare program. Working with the State Attorney General’s Office, successfully defended the State’s laws in federal district court, convinced the US Supreme Court to set aside an adverse ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and then argued successfully on remand in the Eighth Circuit, convincing that court to rule in the State’s favor under ERISA and to preserve all provisions of the State’s laws under Medicare Part D except those affected by intervening changes to Part D standards. Pharm. Care Mgmt. Ass’n v. Wehbi, 18 F.4th 956 (8th Cir. 2021), on remand sub nom. by Dirke v. Pharm. Care Mgmt. Ass’n, 141 S. Ct. 1364 (2021).
• Argued on behalf of major health care system and university before the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in multiple lawsuits alleging fraud and retaliation under the False Claims Act and discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Secured dismissal of all claims from the District Court after proving that plaintiff had engaged in litigation-related misconduct. Obtained unanimous, precedential opinion from the Fourth Circuit affirming the sanction of dismissal. Rangarajan v. Johns Hopkins Univ., 917 F.3d 218 (4th Cir. 2019), cert. denied, 139 S. Ct. 2762 (2019).
• Successfully represented dozens of pharmacist organizations as amici curiae before the US Supreme Court in defending a State law that regulates pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from claims of preemption under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Previously represented community pharmacist organizations as amici curiae in two appeals before the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Rutledge v. Pharm. Care Mgmt. Ass’n, 141 S. Ct. 474 (2020).
• Successfully represented several financial institutions in a lawsuit asserting civil claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and common-law claims for fraud. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the action and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed.
• Author of amici curiae brief on behalf of organizations representing independent medical practices, defending a rule by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that brought parity to the reimbursements that Medicare provides to hospital off-campus departments and freestanding physician offices. In upholding this site-neutral payment rule, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit adopted the logic set forth in our clients’ amici curiae brief.
• Successfully represented two securities professionals in a petition for review before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging an administrative finding of securities fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Successfully represented publicly traded company in appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The company had been pursuing FDA approval to market its signature drug for a new indication. A group of plaintiffs filed a putative class action under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, alleging that the company misled investors about the prospects of FDA approval. The Third Circuit affirmed dismissal of the plaintiffs’ complaint.
• Successfully represented transgender ironworker in appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit alleging discrimination and retaliation against his union and two of its officials. In a precedential opinion reinstating the client's lawsuit, the Second Circuit recognized for the first time that allegations of transgender discrimination are sufficient to state a claim for breach of a labor union's duty of fair representation, an implied cause of action under the National Labor Relations Act. Fowlkes v. Ironworkers Local 40, 790 F.3d 378 (2d Cir. 2015).
• Successfully represented The Retail Property Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of Simon Property Group, Inc., in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, arguing that the Labor Management Relations Act does not preempt traditional state-law property claims for trespass and private nuisance asserted against a labor union that was arguably engaged in a secondary boycott at the time. The Ninth Circuit agreed in an important precedential opinion that overturned an adverse decision by the district court. Retail Property Trust v. United Bhd. of Carpenters & Joiners of Am., 768 F.3d 938 (9th Cir. 2014).
• Represented publicly traded company in appeal before US Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit raising question whether Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act divested State courts of concurrent jurisdiction to adjudicated covered class actions arising under Securities Act of 1933.
• Successfully represented a corporate client charged with felony violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Briefed and argued a motion that secured the dismissal of all felony counts of the indictment on the basis that the federal government had failed to promulgate regulations that imposed liability on contractors for failing to comply with substantive regulations enacted under the Act. United States v. Wood Group Prod. Servs. Network, Inc., No. 15-cr-197, 2016 WL 1458925 (E.D. La. Apr. 14, 2016), appeal dismissed, No. 16-30561 (5th Cir.).
• Successfully defended a corporate client, following a 2013 federal jury trial, against charges of conspiracy and tampering in violation of Clean Water Act. Assisted the trial team in developing critical legal defense, which translated into favorable jury instructions and, ultimately, verdicts of acquittal on all charges.
• Successful argument before US Court of Appeals for Sixth Circuit, obtaining authorization for client to file second challenge to state court conviction through actual innocence gateway of Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act.