On June 25, 2021, after over 10 years of negotiation, litigation, trial and appeals, the Reid Collins team in Claymore Holdings LLC v. Credit Suisse AG has emerged – yet again – victorious. The Texas state court in which the firm obtained a 2014 jury verdict against Credit Suisse entered a fraud judgment on remand, awarding more than $121 million to the firm’s client Claymore Holdings, an affiliate of NexPoint Advisors and Highland Capital Management Fund Advisors. The suit accuses Credit Suisse of conspiring with a CBRE appraiser to grossly overvalue a 2007 Las Vegas real estate development loan in which it fraudulently induced Claymore to invest over $250 million.
The case has had a remarkable history. After winning a $40 million jury verdict to great fanfare in the legal media (the Reid Collins trial team was profiled by The American Lawyer at the time), and after securing a judgment from the Texas state court, Reid Collins partners William T. Reid, IV, Lisa S. Tsai and Nathaniel J. Palmer argued and won multiple appeals on multiple issues in the Texas Court of Appeals and before the Texas Supreme Court. Ultimately, the Texas Supreme Court did something very rare and telling in its 2020 ruling – it affirmed a jury verdict for fraud and remanded the case to the trial court solely for it to reconsider its damages award.
Read the judgment awarding over $121 million to Claymore here.
The legal media has been abuzz with commentary and reporting on lawyer compensation and the battle for talent in BigLaw. Included in this coverage, prominent outlet The American Lawyer published a look at how some of the top national trial boutiques compensate their lawyers, profiling Reid Collins on June 18, 2021.
As the article describes, Reid Collins matches and bests the industry’s upper salary scale, with base salaries for first-year associates starting at $225,000 and rising quickly so that six-year lawyers receive $400,000 and more. In addition, the firm provides generous bonuses to all of its lawyers and staff throughout the year, to reward and acknowledge them for their specific contributions to the firm’s success. This model not only eclipses BigLaw’s best salary and bonus packages, but also epitomizes the firm’s core belief that its people and its team are the reason for its success, and therefore every person at the firm should share in that success. As explained in the article, “the firm pays bonuses when money comes in, and so far associates have received about $80,000 on average this year, and another bonus payment is pending.”
“We have been above market for a long time,” partner Bill Reid was quoted, taking pride in achieving the firm’s bedrock goal of creating the best possible working environment while also providing world-class compensation.
Click here to view The American Lawyer article entitled “Like Big Law Firms, Trial Boutiques Raising Associate Salaries” (paywall)
Reid Collins filed a whistleblower lawsuit under seal on behalf of its client, Integra Med Analytics, LLC, pursuant to the False Claims Act against a major group of skilled nursing facilities in New York tied to Isaac Laufer. On June 3, 2021, the qui tam action, alleging a Medicare fraud exceeding $129 million, was made public as the U.S. Department of Justice took the rare step of intervening to prosecute the action. The case alleges that eleven New York-based skilled nursing facilities related to Isaac Laufer, his management company (Paragon Management SNF LLC), and a senior employee (Tami Whitney) fraudulently billing Medicare for unnecessary services for a decade.
The DOJ’s lawsuit carries forward claims developed by Integra through its extensive investigation and data analysis of the Medicare billing practices of these facilities. Integra’s investigation demonstrated that these defendants were engaged in significant Medicare fraud through the provision of unnecessary and unreasonable ultra-high rehab and wrongfully extending patient stays without regard for patients’ medical needs. Integra’s lawsuit brought claims against the Laufer-related entities for over $129 million in alleged Medicare fraud. Following its own investigation of Integra’s allegations, DOJ filed its own complaint-in-intervention alleging that the very schemes identified by Integra continued through 2019.
View the DOJ’s press release here.
Click here to view the Reid Collins/Integra press release.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.