REID COLLINS PARTNERS KEITH COHAN AND RYAN GOLDSTEIN RECEIVE EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC INTEREST AWARD FROM TEXAS LAW FELLOWSHIPS
Keith Y. Cohan and Ryan M. Goldstein, partners in the Austin office of Reid Collins, were honored for their pro bono representation of Teliah Perkins in a federal civil rights action alongside the ACLU of Louisiana. Texas Law Fellowships’ annual Excellence in Public Interest Awards honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions in public interest law, including an award for private attorneys engaged in pro bono work.
Cohan and Goldstein received the Private Attorney award for prosecuting Ms. Perkins’ federal civil rights lawsuit against two St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies who violently arrested her at her own home in Slidell, Louisiana in response to a minor traffic violation she did not commit. On July 26, 2022, Cohan and Goldstein obtained a key ruling on behalf of Ms. Perkins when the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana denied the bulk of the officers’ motion for summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity. The defendants have appealed the summary judgment ruling, and oral argument in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is scheduled for May 3, 2023.
Click here to view the Perkins complaint.
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WILLIAM T. REID, IV AGAIN NAMED U.S. PLAINTIFF LITIGATOR OF THE YEAR BY BENCHMARK; RENREN LITIGATION HONORED AS AN “IMPACT CASE OF THE YEAR”
For the second time in four years, Reid Collins founding partner William T. Reid, IV was named the U.S. Plaintiff Litigator of the Year at the Benchmark Litigation awards dinner on March 15, 2023, in New York City. Reid has been shortlisted for this award for five consecutive years and previously received it in 2020.
Reid Collins was also recognized for its groundbreaking work in the Renren Derivative Litigation, which received a 2023 Impact Case of the Year award from Benchmark.
In addition, for the sixth consecutive year, Benchmark named Reid Collins a finalist for US “Plaintiff Firm of The Year.” As was the case years prior, Reid and the firm have been in competition with several of the most prominent names in the legal industry for these honors. The Benchmark awards celebrate the leading litigators and most impactful disputes across the United States. They are the culmination of months of research, surveying thousands of referees, and interviewing hundreds of lawyers.
Click here to view the Benchmark shortlists and winners.
REID COLLINS FILES HISTORIC EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AND SEXUAL ABUSE LAWSUIT AGAINST FOX NEWS BASED ON NEW “ADULT SURVIVORS ACT”
On January 25, 2023, Reid Collins & Tsai LLP filed a groundbreaking employment discrimination and sexual abuse complaint against the Fox News Network, LLC, Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., and former Fox News Co-President Bill Shine, on behalf of Laura Luhn, a former Fox News employee.
As alleged in the complaint, Ms. Luhn was subjected to a decades-long campaign of discrimination, manipulation, threats, and sexual abuse by former Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes. The rampant abuse at Fox News has been the subject of multiple films, exposés, and news coverage many of which covered portions of Ms. Luhn’s alleged experiences working at Fox News under Ailes.
The Complaint includes new factual allegations as well as causes of action revived under the recently passed New York State Adult Survivors Act. This new law provides a “lookback window” for survivors of sexual assault, allowing claims previously time-barred by statutes of limitation to be brought. The law’s one-year window went into effect as of November 24, 2022.
The Complaint asserts unlawful discrimination and negligence by Fox News and Twenty-First Century Fox that allowed Ailes to continuously abuse Luhn for years, as well as claims against Shine for aiding and abetting those illegal practices.
Reid Collins partner Barbara Whiten Balliette, counsel for Ms. Luhn, emphasized the firm’s commitment to vindicating her saying: “The abuse that Ms. Luhn suffered was some of the worst imaginable. People knew, but no one at Fox News stepped in to stop it. Her career and her life were destroyed. The Adult Survivors Act was created to redress wrongs exactly like these.”
The case is captioned Laura W. Luhn v. Fox News Network, LLC, Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. & William Shine, Index No. 950003/2023 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.).
To view the Complaint, click here.
To view media reporting on the case, click on the links below:
• NBC: Former Fox News employee sues network, alleging Roger Ailes sexually abused her
• Bloomberg: Fox News Sued by Ex-Booker Over Negligence in ‘Decades-Long’ Abuse Campaign
• Los Angeles Times: Former Fox News employee sues over sexual abuse under New York state survivors law
• The Hollywood Reporter: Ex-Fox News Employee Laura Luhn Sues Network Over Roger Ailes’ Sexual Harassment and Blackmail
• The Daily Beast: Roger Ailes Accuser Sues Fox News and Trump’s Ex-Comms Director Bill Shine
• New York Daily News: Former Fox News employee files bombshell lawsuit claiming ‘severe’ sexual abuse and blackmail by late CEO Roger Ailes
• Vanity Fair: Ex-Fox News Staffer Sues Network, Former Executive Bill Shine Over Roger Ailes’ Alleged Sexual Abuse
• NPR: Ex-staffer sues Fox News and former Trump aide over sexual abuse claims
• Insider: A former Fox News staffer said Roger Ailes told her she was his ‘sex slave’ and took videos of the abuse to use as ‘blackmail,’ but the network would dismiss claims with ‘boys will be boys,’ lawsuit says
• The Hill: Fox News sued by former booker Laura Luhn over alleged ‘decades-long’ abuse
• Law360: Ex-Fox News Staffer Sues Under Sex Assault Lookback Law
• Huffington Post: Fox News Sued By Ex-Staffer Alleging ‘Decades-Long’ Abuse, Blackmail By Roger Ailes
• The Wrap: Laura Luhn Sues Fox News, Alleges ‘Decades-Long’ Sexual Abuse, Blackmail by Late CEO Roger Ailes
• Patch: Fox News Faces New Lawsuit Over Roger Ailes Sex Abuse Accusations
• Deadline: Laura Luhn Files New Lawsuit Against Fox News Claiming Sexual Abuse
• AdWeek: Former Fox News Staffer Laura Luhn Sues Network, Claims Sexual Harassment and Abuse by Roger Ailes
• Epoch Times: Former Fox News Employee Sues Network Over Sexual Abuse Allegations