Jeff Tillotson Extended Bio - Jeffrey M. Tillotson - P.C.

Few lawyers in the country have as much complex litigation experience as Jeff Tillotson. Even fewer have as much trial experience in complex multi-party cases. For example, over the past few years alone, Jeff has been the lead lawyer in over a dozen major multi-party cases brought in courts in nine different states for clients such as the nation's largest consumer finance company, its third largest bank; its second largest credit card issuer and forty of the nation's leading industrial concerns. These cases involved all possible aspects of complex litigation -- multiple parties, competing venues, extensive discovery, complex strategy and intense media scrutiny. The cases were profiled in publications like The Wall Street Journal and People Magazine as well as in television media like Nightline and CBS Evening News. Jeff's experience with reputation management in the media has helped cultivate victory for his clients.

Zixit v. Visa USA and Visa International. Represented Visa USA and Visa International in a first-of-its-kind internet defamation case. Zixit sought some $700 million in damages but, after a four week trial, the jury found for Visa. The case received considerable media attention and was later profiled by The National Law Journal as one of the "Defense Wins of the Year" in 2003.

City of Dallas v. Redbird Development Company. A true "David and Goliath" case if there ever was one. Tillotson represented RDC, a small company that operated Redbird Airport in Dallas (now Executive Airport). The City, in an act motivated more by local politics than common sense, terminated the lease, locked RDC out of the property, used the termination as grounds for accelerating a loan the City had made to RDC and then sued RDC for the balance due. Left with little more than a few boxes of personal records, RDC asked Jeff Tillotson to take on the City in a wrongful termination lawsuit. Tillotson and LTP put together a daring trial strategy and after a three week trial, the jury not only rejected the City's case but awarded RDC $3 million in damages on its counterclaim. The case was later affirmed on appeal and then settled for the amount of the jury award.

EcoEnergy Solutions, Inc. v. Rudolf W. Gunnerman, et al. One month before trial, Mr. Tillotson was asked to take lead in representing Defendants in a complex breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and civil conspiracy case in state court Reno, Nevada. The jury awarded no damages to Plaintiff, and the trial court rejected Plaintiff's claims for broad equitable relief.

Maverick Development, LLC v. Loeb Enterprises Limited Liability Company, et al. Again, just a few months before trial, Mr. Tillotson was selected as lead counsel in a breach of contract and business tort case pending in Reno, Nevada. The case settled the week before trial.

Cheryl Arlott. et al. v. Robert C. Arledge, et al. This was a class action case in federal court in Mississippi involving a dispute over attorneys fees. Mr. Tillotson was successful in defeating class certification and having the case dismissed.

Talisman Capital Talon Fund, Ltd. v. Rudolf W. Gunnerman and SulphCo, Inc. Mr. Tillotson will be trying another case in Reno, Nevado in federal court. This case involves a contest over intellectual property. Trial is scheduled for Decemeber 2008.

Other cases include Sunmina v. BancTec (Northern District of Texas) and PacifiCare v. Bank of America, et al. Northern District of Texas Bancruptcy Court).

Jeff has successfully handled numerous cases on appeal. Over the past few years, he argued cases before the Second, Fifth and Ninth Circuits, as well as the Texas Court of Appeals for Dallas, Eastland, Tyler and Corpus Christi. Some representative appeals include:

Mireles v. Southwestern Bell Telephone (now SBC). Jeff handled the appeal of this groundbreaking class action case. The appeal involved complicated class action certification and settlement approval issues. It resulted in two opinions from the Court of Appeals (one of which announced a new standard for how objectors gain standing to pursue an appeal of a class action judgment and one of which affirmed the lower court's judgmentx) and two trips to the Texas Supreme Court. On subsequent briefing filed by Jeff, the Texas Supreme Court reversed itself and dismissed its prior granting of review as "improvidently granted."

Recent honors include being named a "Leader in His Field" by Chambers & Partners 2010 USA Guide to Leading Lawyers - General Commercial Litigation (Texas). Jeff was recognized in August 2002 by the National Law Journal as having tried The Defense Win of the Month, and selected by the National Law Journal for Top Defense Win of 2002. On September 10, 2001 The Texas Lawyer recognized Mr. Tillotson as "One of Texas' 40 Under 40." He has been recognized as a "Super Lawyer" by Texas Monthly every year since it debuted in 2003. Jeff was one of five Dallas Litlgators featured in the May 2008 edition of D CEO magazine as one of the top corporate attorneys in Dallas. In the article titled "The Advocates", D CEO takes a look at the careers of five attorneys while focusing on what makes them successful at trial and their advice for executives facing litigation. Jeff was also featured among the nation's top business litigators in the 2008 Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel Edition. The inagural Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel Edition was published in April 2008, and highlights the top business litigation attorneys in America.

Jeff is admitted to the State Bars of Texas and California. He has handled cases in over fifteen different Texas counties (including Dallas, Houston, Austin, El Paso, Tyler, Fort Worth, Wichita Falls, Corpus Christi, McAllen, as well as cases in Southern and Northern California.

In addition, he is admitted to practice before the United States Courts of Appeal for the Second, Third, Fifth and Ninth Circuits. Additionally, he is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Western, Southern and Eastern Districts of Texas, as well as the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of California.

A native Texan, Jeff was born in San Antonio, Texas. His forebears settled in Texas generations ago, and his great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Jose Antonio Navarro, was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, a drafter of the Texas Constitution, one of the first elected to the Texas Congress and later its Senate, and the namesake for Navarro County in East Texas.

Jeff's talent at advocacy revealed itself early on as he was the 1979 Texas State Debate Champion while a junior at Jesuit College Prep in Dallas. He attended Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and the London School of Economics, graduating from the former in 1984. He obtained his law degree with honors from the University of Texas at Austin. Before putting his name on the door at LTPC, Jeff practiced with New York's Shearman & Sterling (in their Los Angeles office) and Baker Botts, LLP (in their Dallas office).