John C. Fitzpatrick

John Fitzpatrick is a trial lawyer who represents clients around the country in complex disputes including class actions, mass tort litigation, false claims act and qui tam actions, mergers and acquisition litigation, and commercial disputes.   John was trial counsel in one of the only federal consumer class action cases to go to trial, which resulted in a complete defense verdict. John also specializes in leading and coordinating multi-firm defense teams in large-scale litigations.

John graduated from Columbia Law School as a Kent and Stone Scholar and earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame, magna cum laude.  Before law school, John co-founded HotPads.com, a map-based housing search engine, which was acquired by Zillow Group.

Representative Matters

East Palestine Train Derailment Litigation
Trial and coordinating counsel to Trinity Industries Leasing Company in class action and CERCLA litigation arising from the East Palestine, Ohio, Train Derailment of February 3, 2023, pending in federal courts in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

ET Plus Litigation
National coordinating counsel and trial counsel for Trinity Industries and Trinity Highway Products in litigation regarding Trinity's ET Plus guardrail end terminal system in multiple state and federal jurisdictions, including personal injury lawsuits, class actions, false claims act actions, and other related litigation. Led successful defense of over a dozen state false claims act cases, including:

• Harman ex. rel. Virginia v. Trinity: Lead counsel to Trinity in matter brought by relator Joshua Harman and intervened in by the Commonwealth of Virginia under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, seeking over $1 billion in purported treble damages and penalties.  Argued successful motion for summary judgment, dismissing all claims on the eve of trial.  
• Harman ex. rel. Tennessee v. Trinity: Lead counsel to Trinity in qui tam matter brought by relator Joshua Harman under the Tennessee False Claims Act. Argued successful motion to dismiss with prejudice, which was affirmed on appeal.
• Harman ex. rel. New Jersey v. Trinity: Lead counsel to Trinity in qui tam matter brought by relator Joshua Harman under the New Jersey False Claims Act. Argued successful motion to dismiss and denial of leave to amend.
• Harman ex. rel. California v. Trinity: Lead counsel to Trinity in qui tam matter brought by relator Joshua Harman under the California False Claims Act. After completion of fact discovery on California Department of Transportation witnesses, relator dismissed all claims with the consent of the state without any settlement agreement or payment.

In re Genetically Modified Rice Litigation (MDL, U.S. District Court, E.D. Missouri)
Trial and appellate counsel for Bayer CropScience LP in multi-district litigation and related state court litigation concerning alleged presence of genetically engineered rice in commercial rice shipments. 

Polo v. Federal Signal Corporation (Illinois) 
Obtained a reversal of class certification on interlocutory appeal in litigation regarding firefighters alleging hearing loss from emergency-vehicle sirens.

Mergers and Acquisition Litigation
Represented corporations and boards of directors in challenges to large-scale business transactions, including shareholder challenges to mergers and acquisitions. 

Cases Tried or Otherwise Taken to Judgment

Confidential Commercial Arbitration
Trial counsel for major healthcare company in successful arbitration regarding the contractual dispute.

In re: Whirlpool Corp. Front-Loading Washer Products Liability Litigation (U.S. District Court, N.D. Ohio)
Trial counsel, along with Phil Beck and Rebecca Bacon, in bellwether consumer class action trial of plaintiffs' claims of design defect and breach of implied warranty. After three and a half week jury trial, jury deliberated less than two hours before returning complete defense verdict.

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Prologis v. IGT (U.S. District Court, Nevada)
Lead trial counsel to IGT in bench trial on multi-million dollar breach of contract action regarding large commercial property lease.