Gordon & Simmons, LLC | Areas of Experience

Gordon & Simmons, LLC:
History and statement of practice

Ralph Gordon and Roger Simmons were close friends for twenty-eight years, as well as business partners, prior to Ralph's death on January 28, 1999. They began working together at Howrey & Simon in 1971, where Ralph later won a major antitrust case against AT&T on behalf of Litton Industries, Inc., which recovered more than $340 million.

In 1984, Ralph left Howrey & Simon and moved his practice to Frederick where he began a general litigation practice. Three years later, in June 1987, Roger joined Ralph. Their firm, known as Gordon & Simmons, provided high-quality legal representation at reasonable prices. The firm has always followed this philosophy and has primarily been involved in commercial litigation in a wide variety of cases over the fifteen plus-years of its existence.

At present, the firm consists of five lawyers. Some representative cases follow:

1. Dan E. Moldea v. New York Times, 793 F.Supp. 335 (D.D.C. 1992), 22 F.3d 310 (D.C. Cir. 1994). The Washington Times wrote a feature story on Simmons about this case. Moldea was described in a leading treatise on the law of defamation as "one of the most important and controversial defamation cases of the 1990's, and perhaps the most important fact/opinion distinction case since [the leading Supreme Court case in 1990 Milkovich]." See: The Law of Defamation, by Rodney Smolla. Simmons appeared on Court TV in a televised debate with attorney Kenneth Starr about this case in May 1994.

2. Perini Corporation v. Perini Construction, Inc., 915 F.2d 121 (4th Cir. 1990). In this case, Simmons represented Perini Construction, Inc., a local Hagerstown company, in trademark litigation brought against it by the national and much older Perini Corporation, whereby the older, larger company sought to preclude the use of the Perini name by the Hagerstown company. Simmons succeeded in reversing a large Baltimore law firm's loss by the small Perini company and turned it into a victory, thereby allowing Perini Construction, Inc.'s use of the Perini name throughout its marketing area.
3. John K. Singlaub v. Cable News Network, Inc., et al., Superior Court of the District of Columbia, CA 07004-98. The firm represented CNN's co-producer, April Oliver, in this case involving a 1998 broadcast by CNN. Simmons's role was written up and described in a book by one of the co-founders of CNN, entitled Me And Ted Against The World, beginning at page 310 in Reese Schonfeld's book about the rise and troubles of CNN as a cable news company. Victor Cretella played a vital role in this case.
4. John Smith v. Cable News Network, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, No. 1-00-CV-1643. The respected Senior Federal Judge Marvin H. Shoob wrote the opinion in this case. Victor Cretella also played a crucial role in this case.
5. Republic of Liberia v. The International Registries, Inc., United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, #99-359A. In this case, Simmons was lead counsel representing the country of Liberia in a complicated case whereby the country had sought to cancel a contract with and take back the right to authorize Liberian corporations and to allow ships to be flagged as Liberian ships throughout the world. Shawn Cavenee played an important role in this representation of Liberia. Virginia counsel was Gary & Goodman.
6. Ronald Haft v. Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, CA 94-9904. In the Haft litigation, Simmons represented Ron Haft against Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in a legal malpractice case which grew out of the legal battles among the Haft Family. Gordon & Simmons, LLC achieved a settlement highly favorable to his client, the terms of which are confidential. Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering was widely recognized as one of the blue ribbon firms of Washington. Also, stories on the case appeared in the Washington Post and the American Trial Lawyer.
7. Jan Pottker v. Kenneth Feld and Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circuit, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, 99CA008068. The Pottker litigation was described in some length and with great detail about the development of the case and its status at Salon.com in its August 30 and 31, 2001, magazine editions. Recently, the firm entered into a collaboration agreement with Johnnie Cochran and his firm to finish and try the case.
8. Nancy Strickland v. Professor Denis Dutton, United States District Court for the District of Columbia. See Moby Lives, "Who Killed Lingua Franca?" (November 5, 2001) This case was prepared and brought to a favorable result.
9. Global Relief Foundation, Inc. v. Paul O'Neill, et al., United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, #02C0674. In the Global Relief cases, Gordon & Simmons, LLC represents the second largest Muslim charity in the country in a cutting edge case involving first application of the Patriot Act in this troubled period following the 9/11 tragedies, as Muslim charity organizations are being unfairly targeted for retribution without any opportunity to defend their names. In addition to Roger Simmons, Victor Cretella and Shawn Cavenee are working on this case. Hundreds of articles have been written about the case. Major (and minor) broadcasting networks have interviewed Simmons about this case.
10. Global Relief Foundation, Inc. v. The New York Times, et al., United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, #01 C88 21. See No. 9 above. The same group of Gordon & Simmons, LLC attorneys working on the Global Relief Foundation, Inc. v. Paul O'Neill, et al., case are working on this defamation case.
11. Crofton Development Corporation v. Crofton Lending Corporation, Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, #25197. In this litigation, Gordon & Simmons, LLC has represented Crofton Development Corporation in a situation where the client was brought back from an $8.8 million confessed judgment against them to a position where the client expects to shortly recover more than one million dollars in net revenues. Shawn Cavenee has played a central and vital role in this case, working closely with Roger Simmons.
12. Paxton-Mayberry Company, LLC v. Richard Rankin, et al., Consolidated with Richard Rankin v. Robert E. Reiver, Case Nos. 217714 and 218857. In this case, Roger Simmons is representing an investor who, together with a business acquaintance, bought the last ten acres of undeveloped land in North Rockville, whereby the person who was installed as the manager of a land use company ignored all of his fiduciary duties to the company and his investment partner and operated it in a manner to benefit only himself and his own company.
13. The firm engages in an active local practice, recent cases include: an appeal from local zoning decisions for nearby residents, a suit for a local youth challenging American Legion exclusionary practices; a suit against a local builder for failing to live up to promises; and suits on behalf of students against educational institutions. All Gordon & Simmons, LLC attorneys work on these smaller cases from time to time.

     Gordon & Simmons, LLC has also been involved in literally dozens of lender liability cases against institutions such as Maryland National Bank (which is now merged into Bank of America); First Union Bank; First Women's Bank of Maryland, et al. It has also been involved in many corporate control cases, partnership disputes, and a wide variety of commercial contract disputes. Its' clients include construction companies as well as homeowners and commercial builders.

     For those who are interested and wish to talk to references, contact names and phone numbers for each of the foregoing cases are available upon request made personally to Roger C. Simmons.