Chris Riley is a trial lawyer in the Litigation and Trial Practice Group and a member of the Financial Services Litigation team. He focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation with a particular emphasis on financial services litigation.
Mr. Riley has tried and litigated a wide assortment of commercial and financial services disputes in state and federal courts across the country. He has successfully represented banks, lenders, mortgage brokers, servicers, and other financial services and consumer finance companies in litigation, appeals, arbitrations, and pre-litigation counseling matters involving a variety of commercial disputes, including individual and class action claims. In addition to his financial services practice, Mr. Riley has frequently represented a variety of Fortune 500 companies in commercial litigation matters involving claims based on alleged breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, fraud, unfair competition and other business torts.
Mr. Riley is a member of the State Bar of Georgia and the State Bar of Florida.
- Trial counsel on behalf of a Fortune 50 computer company in a trade secrets and unfair competition jury trial in Orleans Parish, New Orleans, Louisiana. The plaintiffs sought more than $5 billion in damages, and after a seven-week trial, the jury rejected the trade secrets and punitive damages claims, awarding plaintiffs less than 0.2 percent of claimed damages.
- Trial counsel in a plaintiff’s case on behalf of an affiliate of the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States in a jury trial in Atlanta, Georgia, asserting contract and equitable claims. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the bank on all claims, awarding the bank a seven-figure judgment, plus attorneys’ fees.
- Trial counsel in a plaintiff’s case for a medical technology company in a jury trial in a patent case in North Carolina, securing an eight-figure settlement from one defendant before the trial and received a winning verdict against the remaining defendants at the trial.
- Trial counsel to a multinational chemical company in a two-week state court trial regarding alleged misappropriation of trade secrets; the case settled favorably following the trial.
- Counsel to a multibillion-dollar regional bank in state and federal court class actions seeking the recovery of checking account overdraft fees.
- Counsel to a publicly traded Government Sponsored Enterprise and a national commercial bank in federal court mortgage and foreclosure litigation.
- Counsel to one of the largest bank-affiliated equipment leasing and finance companies in the United States in a variety of UCC, fraud and lender liability matters.
- Counsel to a multibillion-dollar community bank in a variety of litigation and receivership matters arising out of commercial and residential notes, guaranties, mortgages and foreclosures.
- Counsel to a national equipment lease and finance originator in multimillion-dollar Ponzi-scheme litigation matters arising out of its customer’s business operations.
- Obtained a dismissal of complaint on behalf of a full-service credit card payment processor in federal court litigation arising out of its payment processing business.
- Obtained a dismissal of complaint on behalf of one of the largest full-service financial aid organizations in federal court litigation related to lending business.
- Counsel to the court-appointed Examiner in the Enron Corp. bankruptcy, including the team that examined the role of Enron’s financial institutions.
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"Are Overdraft Policies Overdrawn? A Review of Overdraft Fee Litigation and The Regulatory Response," Consumer Financial Services Law Report, Vol. 13, No. 19, April 14, 2010.
April 14, 2010
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"Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009: Expanding Fraud and False Claims Act Liability and Increasing Enforcement in the Wake of the Economic Crisis," Banking & Financial Services Policy Report, Vol. 28, No. 7, July 2009.
July 2009