Mr. Sammons has been practicing law with Tydings & Rosenberg for more than 30 years and has served the firm in a variety of leadership positions, including Litigation Department Chair and Managing Partner. Although he began as a general business practitioner representing clients in both litigation and transactional matters, for almost two decades his practice has been limited to civil litigation, with a...
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Mr. Sammons has been practicing law with Tydings & Rosenberg for more than 30 years and has served the firm in a variety of leadership positions, including Litigation Department Chair and Managing Partner. Although he began as a general business practitioner representing clients in both litigation and transactional matters, for almost two decades his practice has been limited to civil litigation, with an emphasis on antitrust, business torts, employment, securities law, real estate, and other business litigation. He has been involved in trials in federal and state courts throughout Maryland and elsewhere, and in a variety of administrative courts, including the Maryland Tax Court, and before arbitration panels.
Representative Matters
- Represented one of the world’s largest pension funds in litigation involving ownership interests in a real estate portfolio valued in excess of one-half billion dollars. At trial, the pension fund prevailed against a joint venture partner, convincing the Court that the partner no longer had an interest in the portfolio and that the pension fund was the sole owner.
- Defended a major automobile manufacturer in a series of antitrust cases that challenged the manufacturer’s parts distribution practices.
- Represented a Fortune 100 telecommunications company in litigation concerning the constitutionality of a portion of the Maryland sales and use tax. The case went to the Maryland Court of Appeals, where the Court agreed with the client that the assessment of the tax violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, thereby defeating the state's $10 million tax claim.
- For six years, served a large public pension fund as lead litigation counsel in connection with its commercial real estate portfolio. Cases included landlord-tenant matters, use covenants, and the like.
- Represented various clients, including a Fortune 100 company, in employment cases including discrimination (race, sex, national origin), cases under the ADEA and the ADA, WARN Act cases, wrongful discharge cases, and cases involving covenants not to compete.
- Represented a large discount security brokerage firm in its Maryland litigation.
- Represented a Russian professional hockey club in enforcing an international arbitration award against a U.S. hockey team and its star player.
- Represented various clients in disputes involving business torts, corporate governance issues, fiduciary duty, professional negligence, securities law violations, state and local taxation, and a variety of other business issues.
Mr. Sammons has also been involved in business counseling in a variety of areas, particularly antitrust and employment law. He has lectured clients and others in matters relating to product distribution, employment discrimination, and wrongful discharge.
Leadership
Mr. Sammons is a member of the Antitrust and Litigation Sections of the American Bar Association, the Litigation Section of the Maryland State Bar Association, and the Bar Association of Baltimore City. Since 1990, he has been a Trustee, and is a Life Fellow, of the Baltimore Bar Foundation. He serves as a member of the Peer Review Panel of the Attorney Grievance Commission and as a voluntary settlement attorney for the Circuit Court for Baltimore City.
In 2010 and 2011, Mr. Sammons received recognition for his work in the areas of antitrust and commercial litigation in Benchmark Litigation, a publication of Euromoney/Legal Media Group. The guide focuses exclusively on leading U.S. litigation firms and attorneys. Since 2007, he has been named by Maryland Super Lawyers as one of the top attorneys in Maryland for his business litigation practice. Mr. Sammons is AV® Peer Review Rated – the highest possible peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell. He has also been listed among the top 25 lawyers in the Baltimore area by Baltimore Business Journal in its “Who's Who in Law” issue.
Prior to joining Tydings & Rosenberg, Mr. Sammons clerked for the Honorable William J. McWilliams, Associate Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals.
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