Johnny Carter's Email & Phone

Johnny Carter has represented plaintiffs and defendants in antitrust, securities, construction, environmental, toxic tort, insurance coverage, patent infringement, employment, and commercial litigation. He has been named a "Rising Star" by Texas Monthly magazine on several occasions, and a "Professional on the Fast Track" by H Texas magazine. Some of Mr. Carter's representative cases include: In re AIG Derivative Litigation, Delaware Chancery Court. Mr. Carter represents ACE Limited in this derivative case brought by shareholders of AIG. The Chancery Court dismissed the case for failure to state a claim, and the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed. Teachers? Retirement System of Louisiana v. General Re Corp., 2010 WL 5394004 (Del. Dec. 29, 2010). Forest Oil Corp. v. McAllen. Mr. Carter and Geoff Harrison defend Forest Oil in this toxic tort case. After the trial court declined to enforce an arbitration clause between the plaintiffs and Forest Oil, Susman Godfrey was able to obtain a reversal in the Texas Supreme Court. Mr. Carter briefed the issue in the Texas Supreme Court, and Mr. Harrison argued it. The Court's opinion is Forest Oil Corp. v. McAllen, 2008 WL 3991058, 51 Tex. Sup. J. 1309 (Tex. Aug. 29, 2008). Daphne Scarbrough v. METRO. Mr. Carter and Neal Manne represent Houston's Metropolitan Transit Authority ("METRO"). METRO was sued in 2007 by a resident who sought to prevent METRO from building a light-rail line. On August 21, 2008, the Court granted a plea to the jurisdiction drafted by Mr. Carter. The Court dismissed Scarbrough's claims in their entirety. In August 2010, the First Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of Scarbrough's claims. Scarbrough v. Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, 2010 WL 3448073 (Tex. App. - Houston [1st Dist.] Aug. 31, 2010). In re Insurance Brokerage Antitrust Litigation. Mr. Carter represents defendant ACE Limited in this nationwide class action litigation involving alleged anticompetitive practices in the insurance industry. In re Fleming Securities Litigation. Mr. Carter and Kenneth Marks represented a class of former shareholders of Fleming Companies, which declared bankruptcy in 2003. Plaintiffs pursued claims against former directors and officers of Fleming, various underwriters, and Fleming's auditor. Plaintiffs obtained settlements totaling $94 million ($73 million net of attorneys' fees). In re Alcatel Securities Litigation.Stephen Susman, Kenneth S. Marks, and Mr. Carter represented a class of shareholders of Alcatel, a French telecommunications company. Plaintiffs obtained settlements totaling $75 million ($61 million net of attorneys' fees). Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories. Mr. Carter and other attorneys at Susman Godfrey represented plaintiff Duramed in this lawsuit alleging monopolization of the market for estrogen replacement and hormone replacement drugs. The parties reached a confidential settlement providing favorable terms for Susman Godfrey's client. Hercules Inc. v. One Beacon America Insurance. Mr. Carter and other attorneys at Susman Godfrey represented Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London and Certain Insurance Companies in the London Market in this asbestos litigation coverage dispute with Hercules Incorporated. Mr. Carter's briefing resulted in a ruling on deductible issues which saved the client millions of dollars. Hercules Incorporated v. OneBeacon America Ins. Co., 852 A.2d 33 (Del. Super. Ct. 2004). FMC International A.G. v. ABB Lummus Global Inc. Mr. Carter and Trey Peacock represented ABB Lummus Global Inc. in this construction case. In July 2005, Mr. Carter's briefing resulted in dismissal of a tort cause of action on which FMC had based a $90 million damages claim. FMC International A.G. v. ABB Lummus Global Inc., 2005 WL 1745465 (S.D. Tex. July 22, 2005). In January 2006, Mr. Carter's briefing resulted in dismissal of a RICO cause of action on which FMC had based a claim for more than $25 million in damages. FMC International A.G. v. ABB Lummus Global Inc., 2006 WL 213948 (S.D. Tex. Jan. 25, 2006). National Health Systems, Inc. v. Bergen Brunswig Drug Co. Mr. Carter and other Susman Godfrey attorneys represented AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation in this case in which the opposing party, National Health Systems, sought over $30 million in damages. The case was arbitrated over two weeks in January 2004. Mr. Carter handled damages issues at the arbitration hearing, and the arbitration panel awarded no damages to the opposing party, National Health Systems. Banana Worker Litigation. For many years, Susman Godfrey and several other firms represented foreign banana workers who had been sterilized by exposure to a nematocide called dibromochloropropane (DBCP), which had been used on banana plantations throughout the 1960's and 1970's. The workers asserted claims against various banana growers and manufacturers of DBCP. Throughout the 1980's and 1990's, banana worker cases throughout the United States, brought by many different law firms, were routinely dismissed on the basis of forum non conveniens (inconvenient forum). However, on the strength of Mr. Carter's briefing, plaintiffs in a case called Canales Martinez v. Dow Chemical Co. were able for the first time to defeat forum non conveniens dismissal. Canales Martinez v. Dow Chem. Co., 219 F. Supp. 2d 719 (E.D. La. 2002). Mr. Carter's briefing also persuaded another district court to revive a previously-dismissed case by remanding it to state court for possible reinstatement in U.S. courts. Delgado v. Shell Oil Co., 322 F. Supp. 2d 798 (S.D. Tex. 2004). Horton v. City of Houston. Mr. Carter represented Houston MediaSource, a cable access provider. MediaSource was sued by a white-supremacist group objecting on First Amendment grounds to MediaSource's requirement that the group pay a fee in order to broadcast its programming. Mr. Carter successfully tried the case in August 2001, and the Fifth Circuit subsequently upheld the judgment in favor of MediaSource. Winthrop v. Seitel. Mr. Carter and Geoffrey Harrison represented a leasing company that had been hit with an ex parte temporary restraining order, so that it could not repossess millions of dollars of equipment that the lessee was not paying for. After expedited discovery and a one-day bench trial, Mr. Carther and Mr.Harrison persuaded a Texas court to deny the lessee's request for an injunction and to dismiss the lessee's entire lawsuit. The case settled a few months later, with the lessee agreeing to pay over $7.8 million plus attorney's fees. Mr. Carter grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas. He graduated from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls in 1993. In 2006, Mr. Carter was named the Outstanding Alumnus of Midwestern State's Prothro-Yeager College of Humanities and Social Services. Mr. Carter attended the University of Texas School of Law, where he graduated with honors in 1996. Mr. Carter was Managing Editor of Texas Law Review, which published his note: "To Provide for the Legal Defense: Legal Defense Funds and Federal Ethics Law," 74 Texas Law Review 147 (1995). After graduation, Mr. Carter clerked for one year for the Texas Sixth Court of Appeals in Texarkana, Texas. Mr. Carter then clerked for one year for Hon. George P. Kazen, Chief Judge of the Southern District of Texas. Federal Lawyer published a profile of Judge Kazen authored by Mr. Carter, "Judicial Profile: George P. Kazen," Federal Lawyer, vol. 49, Nov./Dec. 2002, p. 20. Mr. Carter joined Susman Godfrey in 1998, and was named a partner in 2002. Mr. Carter and his wife Nataya have twin boys, Ethan and Casey.