Seattle Partner John Schiltz represents plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes commercial cases throughout the United States. He has significant litigation experience in state and federal courts as well as arbitrations across a broad spectrum of practice areas including breach of contract, patent, trade secrets, antitrust, cryptocurrency, class actions, product liability, unfair trade practices, shareholder disputes, and other complex commercial disputes.
Schiltz has secured many landmark wins for his clients – who range from Fortune 100 companies to small businesses and individuals – due to his tireless work ethic, litigation savvy, and natural ability to translate even the most complex subject matter into comprehensible facts and stories for judges and juries.
In a major trial victory, Schiltz won a $50.3 million jury verdict on behalf of Green Mountain Glass in its patent infringement lawsuit against Ardagh Glass, Inc. A federal jury in Wilmington, Delaware found Ardagh, formerly known as Saint-Gobain Containers, willfully infringed upon Green Mountain’s patent No. 5,718,737 for technology that allows glass manufacturers to use recycled glass of mixed colors. This verdict was profiled by Law360 and ranked among the National Law Journal’s “Top 100 Verdicts of the Year”—it was ranked #34 overall and the 4th highest IP verdict of the year. Schiltz then helped protect the verdict on appeal, briefing and securing a full affirmance of the judgment at the Federal Circuit. A final payment of $64.5 million was later made to Green Mountain.
Schiltz secured a deal valued at more than $168 million for a class of animation industry employees in this antitrust action against the world’s largest animation companies, including Disney, Pixar, Lucas Films, DreamWorks and Sony, based on restrictions on their ability to compete against one another for talent. Schiltz’s work on the Animation Workers matter helped secure Susman Godfrey’s recognition as Law360’s “Class Action Group of the Year.” The class netted $147.3 million after fees and expenses.
On the defense side, Schiltz has successfully represented international retailer Walmart in several product liability lawsuits and recently successfully defended online travel shopping company, Expedia, in a breach of contract and trade secret misappropriation case.
Schiltz joined Susman Godfrey after serving as a law clerk to the Honorable David M. Ebel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a member of the Virginia Law Review and the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. Prior to law school, Schiltz taught high school mathematics as a Teach for America corps member.
Updated Aug 2023
