Robert Manley is a trial lawyer who represents clients in high-stakes, complex commercial, intellectual property, trade secrets, investment, fiduciary duty, probate, and insurance recovery matters. Robert is recognized by his peers, clients, and the legal media as a pre-eminent trial lawyer and routinely tries complex cases in courts across the country.
Representative Clients
Robert’s clients have included The State of Texas, Halliburton Energy Services, Maxus Energy, TIAA, Fidelity Investments, American Airlines, CenturyLink, Ericsson, City of San Francisco, Ca., City of Oakland Ca., Zachry Construction, 7-Eleven, Nationstar d/b/a Mr. Cooper, ORIX Capital Markets, Hayman Capital, BearingPoint, Pilgrim's Pride, NXP Semiconductors f/k/a Freescale, MediaTek, Inc., Trinity Industries, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., InFocus, SAExploration, Applied Biosystems, Safeway/Albertsons, Igloo, AptarGroup, Inc., BNSF Railway Company, Celanese, and many others.
Representative Trials
Robert recently helped lead the team that secured a massive $1.4 Billion settlement on behalf of the State of Texas against Meta Platforms/Facebook. [Photo] The record-breaking settlement was announced on July 30, 2024 and is the largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought by a single State. [Press Release]
One of Robert’s other recent cases made the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Robert represented a family in a significant will contest. As lead trial lawyer for the plaintiffs, Robert lead an all-star legal team comprised of top lawyers from seven different firms. For trial, the court sent out over 700 jury summons, the parties spent two days picking a jury at the local assembly center, and two weeks into the jury trial as Robert was poised to begin his cross-examination of the main defendant, the matter resolved on a confidential basis. [That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.--Robert] The matter was reported to be one of the, if not the, largest will contest matters ever to go to a jury trial.
Robert secured a complete defense jury verdict for his clients CenturyLink and several of its officers in a three-week securities fraud jury trial in Houston, Texas. Jo Ann Schermerhorn et al v. CenturyLink f/k/a/ CenturyTel, Inc. et al. CenturyLink, its former Chief Financial Officer, and its past General Counsel were accused of fraud and securities fraud. Robert secured a complete defense verdict exonerating his clients from all allegations of wrongdoing.
Robert secured a substantial plaintiffs’ jury verdict—including punitive damages--for Canyon Ridge Resorts against an investment bank in a fraud and breach of fiduciary duty trial. Canyon Ridge Resorts, LLC et al v. Sterne, Agee and Leach, Inc. et al. Robert and his team tried the matter for seven weeks in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and secured a complete plaintiffs’ verdict, punitive damages, and final judgment. The verdict is recognized as a VerdictSearch “Top 100 Verdict” and helped secure McKool Smith’s inclusion in Law360’s listing of the “Most Feared Plaintiff Firms.”
Robert secured a take-nothing defense jury verdict for his client Halliburton Energy Services in a patent infringement/theft of trade secrets matter following a two-week trade secret and patent infringement jury trial in Houston, Texas. Legacy Separators, LLC v. Halliburton Energy Services, LLC et al. The trial followed seven years of litigation that has been reported to be nation’s trade secret case with the greatest number of filings reported to date.
Robert secured a complete plaintiffs’ verdict for his client TIAA-CREF in a significant insurance coverage jury trial in Wilmington, Delaware. TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC et al v. Illinois National Insurance Company et al. The jury verdict forced several insurers to honor the insurance policies they sold TIAA covering substantial losses it suffered resulting from a failed computer ERP implementation. The jury also awarded TIAA-CREF attorney fees at trial, finding that the nearly $10 million in legal defense costs incurred by the entity were reasonable and recoverable. The final judgment was appealed to, and upheld by, the Delaware Supreme Court.
Robert secured a complete Plaintiff’s verdict for his client Enterprise Financial Group in a two-week jury trial in Dallas Texas. Enterprise Financial Group, Inc. v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc. The matter involved a failed joint venture between the parties for the creation and administration of a GAP insurance program in the new and used automobile sales industry and cross allegations of breach of contract. Following a two-week trial, the jury returned a complete Plaintiffs’ verdict for Robert’s client and a take nothing verdict on Santander’s counterclaims.
Updated Sep 2024
