An illustrative sampling of Eric’s experience includes:

Administrative Procedure Act Issues

• Representing a major municipality that operates a large-hub airport in litigation relating to the airport’s noise compatibility program  before the D.C. Circuit and administrative proceedings before the FAA.
• Advising a client with respect to challenging actions taken by OSHA to add the client to its Severe Violator Enforcement Program list.
• Successfully challenging  in federal district court as arbitrary and capricious an FDA decision to regulate electronic cigarettes as unapproved new drugs and/or medical devices under Chapter V of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic  Act.

Tobacco Alternatives & Nicotine Products Industry

• Successfully challenging FDA marketing denial orders for flavored e-liquids for use in electronic nicotine delivery systems as arbitrary and capricious. Wages & White Lion Investments, LLC v. FDA, 90 F.4th 357 (5th Cir. 2024) (en banc).
• Obtaining the vacatur of a preliminary injunction in a trademark infringement case based on the lawful use doctrine. VPR Brands, L.P. v. Shenzhen Weiboli Tech. Co., Ltd., No. 23-1544 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (unpublished).
• Successfully challenging FDA marketing denial orders for flavored e-liquids for use in electronic nicotine delivery systems as arbitrary and capricious based on FDA’s failure to review applicants’ marketing plans. Bidi Vapor, LLC v. FDA, 47 F.4th 1191 (11th Cir. 2022) (counsel for petitioner Pop Vapor, LLC in consolidated decision).
• Securing, on federal preemption grounds, dismissal of claims alleging that the marketing of a client’s vapor products violated the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act because the products were not the subject of an FDA marketing order issued as a result of a premarket tobacco application (PMTA). Yimam v. Mylé Vape, Inc., Case No. 2019 CA 008050 B, 2020 D.C. Super. LEXIS 7 (D.C. Sup. Ct. June 11, 2020).
• Obtaining a preliminary injunction prohibiting the FDA from treating an e-cigarette distributor’s products as unauthorized drugs or medical devices. Smoking Everywhere, Inc. v. U.S. Food & Drug Administration, 680 F. Supp. 2d 62 (D.D.C. 2010).
• Mounting a successful dormant Commerce Clause challenge on behalf of e-liquid manufacturer to Indiana’s legislation governing the manufacture of e-liquids. GoodCat, LLC v. Cook, 202 F. Supp. 3d 896 (S.D. Ind. 2016), aff’d, 678 Fed. App;x 418 (7th Cir. 2017).
• Obtaining a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against New York’s emergency flavor ban on the ground that the ban violated the New York constitution’s separation of powers. In re Vapor Technology Ass’n v. Cuomo, 118 N.Y.S.3d 397 (Albany S. Ct. 2019).
• Serving as regulatory and litigation counsel to a major industry trade association.
• Counseling foreign and domestic ENDS device and e-liquid manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers on Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT Act) regulatory compliance issues.
• Representing importers and distributors in Section 337 patent infringement and other unfair trade practices investigations before the International Trade Commission brought by major ENDS device manufacturers.
• Counseling manufacturers on the preparation of premarket tobacco applications (PMTAs) and on marketing and distribution issues, including marketing plans, post-market surveillance plans, and distribution agreements.
• Representing clients in California Proposition 65 litigation and public nuisance litigation.
• Representing clients in investigations and litigation brought by state attorneys general, local governments, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Food and Drug Administration.

Financial Services Industry

• Representing and advising the independent trustees of a closed-end investment fund with respect to the alleged theft of millions of dollars of fund assets by the fund’s former president and investment manager.
• Representing a foreign group captive insurance company in a series of federal and state court cases seeking to collect on multimillion-dollar promissory notes and defend against a series of contractual and business tort claims, including fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, securities violations and allegations of the unlawful transaction of insurance in various states.
• Conducting an independent investigation of claims of alleged breaches of fiduciary duty by the directors of a major national bank.
• Winning a jury verdict in federal court against several offshore companies associated with a Venezuelan national for breach of an investment banking agreement relating to the funding of a resort hotel in Aruba. Bazarian Int’l Fin. Assocs., LLC v. Desarrollos Hotelco, C.A., 342 F. Supp. 3d 1 (D.D.C. 2018).

Trademark and Copyright Litigation

• Representing a professional photographer in a lawsuit against a film company and the federal government resulting from the unauthorized use of photographs in a nationally televised film in violation of the photographer’s copyright and license agreement.
• Prosecuting trademark infringement claims against distributors of electronic cigarettes.
• Defending foreign manufacturers and U.S.-based distributors of popular electronic cigarette products against trademark infringement and unfair competition claims in federal district court and the Federal Circuit.
• Representing an electronic cigarette distributor against trademark infringement and unfair competition claims brought by a major tobacco company in federal court.
• Advising electronic cigarette companies regarding potential trademark litigation against infringers of their marks.

Employment/Noncompetition-Related Disputes

• Obtaining a jury verdict in the amount of a full year’s salary for a breach of fiduciary duty claim against the former vice president of business development for a government contractor who established a competing company while still employed.
• Defending two former equity partners of a major law firm in an arbitration against claims for breach of a partnership agreement and breach of fiduciary duty as a result of their withdrawal from the firm.
• Representing a publicly held staffing company in litigation against a former district manager who set up a competing staffing company; obtained a favorable settlement and ultimate determination of non-dischargeability of the debt from the bankruptcy court when the former employee failed to pay the settlement amount. Also represented another national staffing company as successor in interest to the publicly held staffing company in follow-on litigation against the same individual; obtained a favorable verdict in a bench trial in state court against the individual, including an award of punitive damages and a finding of contempt for breaches of a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
• Representing a United States Secret Service agent against allegations of misconduct and disciplinary action before the Merit Systems Protection Board.
• Representing a federal government attorney against allegations of misconduct and ethical violations before the Merit Systems Protection Board.