Representative Cases
Detailed information on recent cases can be found under the drop down menu sections.
Representative Civil Rights Cases and Other Civil Litigation
From the day I first opened my law office in Montgomery, Alabama my practice has been devoted to advocating for the poor and under-represented in a variety of areas. I have used class actions to try and address systemic problems and I have brought individual actions to seek a remedy for people who otherwise might not have had a chance to hire a lawyer or to fight back and seek redress for an injury they have suffered. The great lawyer, Charles Hamilton Houston once said “A lawyer is either a social engineer or a parasite on society.” I have tried my best to be the former or at least to fulfill an obligation to those who need a lawyer’s help the most.From the time I was a teenager until just a few years ago when he passed away, I had the honor of having a great jurist and historian, the Honorable A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., who served his country as a universally respected member of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as a mentor, guiding me in my academic and professional career. During my clerkship for the Honorable Truman M. Hobbs, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama and one of Alabama’s greatest trial lawyers, this sense of obligation was reinforced and the lessons and skills I learned about being a lawyer were incomparable. Later, the private and personal encouragement and guidance from the Honorable Frank Johnson, one of America’s finest and most courageous federal trial and appellate court judges ever, kept me on this track and helped me to recognize the continuing need for change through litigation.
Some of these cases have been extremely unpopular and on occasion have brought death threats from those who themselves perhaps felt threatened by change or whose racism and bigotry could not let them see the need for change; but the courage of the clients on whose behalf I have brought such cases remained firm and it was through that courage and determination that we were able to succeed.
In more recent years, I have tried to apply this determination and dedication to hard work to other litigation, including products liability and more general commercial litigation and continue to build a practice in those and other areas.
The following are some representative cases in which David Schoen has served as lead counsel, many of which resulted in landmark decisions:
Civil Rights and Commercial Litigation
- Class action striking down Alabama's foster care system as unconstitutional;
- Class action striking down Alabama's system of public education as unconstitutional;
- Class action leading to the establishment of new procedures for indigent pretrial detainees in Alabama;
- Actions striking down Alabama's Ballot Access laws for small parties and independent political candidates;
- Class action establishing new procedures for conditions of confinement in segregation custody in Alabama;
- Class actions establishing new conditions of confinement for inmates at many county jails;
- Actions for damages against various police departments and businesses for excessive force, false arrest, etc.
- Action for injunction against public officials for sponsoring official prayers at public school events;
- Wrongful death actions, including largest award for police shooting/wrongful death case in Alabama;
- Bivens actions and FTCA actions against federal agents for unlawful conduct;
- Fair Housing Act actions against newspapers for discriminatory housing ads;
- Fair Housing Act action for Arab-American professor beaten and intimidated based on his ethnicity;
- Defense of a Jehovah's Witness in action by hospital seeking to force a blood transfusion (right to die case);
- Action challenging institutional good time credit procedure as racially discriminatory;
- Damages action on behalf of criminal defendant wrongly convicted of murder with false evidence;
- Damages action for female inmate subjected to brutal conditions of confinement;
- Damages and injunctive relief action for Muslim inmate leading to establishment of Islamic services;
- Action for liquor store owner striking down zoning ordinance as unconstitutional;
- Defense of Democratic Party of the United States on claim of race discrimination (with Hogan & Hart son);
- Religious discrimination in employment case against E.I. Dupont de Nemours & Co.;
- Action on behalf of Ku Klux Klan striking down anti-masking and other public march prohibitions;
- Defense of a national chain of nursing homes in racial discrimination employment case;
- Defense of trademark infringement cases challenging the secondary market in luxury goods;
- Representation of dual citizen employee of major defense contractor stripped of security clearance;
- Prosecution of FOIA case in 6th Circuit;
- Representation of professional athletes in employment compens ation and endorsements contracts;
- Representation of DC's largest taxicab company against Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority;
- Representation of the Plaintiff in a legal malpractice case against a major Washington law firm.
- Representation of a consortium of alternative energy producers and suppliers in a complex tax case.
Criminal Defense Cases
- Defense of reputed boss of one of New York's so-called five Mafia families in racketeering murder case;
- Defense of man alleged to be most powerful Italian Mafia figure in the world in racketeering murder case;
- Defense of alleged leader of the so-called Russian Mafia in America in narcotics case;
- Defense of alleged leadership of so-called Israeli Mafia in America in narcotics case;
- Defense of alleged member of Latin Kings in racketeering murder/Hobbs Act case;
- Numerous capital murder cases at trial, appellate, and post-conviction levels;
- Provided motions work for defense of 2 alleged narcotics trafficking kingpins;
- Defense of officers and directors of publicly traded company in alleged $200million fraud case;
- Defense of tax and securities prosecution of popular nationally syndicated radio host and author;
- Consulted for defense of securities prosecution of CEO of large publicly traded company;
- Defense of officer of secondary market trading company accused of criminal trademark infringement;
- Post-conviction representation of CEO of securities firm in securities and money-laundering case;
- Post-conviction representation of alleged narcotics trafficker leading to landmark 2nd Cir. decision;
- Post-conviction representation of alleged narcotics trafficker leading to landmark legal ethics decision;
- Co-counsel for appeal of securities conviction for well-known CEO of publicly traded company;
- Co-counsel for appeal of sentence for well-known doctor, leading to a new sentencing doctrine;
- Post-conviction representation establishing maximum sentence after Apprendi in marijuana case;
- Appeal in multi-defendant case establishing new defense in 2nd Cir. of entrapment by estoppel;
- Appeal in 2nd Cir. criminal tax prosecution raising issue of first impression under 21 U .S.C. 7202;
- Appeal for lead defendant in alleged largest heroin distribution in New York;
- Conducted defense investigation in many cases which led to non-prosecution decisions for clients including a Mayor accused of bank fraud and other crimes, a financial consultant with ties to defendants in a major pump and dump scheme; the CEO of a brokerage firm investigated for wire and mail fraud, and an employee of an international pharmaceutical company.
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