For over 20 years, John Scofield has advanced the rights and interests of companies in commercial disputes and represented families whose lives have been devastated as a result of defective products or corporate negligence. After growing up in Houston, Texas, Mr. Scofield graduated from Vanderbilt University, magna cum laude, in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and psychology. He graduated from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1992.
In his initial years of practice, Mr. Scofield successfully defended companies against products liability, personal injury, and commercial claims. In 1997, he began representing families who were rebuilding their lives after catastrophic injuries. Mr. Scofield later expanded his practice to prosecute claims for his clients’ business interests. Mr. Scofield has built a national law practice by working with co-counsel and assisting clients across the United States on a wide range of matters, such as the successful resolution of:
- Representation of the interests of the United States against DaVita, a national dialysis provider, for claims that it over-billed the Medicare system for excessive and improper use of a pharmaceutical product. The litigation led to one of the largest False Claims Act (qui tam) recoveries in which the Department of Justice declined to intervene ($55 million recovery plus confidential attorneys’ fees). The litigation was referenced in a May 2017 episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).
- Numerous products liability cases for catastrophic injuries or commercial losses. The subjects of such litigation have included, for example, automotive products (such as tires, occupant protection systems, and fuel integrity systems), helicopter and airplane components, oil field equipment, commercial irrigation products, and a wide range of consumer products.
- Litigation against the State of Nevada for a trooper’s high-speed driving that caused a multi-fatality accident. The Las Vegas Review Journal noted that the 2008 settlement was “the largest ever made by the state to settle a lawsuit over a negligent action by an employee.”
- Representation of a real estate developer for construction litigation relating to the defective foundation of a condominium tower, including litigation on the builder’s risk insurance claim, litigation with the lead bank of a lending consortium, litigation against the project’s design and soils engineers, and other satellite litigation arising from the failed project.
- Lawsuits arising from 18-wheeler collisions that occurred in Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Texas. In such cases, the commercial truck drivers’ inattention, poor judgment, and/or impaired condition caused devastating personal injuries, which often included multiple fatalities.
Mr. Scofield also has experience in the negotiation of complex corporate transactions. Most notably, he successfully negotiated demolition contracts for a 30-story tower on South Padre Island and, later, its foundation. The negotiations culminated in the world record for the largest demolition of a concrete structure.
Mr. Scofield has also provided pro bono legal services for those who would not otherwise have been able to afford representation. He began providing such services in 1993 by assisting with adoptions for children who had been placed through the foster care system. Also, in class action litigation against FEMA before the Southern District of Texas, Michael Caddell, Cynthia Chapman, and Mr. Scofield obtained a temporary injunction extending emergency housing benefits for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Mr. Scofield is a member of the State Bar of Texas and is licensed to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of Texas and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition to litigating cases across the state of Texas, Mr. Scofield also has represented clients in state and/or federal courts in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, Nevada, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Mr. Scofield has been rated by other lawyers as having attained “the highest level of professional excellence,” based on his rating as “AV Preeminent®” by Martindale-Hubbell. From 2004 to 2007, while his practice was predominantly in Texas, Mr. Scofield was recognized as a “Texas Super Lawyer,” as selected by Law & Politics and Texas Monthly magazine. In 2004, Texas Monthly also recognized him as a “Rising Star” in the legal profession, and he was named a “Lawyer on the Fast Track” by H Texas Magazine. In 2006 and 2007, H Texas Magazine named him one of “Houston’s Top Lawyers for the People.” In 2012, Mr. Scofield was named as one of the “Top-Rated Lawyers in Construction Law,” as recognized by the national organizations of American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell. Mr. Scofield is a past speaker on the “Mediation of Catastrophic Claims” for the Houston Bar Association.
Areas of Practice
- Commercial Litigation
- Products Liability
- Class Actions
Bar Admissions
- Texas
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Education
- Southern Methodist University School of Law
- Juris Doctor, 1992
- Vanderbilt University
- Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, 1989
- Majors: English and Psychology
Honors and Distinctions
- Rated as “AV Preeminent®” by his peers as recognized by Martindale-Hubbell, signifying “the highest level of professional excellence”
- Recognized as one of the “Top-Rated Lawyers in Construction Law” by the national organizations of American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell, 2012
- Recognized as a “Texas Super Lawyer,” as selected by Law & Politics and Texas Monthly magazine, 2004-2007
- Recognized as one of “Houston’s Top Lawyers for the People” by H Texas Magazine, 2006-2007
- Recognized as a “Rising Star” in the legal profession by Texas Monthly magazine, 2004
- Recognized as a “Lawyer on the Fast Track” by H Texas Magazine, 2004