DALLAS—(September 18, 2012) –Scott Summy, shareholder at the law firm of Baron and Budd, has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2013 in the area of Mass Tort Litigation/Class Action for Plaintiffs. Summy heads the firm’s water contamination litigation section and has been named to the prestigious peer review publication every year since 2006.

“I am very honored to be recognized by my fellow attorneys in this prestigious publication,” said Summy. “Baron and Budd has always been dedicated to protecting people against corporate negligence, and I am proud to continue that tradition.”

Best Lawyers is one of the oldest and most respected peer review publications in the legal profession. Each year, Best Lawyers compiles lists of the nation’s most prominent lawyers by conducting confidential and exhaustive peer surveys of leading lawyers throughout the country. 

Under Summy’s leadership, Baron and Budd’s water contamination practice has grown into one of the most recognized in the nation. Summy serves on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the litigation against BP for the 2010 Gulf oil spill. The PSC procured a historic settlement on behalf of numerous individuals and business owners who were harmed by the oil spill. Earlier this year, Summy negotiated a preliminary settlement in national atrazine litigation, the first of its kind in the country, that would provide $105 million to hundreds of public water providers struggling with atrazine contamination in their source water.

In 2008, Summy helped negotiate the first multi-jurisdictional MTBE groundwater contamination settlement in the U.S. Working on behalf of more than 150 plaintiff public water systems in 17 states, he served on the leadership committee that negotiated a $420 million settlement that would provide much-needed funds to clean up contaminated water. Baron and Budd was nominated for the prestigious “Trial Lawyer of the Year” Award from the Public Justice Foundation in 2009 for their work in this case.

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DALLAS –(October 2, 2012) – The national law firm of Baron and Budd was selected to the National Law Journal’s prestigious Plaintiffs’ “Hot List" for the eighth time since the list was established ten years ago. Each year, the National Law Journal requests nominations and completes an exhaustive analysis before selecting law firms for this legendary highly regarded honor. The annual list recognizes plaintiffs’ firms that have done exemplary, cutting-edge work representing people or entities harmed by corporate misconduct. Baron and Budd was one of only 19 firms selected for inclusion this year.

In yesterday’s announcement, the National Law Journal noted the breadth of Baron and Budd’s work, stating "the limelight for Baron and Budd stretched across industries during the past year — including a deepening of the firm’s role in financial-sector class actions." The announcement also highlighted two of Baron and Budd’s most significant and recent cases: the precedent-setting settlement in the BP oil spill litigation and a consumer class action against JP Morgan Chase & Co. Baron and Budd shareholder Scott Summy served on the BP oil spill’s steering committee that reached a $7.8 billion settlement with BP PLC in March 2012 and the firm sat on the plaintiffs’ executive committee in the Chase overdraft litigation, resulting in a preliminarily approved nationwide settlement of $110 million.

"I am so proud to be selected for such a distinguished honor," said Russell Budd, president and managing shareholder of Baron and Budd. "As a law firm dedicated to protecting the rights of anyone who has been harmed, it’s very rewarding to be recognized for our willingness to take on new and meaningful litigation on behalf of consumers who have been taken advantage of in so many ways.”

Baron and Budd remains at the forefront of litigation on a national scale. The firm continues to actively represent businesses and individuals harmed by the BP oil spill and consumers harmed by a number of banking fraud issues as well as maintaining its cornerstone practice representing victims of asbestos exposure.

The law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C., with offices in Dallas, Baton Rouge, Austin and Los Angeles, is a nationally recognized law firm with over 30-years of "Protecting What’s Right" for people, communities and businesses harmed by negligence. Baron & Budd’s size and resources enable the firm to take on large and complex cases. The firm represents individuals, governmental and business entities in areas as diverse as water contamination, Gulf oil spill, Qui Tam, California Proposition 65 violations, unsafe drugs and medical devices, Chinese drywall, deceptive advertising, consumer financial fraud, securities fraud and asbestos cancers such as mesothelioma. http://baronandbudd.com

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DALLAS –(September 11, 2012) –Allen Vaught, Baron and Budd attorney and head of the firm’s overtime violations litigation section, has been selected as this week’s “Litigator of the Week” by legal publication Texas Lawyer for his victory in an overtime wage violations lawsuit. In the case, Vaught represented a group of mechanics that were misclassified as independent contractors by their employer to avoid paying all overtime wages required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under this law, the mechanics should have been classified as employees, and therefore should have been paid overtime wages for the preceding three-year period. Co-counsel, Ed Sullivan, of the law firm of Oberti Sullivan, also represented the mechanics in the case.

“I am honored to have been selected as ‘Litigator of the Week’ by Texas Lawyer,” said Allen Vaught. “I am glad these guys got their day in court and were able to recover the wages they are owed by law. Most employees don’t understand the legal difference between employees and independent contractors, which can have a serious impact on a worker’s pay.”

The mechanics, called “independent contractors” by their employer, were generally paid a flat salary for their work on a weekly basis. Even though the mechanics generally worked 60 hours a week, they were not paid overtime wages. But under the FLSA definitions, the mechanics should have been labeled as employees of the company instead of independent contractors. Under the law, the right to overtime pay cannot be waived by an agreement between an employer and an employee. Based on these legal principles, a judge and jury ruled that these mechanics are allowed to obtain their unpaid back wages plus a penalty, known as liquidated damages, for their employer’s violation of overtime wage laws.

According to the FLSA, independent contractors are, essentially, in business for themselves and do not solely rely on a single business entity for their income and, therefore, are exempt from overtime wage laws. However, many workers are not familiar with the specifics of the FLSA and are unaware of the law’s definitions of an employee compared to an independent contractor.  In addition, many workers do not know that they cannot waive their right to overtime pay by agreeing to be called an independent contractor.  What matters is a worker’s actual responsibilities, not what the employer calls the worker. 

If you suspect that you, a friend or family member may have been misclassified as an independent contractor instead of an employee and were not paid all overtime wages required by law, then please contact attorney Allen Vaught at 1.866.495.1255 or via email at avaught@baronbudd.com. Your initial consultation is free of charge and confidential.

Learn more about overtime pay violations, misclassification of employees, the FLSA and your rights in the workplace at http://baronandbudd.com/areas-of-practice/overtime-violations/.

The law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C., with offices in Dallas, Baton Rouge, Austin and Los Angeles, is a nationally recognized law firm with a 30-year history of "Protecting What’s Right" for people, communities and businesses harmed by negligence. Baron & Budd’s size and resources enable the firm to take on large and complex cases. The firm represents individuals, governmental and business entities in areas as diverse as water contamination, Gulf oil spill, Qui Tam, California Proposition 65 violations, unsafe drugs and medical devices, Chinese drywall, deceptive advertising, consumer financial fraud, securities fraud and asbestos cancers such as mesothelioma. http://baronandbudd.com

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