Paul S. Samson

Senior Partner / Litigation

Boston and New York Offices

617-880-3555

617-692-3555 fax

psamson@riemerlaw.com

Paul is the firm's senior trial attorney and is responsible for handling complex commercial litigation, arbitration, and appeals. He is involved in disputes dealing with finance, lender liability claims, environmental issues, real estate, and construction, as well as UCC litigation and other complex commercial issues. He is particularly experienced in representation of secured lenders and in commercial damage issues, including real estate valuation, business valuation, lost profits, and consequential damages.

Paul has successfully litigated complex financial issues, securities fraud claims, and fraudulent conveyance claims, often representing financial institutions. He has also successfully handled matters involving financial fraud, defalcation, and the determination of the solvency of individuals, privately held businesses, and public corporations, including solvency issues in the context of corporate acquisitions and leveraged buyouts.

Paul has extensive experience in the Massachusetts trial and appellate courts, in the Federal District Court for Massachusetts and in the bankruptcy courts in Massachusetts, Delaware, and New York. He also has appeared in state, federal, or bankruptcy courts in California, Delaware, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Texas, Vermont, and Maine, and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First and Third Circuits.

Representative Cases

• Represented a partially secured lender with a $1.3 billion student loan portfolio in obtaining an excellent result in the United States Bankruptcy Court, District of Massachusetts, in a complex reorganization of a student loan originator and guarantor
• Lead Bankruptcy counsel for a syndicate of lenders with a $1.5 billion secured claim, in the matter of In re General Growth Properties, Inc., United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, including the successful restructuring of the lenders' portfolio
• Represented a bank/lender in the New York Supreme Court, Commercial Division, in the successful defense of a lender liability claim regarding a substantial residential real estate condominium project.
• Lead trial counsel, in U.S. District Court, Delaware, in the successful defense of a syndicate of lenders against a $153 million claim brought in a pending bankruptcy proceeding by holders of publicly traded bonds, who claimed that the lenders had breached a negative pledge clause in the Trust Indenture for the bonds. Judgment was rendered in favor of the lenders after a trial on the merits. Also acted as Appellate counsel before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals which affirmed the Trial Court in an unpublished decision
• Lead trial counsel, in U.S. District Court, Delaware for a syndicate of lenders, successfully obtaining summary judgment in favor of the lenders, on a $127 million claim brought by a creditors' committee on behalf of creditors on an "LBO" fraudulent conveyance theory
• Represented a bank/lender, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, obtaining dismissal of a fraudulent conveyance claim based on a "collapsing" theory
• Lead trial counsel for the plaintiff-landowner in a hazardous waste contamination case involving claims of property damage and the rescission of LBO financing, which was favorably settled after discovery
• Appellate counsel for a financial institution before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court which reversed a lender liability jury verdict that had been entered against the client in the trial court
• Lead trial counsel in a five-week jury trial in which the plaintiffs were awarded nearly $16 million in response costs, property damage, and consequential damages from the defendants’ contamination of industrial facilities.
• Retained after trial as appellate counsel in a securities fraud action in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed a jury verdict against his clients. The matter was favorably settled following remand
• Trial counsel in a four-week jury-waived matter on behalf of a national bank over the terms of a legal opinion letter and personal guaranties
• Represented a public corporation created by the state of Rhode Island in numerous litigation matters and bankruptcy proceedings throughout New England relating to the state’s credit union crisis

Cases Of Interest

• Hechinger Liquidation Trust v. Bank Boston Retail Finance, Inc. (In re: Hechinger, Inv. Co.), 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 15733 (3^d Cir., July 29, 2005).
• Liquidation Trust of Hechinger Inv. Co. of Del., Inc. v. Fleet Retail Finance Group (In re: Hechinger Inv. Co. of Del., Inc.), 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14386 (July 19, 2005).
• Charles River Construction Co., Inc., et al. v. Kirksey, et al., 20 Mass. App. Ct. 333 (1985).
• Rhode Island Hospital Trust National Bank v. Varadian, et al., 419 Mass. 841 (1995)
• Dinco, et al. v. Dylex Limited, et al., 111 F. 3d 964 (1st Cir. 1997)
• Arthur Kanavos, et al., Trustees of The I. Fred DiCenso Trust v. Bayer Corporation, et al., (Middlesex Superior Court, Civil Action No. 96-7323) (see Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, “Wilmington Landowner Obtains Pollution Verdict,” Jan. 8, 2001)
• Official Comm. Of Unsecured Creditors v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (In re Fabrikant & Sons, Inc), 394 B.R. 721 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2008) (allowing motion to dismiss in lender liability, "collapsing" case)
• Buchwald Capital Advisors LLC v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (In re Fabrikant & Sons, Inc.) 2009 Bankr. LEXIS 3606, November 10, 2009 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2009) (allowing motion to dismiss second amended complaint)
• Buchwald Capital Advisors LLC v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (In re Fabrikant & Sons, Inc.), United States Bankruptcy Court for S.D.N.Y., Adv. Pro. No. 07-2780, January 25, 2011 decision (allowing motion to dismiss third amended complaint, with prejudice).

Affiliations
American Bar Association
Massachusetts Bar Association
New York State Bar Association

Admissions
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1975
U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, 1976
U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, 1990
U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, 2004
State of New York, 2009
U. S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 2009
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 2011

Education
Boston University Law School, J.D., cum laude, 1975
University of Wisconsin, B.A., 1972