Hon. Fern M. Smith (Ret.) has served as a Federal District Court Judge, settling and adjudicating complex cases involving a wide range of issues. Judge Smith also served as Director of the Federal Judicial Center – the primary training and educational institute for federal judges – where she was one of the primary editors of the MCL 4th (Manual of Complex Litigation). She combines 30 years of distinguished judicial and legal experience with her unique ability to bring about the successful resolution of complex, multi-party matters.
ADR Experience and Qualifications
Judge Smith served as a trainer and facilitator on judicial administration and reform with judges in India, Egypt, Bolivia, Mexico, Tunisia, Israel, Jordan, Greece, Italy, Russia, Morocco, Thailand, China, Turkey, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Bahrain emphasizing commercial dispute resolution and case management procedures. In her 17 years on the Federal Bench, Judge Smith presided over every case type within federal jurisdiction. Representative cases are listed below.
Representative Matters
Judge Smith mediated or arbitrated the following representative matters at JAMS.
- Arbitrated and chaired numerous cases involving Intellectual Property related breaches of contract, royalty, and licensing disputes.
- Arbitrated to a multi-million dollar award a pharmaceutical company breach of contract matter
- Mediated and settled a consumer product class action involving fraudulent advertising
- Successfully mediated a professional liability case regarding alleged accounting malpractice
- Mediated and resolved a long standing will contest involving multiple real estate holdings
- Successfully resolved a dispute over the employment termination of a highly compensated executive
- Mediated and settled a consumer class action involving a consumer technology product
- Successfully mediated a consumer class action related to alleged false advertising by a financial institution
- Mediated and settled a union matter concerning collective bargaining in the transportation industry
- Mediated and resolved an employment dispute involving alleged discrimination in the medical industry
- Successfully settled a copyright infringement claim by an author’s estate against a licensee
- Successfully resolved a contract dispute over the sale of a helicopter
Judge Smith presided over and handled the following representative cases while serving in the federal judiciary.
- Anti-Trust: Heard In re: Citric Acid Litigation involving price fixing allegations against numerous domestic and international companies; Multi-million dollar fines assessed in related criminal cases
- Environmental/Toxic Tort: Interpreted CERCLA in U.S. v. Allied Signal Corp. finding private parties entitled to judicial review of Navy's remediation plan
- Insurance: Adjudicated numerous insurance coverage matters, including first and third party issues. Authored 11th Circuit opinion in State Farm v. Steinberg, clarifying rights to sue under "advertising injury"
- Intellectual Property: Presided over bench trial of Galoob v. Nintendo, involving allegations of copyright infringement, resulting in plaintiff’s judgment of $15 million in damages; Presided over Nintendo v. Atari, a copyright and patent infringement case involving cross-claims of anti-trust and misuse of patents; Conducted Markman hearing in Genentech v. Amgen, construing three pioneer biotech patents
- Labor/Employment: Decided Dillingham v. Sonoma and Assoc. Builders v. Curry; Judgment affirmed by the U.S. Sup. Ct.
- Mass Torts: Specialized in complex product liability litigation ranging from aviation to medical devices to pharmaceuticals
- Securities Class Actions: Decided In re: Silicon Graphics, interpreting Private Securities Reform Litigation Act
- Torts: Presided over court trial alleging government negligence for plane crash into Sun Valley Mall