Hon. John C. Lifland (Ret.), JAMS Mediator and Arbitrator

Hon. John C. Lifland (Ret.) is highly regarded by counsel for his exceptional ability to handle complex litigation. He is perceived by parties as being well prepared, knowledgeable, courteous, and a consummate professional. Prior to his 19 years of distinguished service in the federal judiciary at the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, he was in private practice for 27 years concentrating on commercial litigation including antitrust, employment, construction, banking, intellectual property, and securities matters.

ADR Experience and Qualifications

Facilitated settlement negotiations involving a full range of issues including:
- Antitrust
- Banking
- Business
- Class action
- Complex commercial
- Employment
- Environmental
- Government agencies
- Health Care
- Insurance
- Intellectual property: patents, copyrights, trademarks, unfair competition, and licensing
- Pharmaceuticals/Mass torts
- Securities
During the last several years while serving on the federal bench, cases presided over were mostly civil with an emphasis on intellectual property matters and included multidistrict litigation
Managed such cases to settlement or judgment, and his decisions included resolving challenges to validity and enforceability of patents on various brand-name drugs by generic drug manufacturers, questions of infringement in such cases and questions of patent validity, infringement, and damages in other varied contexts including consumer products, construction materials, and electronic devices. His work also included evaluating infringement issues in trademark and copyright cases and resolving various issues in securities litigation.

A substantial part of Judge Lifland’s work involves serving alone or with other retired federal or state judges on mock panels organized by clients or law firms to evaluate upcoming trial or appellate presentations, or to evaluate legal or factual positions. Judge Lifland has been advised that these exercises usually provide valuable insights into litigation and settlement positions. The issues discussed include patent, contract, insurance, antitrust, bankruptcy, D & O Liability, corporate governance, toxic tort, advertising and copyright issues. Judge Lifland’s breadth of experience extends to include:

Representative Matters

Admiralty

Presided over admiralty personal injury trials

Antitrust & Competition

Presided over In re Neurontin Antitrust Litigation (multidistrict)

Bankruptcy

Addressed rights of mortgagees in bankruptcy litigation

Civil Rights

Presided over litigation against municipality, addressed rights of developer and municipality; Decided Fair v. Rumsfeld, involving the First Amendment in the military recruiting context which was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States

Employment Law

Presided over numerous trials alleging improper discharge and addressed issues regarding confirmation of arbitration awards, ERISA, and rights of former union-represented employees to lifetime benefits

Environmental Law

Addressed insurance coverage issues, water and air pollution responsibility issues, and penalty issues

Health Care

Cases involving off-label marketing by pharmaceutical companies, nursing home reimbursement under Medicaid, and medical malpractice

Insurance

Wrote opinion resolving automobile coverage issues when sitting by designation on Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Intellectual Property

- Patent litigation: Wrote opinion addressing on-sale bar to patentability when sitting by designation on Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; presided over Pfizer et al. v. Teva Pharms. USA, No. 04-754 (D. N.J. 2007) and In re Gapabentin Patent Litigation (multidistrict)
- Addressed liability of search engine for alleged trademark violations
- Addressed many likelihood of confusion issues in trademark litigations
- Served on panels of retired federal judges at seminars discussing various issues raised by Hatch-Waxman patent litigation
- Served on CPR Patent Task Force
- Participates in programs organized by American Conference Institute and Momentum

International

Served as JAMS neutral Chair of an arbitration panel on a case administered from Paris, France by the ICC
Serving as panelist on an ICDR administered case

Securities

Presided over litigation alleging securities fraud against short sellers, addressed obligations of various parties having differing roles in transactions, such as issuer, accountants, and underwriters

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

Completed Virtual ADR training conducted by the JAMS Institute, the training arm of JAMS
Founding member and active participant, John C. Lifland American Inn of Court (an association dedicated to fostering and developing the practice of intellectual property law and federal litigation)
Sat by designation on the Federal Circuit and wrote opinion addressing on-sale bar to patentability
Judicial Participant, Second National Forum on Presenting and Defending Pharmaceutical and Biotech Patent Litigation, December 2005; Speaker, Federal Circuit Judicial Conference and numerous other professional meetings related to patent and ADR issues, including Practicing Law Institute, New York Intellectual Property Law Association and New Jersey State Bar Association
Member and Chairman, New Jersey Board of Bar Examiners, 1969-1977