Jennifer Quinn-Barabanov

Energy

• Obtained a $171.6 million judgment after a four-week bench trial for the operator of crude-by-rail transloading facility pursuing fraudulent transfer claims arising from breach of a take-or-pay contract. Recognized as a Runner-Up for The AmLaw Litigation Daily Litigator of the Week for this result. Prior to trial, obtained summary judgment on counterclaims alleging that various facility defects impeded performance.
• Won summary judgment in favor of a pipeline company against claims alleging that in-line blending of butane into gasoline degraded product quality in violation of the Carmack Amendment. Court entered a declaratory judgment in favor of the pipeline holding that its blending practices were permitted by its federally approved tariff and dismissed all of plaintiff's claims based on the filed rate doctrine. George E. Warren LLC v. Colonial Pipeline Co., 503 F. Supp. 3d 239 (D. N.J. 2020), aff’d 50 F.4th 391 (3d Cir. 2022).
• Won summary judgment on antitrust monopoly and unfair competition claims alleging that public utility engaged in anti-competitive conduct by, among other things, restricting interconnection access and engaging in predatory pricing. Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC v. NTE Carolinas II, LLC, 608 F. Supp. 3d 298 (W.D.N.C. 2022).
• Represented utility in an Administrative Procedure Act challenge to changes adopted by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in its “Seasonal Adjusted Capacity Order,” which approved a seasonal construct for capacity markets and a new methodology and rules for accrediting generation resources in an effort to improve system reliability.
• Represent a utility in connection with the commercial aspects of suspending operation of a 200 MW cogeneration facility, including dissolution of the partnership that owns the resource and disputes related to termination of related offtake agreements.
• Represented a major utility in a series of disputes with a qualifying facility alleging violations of the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA), breaches of contract and violations of the duty of good faith and fair dealing. In the most recent dispute, obtained a favorable, precedent-setting ruling holding that the primary jurisdiction stay entered by the district court at the utility’s request to permit ruling by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was consistent with PURPA. Occidental Chemical Corp. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission, 810 F.3d 299 (5th 2016). This ruling eliminated potential disruption to the utility’s operations in a regional transmission organization.
• Won the largest US Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division investigation in the electric power industry in the last 10 years. After more than two years of investigation and review of millions of documents, the DOJ readied to bring a landmark monopolization case challenging our client utility's generation procurement and transmission planning practices, and threatening divestiture. While preparing for litigation, successfully convinced the DOJ to issue a "no action" determination, permitting the proposed acquisitions to proceed.

Class Action

• Obtained dismissal of a multi-district litigation encompassing more than a dozen antitrust actions brought by putative classes of students and off-campus booksellers alleging an unlawful conspiracy among publishers and on-campus bookstore operators to fix prices and eliminate competition in the market for higher education course materials. In Re Inclusive Access Course Materials Litig., 2021 WL 2419528 (S.D.N.Y.).
• Represent educational technology company in proposed class action alleging that use of the Meta pixel web tracking technology caused violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act.
• Obtained dismissal of two putative class actions arising from a data breach based on lack of Article III standing.
• Successfully defended multiple companies against putative class actions alleging violations of Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
• Successfully defeated class certification of claims brought against a major petrochemical company by more than 450 property owners claiming that the detection of termiticide chemicals in potable wells and soil diminished their property values. The denial of class certification followed several other favorable rulings, including dismissal of claims asserted under Florida's Water Quality Assurance Act, denial of plaintiffs' motion to pursue punitive damages, and plaintiffs' voluntary dismissal of their medical monitoring claims.
• Represented the Chief Executive Officer of a leading data analytics company in connection with an audit committee investigation of accounting practices and subsequent series of securities class actions and shareholder derivative suits.

• "The Future of Privacy Litigation and Government Enforcement," The Center for American and International Law, October 29, 2024

• "Are You Collecting Biometric Data? An update on state laws, litigation, and FTC enforcement," myLawCLE, June 18, 2024

• "CA Session - The Rise of Mass Arbitration & Class Actions," Epiq's Mass & Class, March 6, 2024

• "The Alphabet Soup of Privacy Claims in Litigation and Mass Arbitration: BIPA, VPPA and CIPA," Restaurant Law Center, August 31, 2023
• "Biometric Roadblocks in the Transportation Industry," Association of Transportation Law Professionals, June 25, 2023

• "The Future of Privacy Class Action Suits," Women, Influence & Power In Law, October 18, 2019

• "Environmental Class Actions in the United States," National Conference on Class Actions - Recent Developments in Québec, in Canada and in the US," March 2019

• "Pipeline Accidents: Civil Litigation," Lawline webcast, November 15, 2018

• "An Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove: Collective Redress in Europe," DRI's Hot Topics in International Dispute Resolution 2018, June 13, 2018

• "Class Actions: Latest Developments in Law and Practice," DRI's 2017 Class Actions Seminar, Washington, DC, July 12, 2017

• "Can Plaintiffs Force an Appeals Court to Reconsider a Class Certification Denial by Voluntarily Dismissing Their Claim with Prejudice? Examining the Potential Implications of the Supreme Court Decision in Microsoft v. Baker," ACI's 2nd Cross-Industry Interdisciplinary Summit on Defending and Managing Class Actions, April 3, 2017

• "Leveraging Daubert Motions in Class Certification: Using or Challenging Expert Testimony Amid Divergent Court Standards," Strafford Publications, February 16, 2017

• "Slack Fill Packaging Claims - Empty Threats or Full of Danger," DRI's Product Liability Conference, Las Vegas, NV, February 9, 2017

• "The War on the Corps," AAR, October 25, 2016

• "Class Actions: Latest Developments in Law and Practice," DRI's 2016 Class Actions Seminar, Washington, DC, July 21, 2016

• "Class Actions & The US Supreme Court's 2015-2016 Term," DRI's 2016 Product Liability Conference, New Orleans, LA, February 4, 2016

• "Practical Approaches to Defending Class Actions," DRI's Class Action Conference, July 23, 2015

• "Media Crush and Ethics," Mass Torts Judicial Forum with Hon. Marina Corodemus, April 17, 2015

• The AmLaw Litigation Daily Litigator of the Week Runner-Up based on obtaining a $171.6 million judgment after a four-week bench trial (June 28, 2024)
• Super Lawyers, Washington, DC, Class Action; Defense: Energy and Natural Resources (2020-2023)
• Best Lawyers in America, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Action: Defendants (2020-2023)
• Legal 500 US, Dispute Resolution: General Commercial Disputes (2019-2020)
• Legal 500 US, Litigation: Product Liability and Mass Tort Defense, Toxic Tort; Energy: Litigation (2015-2016, 2022)
• Burton Award for Achievement in Legal Writing (2012, 2017)
• Past Board Member, Leadership 35, National Women's Law Center
• Young Lawyer of the Year, Bar Association of the District of Columbia (1998)

• Special Counsel, Hon. Andrew M. Cuomo, Secretary, US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

• Chair, Defense Research Institute’s National Class Action Conference (2017)
• Chair, Chemical & Toxic Torts SLG, Defense Research Institute Product Liability Committee (2017)
• Retired Girl Scout Troop Leader
• Co-Chair, Yale University 30th Reunion; Greater DC Advisory Group Member, Yale For Humanity Campaign