Sarah Riley Howard

Experience

• Serves as counsel for manufacturing client defending MIOSHA willful citations on administrative appeal, wrongful death action, and referral to Attorney General's criminal division arising out of plant fatality
• Served as counsel for bank in federal receivership and putative class action litigation arising out of failure of viatical firm with portfolio in excess of $200 million. Successfully defeated class action status, and subsequently defended 1,300 individual suits in federal multidistrict litigation and Michigan state court. Defended complex securities law and breach of fiduciary duty claims under the laws of several states. Negotiated eventual favorable omnibus settlement. In re Trade Partners, Inc., 1:07-MD-01846 (W.D. Mich.); Quilling v. Trade Partners, Inc., 1:03-CV-236 (W.D. Mich.); and related mass action in Kent County Circuit Court
• Argued at the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits, and appeared in the Fourth Circuit and Federal Tax Court. Successfully argued an appeal in a court-appointed prisoner civil rights case, obtaining a reversal of the trial court decision that it lacked personal jurisdiction. Howard v. Whitbeck, 382 F.3d 633 (6th Cir. 2004)
• Filed two petitions for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court
• Handled more than 20 matters in Michigan appellate courts. Successes include several wins without oral argument, grants of requests for interlocutory relief, and an oral argument in the Michigan Court of Appeals resulting a rare, partial reversal of a trial court denial of a motion for attorney fees. Day v. HME, Inc., No. 269446, 2007 WL 3120942 (Mich. Ct. App. Oct. 25, 2007)
• Enjoyed victories in the Michigan Supreme Court in both applications for and against leave to appeal, and in merits briefing, including:
  • Wrote an amicus brief for the Michigan Supreme Court, urging acceptance of an application for leave to appeal to reverse the Court of Appeals. The Michigan Supreme Court granted the application, and reversed the Court of Appeals. Morales v. Auto-Owners Ins. Co., 469 Mich. 487 (2003).
  • Wrote an application for leave that the Michigan Supreme Court granted, where it summarily vacated and remanded to the Court of Appeals. Cordova Chemical Co. of Michigan, et al. v. Cranford Ins. Co., Docket No. 125531, Order Vacating Court of Appeals Opinion and Remanding (June 30, 2004)
• Represented clients in defending various white collar criminal charges, including environmental and regulatory offenses, and in pre-charge negotiations with the United States Attorney’s Office and state prosecutors. Conducted internal investigations
• Counseled newspaper clients and others with First Amendment, libel and slander concerns, relying on experience as a college newspaper editor of The Western Herald, which had a circulation of more than 20,000 and published four times weekly