Practices

John R. Munich

Partner

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St. Louis, MO 63105

Recognitions Articles/Presentations overview

John co-chairs the firm's Commercial Litigation Division. He represents clients in a variety of litigation matters, including complex business and commercial trials and appeals, constitutional law cases and internal and regulatory investigations. John has successfully represented clients in numerous trials and appeals in state and federal courts around the country, including the United States Supreme Court. Before joining Stinson, John was a partner with an AmLaw 100 firm.

John served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia (1991-93), where he defended the United States and its agencies in complex constitutional and government contracts cases and prosecuted civil health fraud matters. As Chief of Litigation, and later Deputy Attorney General for the State of Missouri, John supervised all of the state's civil litigation and helped create and supervised Missouri's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Office of the Attorney General (1993-99).

Representative Experience

Some of John’s representative litigation matters include:

Successfully defending client in breach of contract/preliminary injunction proceedings (Pinnacle Entertainment v. Land Clearance and Redevelopment Auth. of St. Louis (E.D. Mo.))
Successfully defeating class certification motion in a suit challenging the practices of the Nebraska State Bar Association. (Lautenbaugh v. Nebraska State Bar Association (D.Neb.))
Successfully arguing before the United States Supreme Court for the State of Missouri in Missouri v. Jenkins, 515 U.S. 70 (1995), one of the leading Supreme Court school desegregation cases in recent years in which the state's victory represented an immediate savings to the state of over $90 million per year. The Petition for Certiorari and Certiorari Reply Brief filed by John in Jenkins won the Best Brief Award in 1995, given annually by the National Association for Attorneys General for the best written advocacy by a state attorney before the United States Supreme Court.
Defending a national financial services company in a lawsuit challenging certain lending practices and commercial loan transactions. (This case was resolved on terms favorable to the firm's client.)
Defending a large, Midwestern bank in a lawsuit arising out of a failed $65 million credit facility. (The matter was settled on terms favorable to the bank following a motion for summary judgment.)
Representing a large, multinational company and one of its top executives in TRO proceedings arising out of the company's hiring of the executive. (The matter was resolved favorably for the firm's client.)
Representing a national financial services company in a breach of contract action against an international bank. (The case was settled on terms favorable to the firm's client.)
Representing a national retailer in general litigation relating to the company's retail stores.
Successfully negotiating the dismissal of regulatory claims brought by a state attorney general concerning a leading telecommunications company's telemarketing operations.
Successfully representing one of the nation’s leading security services firms in a commercial arbitration. John’s client prevailed on all of its claims, all but one minor portion of the counterclaims asserted against it and recovered its attorneys' fees.
Successfully defending the Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan in the trial and appellate courts in a Voting Rights Act challenge to Missouri's judicial selection process.
Successfully trying Davis v. State of South Dakota, a multi-week trial of a school funding lawsuit in Hughes County, South Dakota Circuit Court. The trial court entered judgment for John's client on all counts of the complaint.
Successfully trying Committee for Education Equality, et al. v. State of Missouri, a school funding lawsuit in Cole County, Mo., Circuit Court, described as “one of the largest and most complex trials” in Missouri’s history.
Winning the release of a leading telecommunications firm from lawsuits brought by municipalities attempting to extend their gross receipts taxes to cellular telephone calls.
Successfully prosecuting a civil RICO claim against a large number of legal and health care professionals relating to the submission of fraudulent workers compensation claims. A settlement on the eve of trial of those claims resulted in multi-million dollar payments to John’s client. State of Missouri v. Roussin, et al, 66 F.3d 332 (8th Cir. 1995) (decided without opinion).
Prosecution of civil health fraud claims in United States v. Krizek, 895 F. Supp. 5 (D.D.C. 1994), one of the leading cases on the False Claims Act’s standards for liability, damages and penalties.
For the State of Michigan, successfully trying a school finance/desegregation case involving the Benton Harbor, Mich., school district. Following a four-week trial, the court ordered the state's release.

In addition to these matters, John has represented numerous other clients in complex trials, appeals and investigations around the nation. Other representative clients include, two leading financial services companies (regulatory investigations), a Fortune 500 metal products company (commercial dispute), a leading international software company (grand jury investigation), a multinational energy services company (government investigation), numerous health care providers (government investigations), a national financial services company (licensure, constitutional and statutory claims) and the St. Louis Public Schools Special Administrative Board (constitutional and statutory claim).

Education

St. Louis University, J.D., cum laude, 1981

St. Louis University, A.B., summa cum laude, Political Science, 1978

Of Note

John was Editor in Chief of the St. Louis University Law Journal. Upon graduation, he served as law clerk to the Honorable Edward L. Filippine, former Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. John is a Faculty Member for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.

Community Involvement

Co-Chair, "Starry Starry Night," Great Circle Fall Fundraising Event (2011-2012)
Edgewood Children's Center, Board Member (2008-Present)
Moto Museum Advisory Board (2009)
Leadership St. Louis (2000-2001)

Bar Admissions

Missouri, 1981
District of Columbia, 1984
Georgia, 2005 (inactive)

Professional Affiliations

American Bar Association
Missouri Bar Association
Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis

Articles

"Personal Jurisdiction May Be One Click Away: Navigating the Stream of Commerce in the Internet Age," Association of Corporate Counsel, St. Louis Chapter Newsletter (March 2012)
“Achieving Diversity Without Race,” District Administration (September 2007)
"The Gruttle-Gratz Split Doubleheader: The Use of Student Race in School Admission, Attendance and Transfer Policies at the K-12 Level," 50 Years After Brown: What Has Been Accomplished and What Remains to Be Done, Presented at Kennedy School of Government Conference at Harvard University (April 2004), with Andrew Broy
"Crossing the Line Into Fraud," The National Law Journal, Vol. 24, No. 35, B15 (May 6, 2002)
"Diversity in School Admissions and Assignments: Finding the Next Piece of the Puzzle," 33 Updating School Board Poilcies 1 (National School Boards Association 2002), with Leighton Moore
"When Neglect Becomes Fraud: Quality of Care and False Claims," 43 St. Louis U.L.J. 27 (1999), with Elizabeth W. Lane
"The Medicaid Anti-Fraud Amendments of 1994: The Attorney General's Newest Weapon in the Fight Against White Collar Crime," 52 J. Mo. B. 27 (1996)
"One Vehicle's Baggage: Missouri v. Jenkins, A New Chapter in School Desegregation," 15 St. Louis U. Pub.L.Rev. 23 (1995) with Norman Siegel

Presentations

"When is Falling Down on the Job a Crime?", St. Louis University School of Law, 24th Annual Health Law Symposium (March 2012, St. Louis, Missouri>
"Judicial Control of School Funding: Has the Tide Turned in Education Adequacy Litigation?", 13th Annual Education Law Conference (July 2006, Portland, Maine)
"School Funding: How are States Dealing with Equity and Adequacy Education Lawsuits?", Council of State Governments' Spring National Committee Meeting (June 2005, Squaw Valley, Calif.)
"No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: High Standards, High-Stakes Testing and Education Adequacy Litigation," Education Law Conference (July 2004, University of Southern Maine - Portland, Maine)
"Making the Grade: School Readiness, Childhood Education and No Child Left Behind," National Conference of State Legislatures 2004 Annual Meeting (July 2004, Salt Lake City, Utah)
"High Stakes Testing: The Next Wave of Education Finance Litigation," 10th Annual Education Law Conference (July 2003, University of New England, Department of Education)
"Long Term Care and the Law" Conference, American Health Lawyers Association (January 1999, Austin, Texas)
"Medical Necessity: Fraud, False Claims and Managed Care" Symposium, St. Louis University School of Law, Center for Health Care Studies (April 1998, St. Louis, Mo.)

John is a frequent speaker and author on topics related to education adequacy lawsuits and their effects on state budgets, school funding, the relationship between educational output and school funding, accreditation requirements and federal mandates, the No Child Left Behind Act and its implications on state education funding schemes, charters and school choices, and other issues. In addition to the above-listed speaking engagements, he has also made presentations at the National Taxpayers Conference, the National Association of Attorneys General, the Virginia Commonwealth Education Law Conference, and the Annual Education Law Conference.