SIMMS SHOWERS LLP Home Lawyers and Staff Offices
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Stephen Simms Principal Baltimore, Maryland Phone: 410.783.5795
Toll Free (North
America): 800.537.6930
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Steve Simms is a principal of the firm. His practice concentrates in complex civil and bankruptcy litigation for both defendants and plaintiffs, businesses and individuals, including maritime and intermodal transportation litigation and casualty claims, intellectual property and computer law, antitrust, directors and officers’ liability, insurance coverage, and civil False Claims Act litigation. Mr. Simms’ practice is international in scope, assisting and advising businesses and individuals on international distribution and export of their products and services. Mr. Simms was selected for the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General's Program for Honor Law Graduates and he served as a Trial Attorney for the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division until he entered private practice.
Complex Civil and Bankruptcy Litigation
Mr. Simms has successfully defended a range of complex insurance coverage disputes, including Keene v. Columbia Casualty, in which the court upheld the insurer’s refusal to extend coverage under $15 million of general liability excess policies. (11 No. 7 Mealy’s Litig. Rep.: Ins. 3, Nov. 27, 1996). His successful defenses in complex business matters also include a $4 million lender and directors' and officers' liability civil racketeering claim and a $5 million suit alleging civil racketeering and legal malpractice after a financial institution collapsed. He also defended successfully the former Chief Financial Officer of Maryland's largest health insurer in a $50 million action brought by that insurer's subscribers.
Closely related is Mr. Simms' practice concentration in complex bankruptcy litigation. Mr. Simms has represented clients in each major United States maritime bankruptcy for the last ten years; presently he is lead counsel for clients whose claims exceed $20 million in the bankruptcies of prominent U.S., Brazilian, and Venezuelan steamship lines. He has also participated in four major international bankruptcies, involving Canadian, United Kingdom, Dutch, Venezuelan, Brazilian bankruptcy proceedings. His reported opinions in bankruptcy include the first to determine the legal standard for post-petition "use and benefit" of marine containers under 11 U.S.C. § 365(d)(10) and the first determining who is an "officer" under 11 U.S.C. § 101(31) for the purpose of recovering preferences under the U.S. bankruptcy laws.
Casualty Defense
He has successfully defended a range of corporations and individuals in connection with personal injury, cargo, and property damage, including one of the tug owners involved in a multi-vessel collision on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and boat owners involved in the death of Francis Ford Coppola’s son on the South River (near Annapolis), and the defense of wrongful death and injury suits brought against a marine surveyor alleging failures to detect defects in a charter fishing boat that capsized in the Chesapeake Bay.
Vessel Arrest Practice
Mr. Simms’ maritime practice also emphasizes the arrest of vessels world wide and has recovered over U.S. $25 million for clients as the result of ship arrest and maritime attachment proceedings in India, Chile, Japan, at the Panama Canal, the Canary Islands, Guam, New Zealand, Israel, Houston, New Orleans, Savannah, Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Baltimore, New Jersey, and New Haven.
Civil False Claims Act ("Qui Tam") Litigation
Mr. Simms is recognized as one of the nation's leading lawyers working in the area of civil False Claims Act litigation. Simms Showers currently represents clients in a significant number of ongoing False Claims Act cases, alleging health care and defense contracting fraud.
Bar Leadership
Mr. Simms served as Chair of the Emerging Issues Committee of the Tort and Insurance Practice Section ("TIPS") of the American Bar Association (one of the leadership committees of TIPS), and the ABA-TIPS Professional, Officers and Directors Liability Law Committee, the Maryland State Bar Association, Section on International Commercial Law, and the Admiralty Committee of the Bar Association of Baltimore City. He serves as Editor of the Maritime Law Reporter, and is a member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States and the Christian Legal Society.
Community Leadership
Mr. Simms is a member of the Maryland Department of Transportation Private Sector Port Committee, lectures for the Maryland World Trade Center Institute, and serves as Elder of Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore.
Publications and Programs
Mr. Simms has written widely on a number of areas, with publications including Evaluating Credit Risks by Effective Maritime Recovery Planning, Dynamar-Journal of Commerce Symposium on Maritime Credit Risk Management, N.Y., N.Y. (1996); Identifying, Bringing, and Winning a False Claims Act Case, 1997 ABA Annual Meeting; Using the False Claims Act for Competitive Advantage, Maryland Bar Journal 28 (Jan.-Feb. 1997); Homeowner’s Insurance, Directors and Officers’ ("D&O") Liability Coverage, Insurance Law: Third Party Coverage in Maryland (Nat’l Business Inst. 1996); Insurance Requirements in AIA Contracts, ABA-TIPS 1996 National Institute on Insurance Coverage for Defective Construction; The Internet: International Civil and Criminal Liability, Maryland Bar Journal 36 (Sept.-Oct. 1996).
Education
He is a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law (Chicago)(J.D., 1983), where he was selected for and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Northwestern Journal of International Law and Business and was selected for its award as Outstanding Editor. He holds an MA in International Studies (with concentrations in International Economics and International Law and Organization) from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (1980), and a BA from The Johns Hopkins University (B.A., International Studies, 1979.
Professional Memberships
Mr. Simms is a member of the bars of the United States Supreme Court, the states of Maryland and Illinois, and of the District of Columbia, the United States Court of International Trade; United States Courts of Appeal for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits; United States District Courts for the District of Maryland (Trial Bar), District of Columbia, Northern District of Illinois, and through special admission has practiced before a range of other courts throughout the United States.