Stacy Allen

Career Highlights

• Won a Texas Shield Law motion for a broadcaster including sanctions of $22,757 in attorneys’ fees.
• Dismissal of two Arkansas class actions arising from the alleged depreciation of labor costs by insurance company defendants on standing and limitations grounds, avoiding costly class certification briefing and merits trials.

Litigation

Insurance

• Stacy has obtained Rule 12 dismissals on behalf of insurance company clients in several large federal class actions involving first-party breach of contract and unfair insurance practices claims, including parallel litigation in bankruptcy court to deprive a debtor plaintiff of standing, avoiding millions of dollars in additional attorneys’ fees and costs.
• Stacy has defended major insurers in federal and state consumer class actions in Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas, obtaining favorable results.
• A national reinsurance pool brought a complex fraud and RICO federal action in the Northern District of Illinois against one of its members, alleging over $1 billion in damages resulting from the alleged underreporting of premiums by that member. The alleged underreporting pool member brought third-party claims against the members of the pool’s Board of Governors (including Stacy’s client), alleging breach of fiduciary duty.  After aggressive discovery aimed at exposing the lack of evidence supporting the breach of fiduciary duty claim, Stacy obtained a settlement providing for a dismissal with prejudice of the claim for zero dollars paid.
• In a multimillion dollar arbitration against a leading national managed care insurer, Stacy and a team of Jackson Walker healthcare lawyers worked closely with business-side executives to leverage concurrent contract renewal negotiations, achieving a favorable global resolution of all disputes prior to expensive and time-consuming discovery.
• After damaging cross-examination of hostile witnesses at an administrative hearing, Stacy negotiated a favorable settlement with insurance regulators of statutory claims against an out-of-state third-party administrator before the ruling was issued.

Media and First Amendment

• Stacy defended a periodical publisher in a defamation/tortuous interference action brought by a distributor who alleged he did not get business from the publisher on account of false accusations of theft. Faced with summary judgment after aggressive discovery and motion practice and a highly favorable deposition of Plaintiff which undermined his position,  Plaintiff non-suited the case for zero dollars.
• Stacy has defeated subpoenas directed to broadcasters seeking production of unaired footage and reporter’s notes in motions brought under Texas’ journalist shield law, including obtaining sanctions of $22,757 in attorneys’ fees for discovery abuse.
• Stacy successfully opposed a petition to expunge stories about the petitioner’s arrest record from a broadcaster’s website as an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech.

Intellectual Property

• In defending patent infringement suits involving everything from sophisticated medical devices, software activation, Bluetooth frequency-hopping technology, network security software, iOS applications, and submersible pump transformers used in the oil and gas industry, Stacy has vigorously pursued third-party and informal discovery to unearth damaging evidence useful in asserting counterclaims and obtaining favorable settlements well before trial.
• In defending copyright infringement claims against an internet service provider, Stacy developed evidence supporting DMCA defenses and counterclaims for fraud that forced a settlement below the amount previously offered by his client and prior to costly trial preparation.

Other High-Profile Litigation

• Stacy authored a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief in Standard Fire Ins. v. Knowles which played an important role in obtaining a unanimous decision reversing a lower court ruling permitting class action plaintiffs to defeat CAFA removal by stipulating to cap the recovery of the putative class at less than $5 million.
• By aggressively challenging a medical association’s standing to sue a managed care company under a state unfair trade practices statute, Stacy obtained an early dismissal upheld by the Connecticut Supreme Court, avoiding massive and costly discovery.
• Stacy headed a team of lawyers that were the first to ever place a commercial airline into an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Non-Litigation

• Stacy routinely provides prepublication review and other risk-avoidance counseling to television broadcasters and other news organizations.
• Stacy has spoken and written extensively about the right of publicity, defamation, privacy, open access and other issues of interest to news organizations and entertainment and video game companies, and routinely testifies before the Texas legislature on behalf of the Texas Association of Broadcasters.
• Stacy has successfully represented insurance companies before state insurance regulators in evidentiary hearings on applications for approval of mergers and acquisitions of other licensed insurance entities.

• The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White Inc.), Commercial Litigation, 2022-2023
• Fundraising Volunteer of the Year, American Red Cross of Central Texas, 2009

Publications

• “Will Supporters of Press Freedoms and Government Transparency Face Headwinds in the 2023 Texas Legislative Session?” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (October 2022)
• Texas Association of Broadcasters Newsroom Legal Guide (2012; Updated 2022)
• “The 2021 Legislative Session: Texas Broadcasters Taking Victories Where They Can Find Them,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (August 2021)
• “U.S. Supreme Court Rules High School Cheerleader Cannot Be Disciplined for Criticizing School’s Decision Keeping Her Off Varsity Team,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (June 2021)
• “2019 Legislative Session Marked by Important Victories for Texas Newsrooms,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (September 2019)
• “For Frankie Carbone, Crime Doesn’t Pay,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (March 2018)
• “The 2017 Texas Legislative Session: A Mixed Bag for Texas Newsrooms,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (June 2017)
• “Just the Facts,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (March 2017)
• “‘The Autumn Wind’ and the Right of Publicity,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (June 2016)
• “Newsroom Victories During the 2015 Texas Legislative Session,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (October 2015)
• “The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: Unpopular Celebrities And The Right Of Publicity,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (April 2015)
• “Video Game Makers Strike Out In College Athlete Cases – Coaching Tips For The Virtual World,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (September 2014)
• “Looking Back 50 Years At ‘N.Y. Times v Sullivan’ and the Civil Rights Movement,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (March 2014)
• “2013 Legislative Session a Success for Texas Newsrooms,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (August 2013)
• “Neely v. Wilson and the Third-Party Allegation Rule,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (July 2013)
• “Third Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment In Favor of Video Game Maker In Important Right of Publicity Case,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (May 2013)
• “Right of Publicity: Advantage Athletes,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (February 2013)
• “Will Accurately Reporting the Statements of Others Remain Enough?” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (July 2012)
• “First Amendment v. Right of Publicity: Game On,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (January 2012)
• “The Shield Comes Down for Message Board Posters,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (July 2011)
• “U.S. Supreme Court Decision – Controversial Picketing Signs Protected by First Amendment,” Jackson Walker Alert (March 2011)
• “Monetizing a Virtual Identity,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (January 2011)
• “Roberts v. Kagan and the First Amendment,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (July 2010)
• “Breaking the First Amendment Barrier,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (January 2010)
• “When Losing Is Winning,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (June 2009)
• “Right of Publicity for Business Entities,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (December 2008)
• “Non-Human Persons and the Right of Publicity,” Media Law Resource Center Bulletin 2008 Issue 4 (December 2008)
• “In Defense of Free Expression and Bad Music,” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (May 2008)
• “Will the Proposed Federal Shield Law Provide Journalists With Enough Protection?” Jackson Walker Media VIA ePostcard (October 2007)

Speaking Engagements

• Speaker, “Hot Topics in Video Game Law,” Austin Bar Association – Entertainment & Sports Law Section CLE (March 2015)
• Moderator, “They’re Not Just for Kids: Video Games and the Future of Soft IP Law,” American Bar Association – Intellectual Property Litigation in Texas (February 2015)
• Speaker, “Newsroom Legal Toolbox,” Texas Association of Broadcasters, Webinar (January 2017)
• Speaker, “Newsroom Focus,” Texas Association of Broadcasters, TAB Legislative Day Conference (January 2017)
• Broadcaster Issue Briefings, presented at TAB Legislative Day (Austin, Texas; January 2015)
• Southwest Broadcast Newsroom Workshop Presenter, Texas Association of Broadcasters (September 2014; October 2012)

• American Red Cross of Central Texas
  • Board Chairman, 2010-2012
  • Director, 2007-2014
• Media Law Resource Center, Committee Member, 2013-Present
• Anti-Defamation League, Austin Steering Committee Member, 2016
• Texas Association of Broadcasters (TAB), Newsroom Legislative Committee
• The Copyright Society of the USA (CSUSA) – Austin Chapter, Founder/Chairman, 2014-2015

Stacy is frequently quoted on topics related to media law, open records access, and . Highlights of which include the following:

• Texas Legislation To Watch In Early 2023 – Law360 (2023)
• State lawmaker takes aim at journalists – Weatherford Democrat (2017)
• Fake news phenomenon blurs lines between reality and fiction – KSAT12 TV (2016)
• Accurate news may be at stake with one-party consent ban facing Texas – Watchdog Arena (2015)
• Lawmaker Says Death Penalty in Jeopardy – The Texas Tribune (2015)