OVERVIEW
Samantha is an Associate in Hausfeld’s Washington, DC office. She has also spent a few years in Hausfeld’s London office and has litigation experience in the US, England & Wales, the Netherlands, as well as in international courts.
Samantha’s practice centers on complex litigation seeking justice for individuals, businesses, government entities, and groups that have been wronged. Her practice focuses on antitrust and environmental matters, including climate change litigation. Samantha is involved in a broad range of complex antitrust matters, including award-winning litigation such as In re Broiler Chicken Grower Antitrust Litigation, seeking justice for farmers that raise chickens and have been underpaid as a result of an alleged cartel by large poultry producers, and Dutch cases seeking damages for various businesses and municipalities resulting from the trucks cartel in Europe. Samantha has also worked on complex financial antitrust matters, including In re LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation and In re Foreign Exchange Benchmarks Rates Antitrust Litigation. In the field of climate change, Samantha recently represented Fast Action on Climate to Ensure Intergenerational Justice, a youth-led climate program seeking climate justice for the youth, children, and future generations. Samantha represented the program in their amicus brief and oral argument in the climate change advisory proceedings before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Samantha also has experience in privacy and human rights disputes; she played crucial roles in the US litigation following the massive Equifax data breach and in an English judicial review, challenging a personal protective equipment supply contract worth $83 million entered into by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to working at Hausfeld, Samantha worked in the field of international trade law, litigating State disputes at the World Trade Organization and researching issues relating to the complex interplay of international trade and climate change.
Working towards a diverse, equitable, and inclusive world is paramount to Samantha who is an active member of our Women's Alliance working group.
In additional to English, Samantha is fluent in Dutch.
EDUCATION
The George Washington University Law School, J.D., with highest honors, Order of the Coif, 2017
World Trade Institute, Master of International Law and Economics, summa cum laude, 2009
University College Utrecht, B.A., magna cum laude, 2007
BAR ADMISSIONS
District of Columbia
AFFILIATIONS
American Bar Association - Antitrust Section, Member
WHAT OTHERS SAY
American Antitrust Institute
- Outstanding Antitrust Litigation achievement in Private Law Practice in 2023 for In re Broiler Chicken Grower Antitrust Litigation
Global Competition Review
- Litigation of the Year- Cartel Prosecution; an honor she received as part of the pan-European Trucks Cartel litigation case team
Experience
Antitrust/Competition
- In re Foreign Exchange Benchmarks Rates Antitrust Litigation – Represented market participants in the foreign exchange market alleging that international banks have fixed the price of foreign exchange instruments. The litigation has resulted in over $2.3 billion in settlements.
- In re Broiler Chicken Grower Antitrust Litigation – Represents a certified class of broiler chicken farmers (referred to as “Growers”) claim that over twenty of the country’s largest poultry producers, including Tyson, Pilgrim’s, Perdue, Koch Foods, and Sanderson Farms colluded to suppress Grower pay through agreements not to recruit, solicit, or “poach” one another’s Growers and through comprehensive and systematic exchanges of Grower compensation information. Settlements have been reached with Tyson ($21 million), Perdue ($14.75 million), Koch Foods ($15.5 million), Sanderson Farms ($17.75 million), and Pilgrim's Pride ($100 million) totaling $169 million.
- In re LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation – Represents a certified class of purchasers of over-the-counter (OTC) financial instruments with interest payments tied to the London Interbank Offering Rate (LIBOR), challenging the collusive manipulation of U.S. Dollar LIBOR by the world’s largest financial institutions. The collusion is claimed to have suppressed the U.S. Dollar LIBOR rate, which allowed the defendant banks to benefit financially to the detriment of their counterparties in OTC instruments. The case has resulted in $781 million in settlements with twelve banks, and continues against the remaining five defendant banks.
- Dutch Trucks Cartel Litigation – Represented thousands of European truck purchasers that suffered damages as a result of the trucks cartel and filed related claims in the Netherlands.
- In re California Gasoline Spot Market Antitrust Litigation - Represents a proposed class of California gasoline purchasers alleging manipulation of a pricing benchmark by SK Energy and Vitol, two dominant trading firms.
Environmental & Product Liability
- VW "Clean Diesel" Litigation – Litigated an application pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782, obtaining evidence through U.S. discovery mechanisms for use in European litigation where consumers seek damages from Volkswagen AG in relation to that company’s massive "clean-diesel" fraud.
- Climate Change Advisory Proceedings Inter-American Court of Human Rights – Represents the Center for Human Rights and Environment and its program Fast Action on Climate to Ensure Intergenerational Justice in their amicus filing in the climate change advisory proceedings before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, advocating for climate justice for the youth, children, and future generations.
Technology & Data Breach
- In re Equifax, Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation – Represented consumers whose personal data was exposed in the Equifax data breach—the largest data breach in history where over 145 million Americans were impacted. This privacy dispute resulted in a $1.5 billion settlement.
Human Rights
- English Judicial Review of Government’s PPE supply contract – Represented the Good Law Project and EveryDoctor in their challenge of the English government’s decision to award a $83.3 million public supply contract for personal protective equipment to Saiger LLC from Florida, USA during the COVID-19 pandemic.
