Martin A. Stern

Appellate Litigation

Martin has handled hundreds of appeals, including in each of the Louisiana circuit courts of appeal and the U.S. Fourth and Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and he has argued 14 times to the Louisiana Supreme Court. Martin is a director of the Bar Association of the Federal Fifth Circuit (BAFFC), and he is one of 15 lawyers certified by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization as an Appellate Practice Specialist.

In one of Martin’s most recent arguments to the Louisiana Supreme Court, he represented fellow Appellate Practice Specialists as amici in helping to win an important issue regarding the right to appeal. Amedee v. Aimbridge Hospitality LLC, 2021-OC-01906, 2022 WL 12338929 (La. 10/21/22). In another recent matter, Martin served as an expert witness in the field of appellate litigation, where his opinion was quoted at length in the court of appeal's decision. Henry v. Ahern, 335 So.3d 871 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2022).

Here are some of the other cases Martin has argued:

• Representation of insurers on appeal on the first lawsuit filed in the nation claiming damages for business interruption losses caused by COVID-19. Martin argued to the Louisiana Supreme Court where he won a reversal of the court of appeal’s decision that the policy was ambiguous and, therefore, provided coverage. Reversing the court of appeal’s decision, the Louisiana Supreme Court held that the policy unambiguously required “direct physical loss of or damage to property,” and that no such loss or damage was caused by COVID-19. Cajun Conti LLC v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London, __ So.3d __, 2023 WL 2549132 (La. 3/17/23).
• Representation of an oil and gas company in the Louisiana Supreme Court’s most recent decision on Act 312, the statute that governs landowners’ claims for environmental damage from oil and gas operations. Agreeing to overrule its earlier decision in the same case as “palpable error,” the Supreme Court held that absent an express contractual provision, a landowner’s remedy is restricted to a regulatory cleanup. State v. Louisiana Land & Explor. Co., 339 So.3d 1163 (La. 6/01/22).
• Representation of an insurer in winning the novel issue before the Louisiana Supreme Court that forum selection clauses in insurance policies do not violate Louisiana law. Creekstone Juban I, L.L.C. v. XL Ins. Am., Inc., 282 So. 3d 1042 (La. 2019). State v. Louisiana Land & Explor. Co., 339 So.3d 1163 (La. 6/01/22)
• Representation of an oil and gas company in winning dismissal of claims brought by a levee board asserting coastal land loss in what the New York Times Magazine described as “The Most Ambitious Environmental Lawsuit Ever.” Bd. of Comm’rs of Se. La. Flood Prot. Auth.-E. v. Tenn. Gas Pipeline Co., 850 F.3d 714 (5th Cir. 2017).
• Representation of a pharmaceutical company in winning dismissal of claims brought by Louisiana Attorney General in the Louisiana Supreme Court’s first case interpreting the Medical Assistance Program Integrity Law (“MAPIL”), the state analogue to the False Claims Act. Caldwell v. Janssen Pharm., Inc., 144 So. 3d 898 (La. 2014).
• Representation of a major oil and gas company to win reversal and establish that an important communication by in-house counsel was protected by the attorney-client privilege. Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Hill, 751 F.3d 379 (5th Cir. 2014).
• Representation of a major oil and gas company in persuading the Louisiana Supreme Court to reject expansion of an exception to the law of res judicata. Oleszkowicz v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 138 So. 3d 1234 (La. 2014).
• Pro bono representation of a criminal defendant in which the U.S. Supreme Court announced its landmark holding that the death penalty is unconstitutional for most non-homicide crimes. State v. Kennedy, 957 So. 2d 757 (La. 2007), rev'd, 554 U.S. 407 (2008), as modified on denial of reh'g, 554 U.S. 945 (2008). Martin argued to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Complex Litigation

Representative matters include defending a tobacco company in a class action trial, defending a major energy company against multiple suits based on alleged exposure to naturally occurring radioactive material (“NORM”), and defending several pharmaceutical companies against claims brought by the State Attorney General. In the NORM litigation, Martin led the effort to successfully defeat class certification and won an affirmance on appeal. Pollard v. Alpha Tech., 31 So. 3d 576 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2010). Later, when plaintiffs filed a mass action, Martin defeated remand to state court on a question of first impression under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”). Lester v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 879 F.3d 582 (5th Cir. 2018).

Legal Malpractice and Legal Ethics

Martin has represented judges before the Louisiana State Judiciary Commission and lawyers before the Louisiana State Disciplinary Board, for which he formerly served as Hearing Committee Chair. In his position as General Counsel for the Firm, Martin supervises the areas of loss prevention and legal ethics internally, and he has a growing practice representing other firms against claims of legal malpractice. Martin recently won the complete dismissal of a law firm in a case applying the test for whether an attorney-client relationship exists. Barkerding v. Whittaker, 263 So.3d 1170 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2018), writ den. 267 So.3d 607 (La. 2019). And in the 2022 Louisiana legislative session, Martin played a key role in drafting an amendment to La. R.S. 9:5605.2, so that the statute now sets forth the “collectability rule,” i.e., a client’s recovery in a legal malpractice action is limited to what would have been the  maximum amount of damages that the client could have collected in the client's underlying action.

Pro Bono

Martin is past director of both the national and Louisiana chapters of Appleseed, a nonprofit organization that attacks injustice at its root cause, which The American Lawyer called “pro bono’s new frontier.” He received the national Appleseed’s Evelyn Singer Award and New Orleans CityBusiness named him to “Leadership in Law” for spearheading the reestablishment of Louisiana Appleseed after Hurricane Katrina. In 2016, Martin was honored with the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Catherine D. Kimball Award for a project culminating in the state Supreme Court’s adoption of a rule allowing lawyers to earn CLE credit for pro bono representation.