F. Paul Bland

Biography

Paul Bland is co-chair of the Firm’s Appeals and Complex Briefing Department, along with shareholder Josh Davis.

Paul has argued and won more than 40 cases that have led to reported decisions for consumers, workers, or other aggrieved claimants, including one win in the U.S. Supreme Court, and at least one victory in the state supreme courts of ten different states and six of the U.S. Courts of Appeal. Paul has handled numerous successful challenges to forced arbitration clauses and has also successfully defeated federal preemption defenses in a number of cases, among other substantive appeals he has handled.  For ten years, Paul served as the Executive Director at Public Justice, a national legal advocacy nonprofit organization, overseeing the organization’s litigation and advocacy, as well as operations, communications, and finance. For 17 years before that, Paul was a Senior Attorney at Public Justice, overseeing appellate and other litigation at the organization.

Paul’s numerous awards include:

• “Public Justice Legacy Award,” this award is given to people who have made substantial contributions to the organization’s success. 
• National Consumer Law Center’s Vern Countryman Award, which “honors the accomplishments of an exceptional consumer attorney who through the practice of consumer law has contributed significantly to the well-being of vulnerable consumers.”;
• Co-winner of the National Civil Justice Institute’s Appellate Advocacy Award in 2020 for arguing Home Depot, U.S.A. v Jackson, 139 S. Ct. 1743 (2019). Paul also won the award in 2017 for his argument in Chen v Allstate Insurance Co, 819 F.3d 1136 (9th City. 2016);  
• Co-winner of the Maryland Association of Justice’s Trial Lawyer of the Year Award in 2009 for his work on a series of class actions against HMOs for illegal subrogation charges, during which he argued and won two appeals in Maryland’s high court and one in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He won this award again in 2001 for his successful argument defeating a forced arbitration clause in Wells v. Chevy Chase Bank, 768 A.2d 620 (Md. 2001); 
• Litigation Counsel of America’s 2016 Justice Janie L. Shores Trailblazer Award, which is presented annually to a member of the bench or bar whose lifetime achievements in law serve as the beacon of high standards that all legal professionals should aspire to follow and who has demonstrated courage in the legal profession;
• The Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition awarded Paul their “Legal Champion Award” in 2013;
• The Maryland Legal Aid Bureau awarded him its “Champion of Justice Award” in 2010. 
• In 2003, Paul was a co-winner of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association’s Trial; and Lawyer of the Year Award for his role in trying and then arguing the appeal in Ting v. AT&T Corp., 319 F.3d 1126 (9th Cir. 2003).

Paul has handled and won a number of cases involving challenges to forced arbitration clauses, including:

• A-1 Premium Acceptance, Inc. v. Hunter, 557 S.W.3d 923 (Mo. 2018) (loan contract precluded appointment of a substitute arbitrator for the organization named in the mandatory arbitration clause; original organization stopped handling cases due to corruption investigation); 
• Lee v. Intellius, Inc. 705 F.3d 11290 (9th Cir. 2011) (clause unenforceable where “even an exceptionally careful consumer would not have understood” that they were agreeing to arbitration on website); 
• Gibson v. Nye Frontier Ford, Inc., 205 P.3d 1091 (Ak. 2009) (selective appeal provision unconscionable; employer must pay all substantial costs of arbitration); 
• Cordova v. World Finance Corp., 208 P.3d 901 (N.M. 2009) (one-sided arbitration clause unconscionable); 
• Toppings v. Meritech Mortgage, 569 S.E.2d 149 (W. Va. 200) (arbitration clause so impinged on neutrality and fairness that it was unconscionable); 
• Raymond James Fin. Servs., Inc. v. Saldukas, 896 So.2d 7097 (Fl. 2005) (broker waived right to compel arbitration, even though investor proved no prejudice); and
• Lewallen v. Green Tree Servicing, LLC, 487 F.3d 1085 (8th Cir. 2007) (also finding waiver of right to compel arbitration by a lender). 

Paul has also won a number of appeals where courts rejected claims that various federal laws preempted pro-consumer state laws:  

• Aguayo v. U.S. Bank, 653 F.3d 912 (9th Cir. 2011) (National Bank did not preempt state debt collection law); 
• Epps v. J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, 675 F.3d 315 (4th Cir. 2012) (same); 
• Singh v. Prudential Health Care Plan, Inc. 335 F.3d 278 (4th Cir. 2003) (state law claims survived ERISA’s preemption); 
• McKee v. AT&T Corp., 191 P.3d 845 (Wash. 2008) (Federal Communications Act does not preempt state contract law); 
• Sweeney v. Savings First Mortgage, 897 A.2d 1037 (Md. 2005) (no preemption of state statute limiting mortgage brokers’ fees); and
• Wells v. Chevy Chase Bank, 832 A.2d 812 (Md. 20030) (no preemption under Home Owners Lending Act of claims against credit card issuer). 

Other successful oral arguments include: 

• Rhodes v. R+L Carriers, Inc., 491 Fed. Appx. 579 (6th Cir. 2012) (employment discrimination claim pled with sufficient specificity to meet Iqbal standards); 
• United States v. United States ex rel Thornton, 207 F.3d 769 (5th Cir. 2000) (relator under qui tam provisions of False Claims Act entitled to receive a statutory share of the value of some non-cash proceeds of a settlement between the U.S. and the defendants); and
• Dua v. Comcast/Harvey v. Kaiser, 805 A.2d 1061 (Md. 2002) (statute that retroactively stripped consumers of accrued cause of action violated provisions of state constitution).

Paul has testified in both houses of Congress several times, as well as before half a dozen state legislatures and various federal and state regulatory agencies. He has been quoted in more than 100 press stories in a wide range of media and has appeared in more than 100 continuing legal education programs in more than 30 states.

Paul is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Georgetown University.  Before joining Public Justice in 1997, Paul worked for six and a half years with the Law Office of Kieron Quinn and Quinn Ward & Kershaw in Baltimore, handling consumer and toxic tort class actions and defending libel suits. Before that, he was Nominations Counsel for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.