Peter Ryan

Peter M. Ryan is a trial lawyer with a focus on antitrust, RICO, unfair competition, business tort and civil class actions. He has extensive experience litigating complex antitrust and commercial class actions and business disputes in federal and state trial and appellate courts.

He has represented clients in antitrust actions in the polyurethane foam, pharmaceutical, specialty metals and minerals, and heavy duty trucking industries.

Peter earned his undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Princeton University in 1987, and he earned an M.F.A from New York University in 1990. He earned his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1997, where he was an executive editor of the Law Review.

After law school, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Edmund V. Ludwig of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Peter is also a graduate of the 2007 Academy of Advocacy at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law.

Peter received the 2005 Samuel E. Klein Pro Bono Award and the Federal Bar Association’s 2008 Clifford Scott Green Bill of Rights Award for his habeas corpus representation of 16 Afghan nationals detained at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

He also represented a mentally disabled death row inmate in one of the first successful challenges to a death sentence in Pennsylvania under the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Atkins v. Virginia.

EXPERIENCE :

• Represented ten heavy duty diesel truck engine distributors in nationwide antitrust class actions alleging a group boycott and resale price maintenance. The cases settled favorably prior to trial.
• Represented a large pharmaceutical company in an antitrust action involving claims of monopolization, sham patent litigation, and fraud on the PTO. The case settled favorably prior to trial.
• Represented a large food manufacturer in contract litigation against its contract manufacturer and packaging supplier to recover damages from a nationwide recall of baby food.  The matter settled favorably prior to trial.
• Represented a multinational supplier of industrial gases in contract litigation over the sale of nitrous oxide for the auto racing industry.  The case settled favorably just before trial.
• Secured the dismissal with prejudice of a class action against a health insurance company alleging RICO violations, extortion under the Hobbs Act, conversion, and unjust enrichment.
• Represented a cable television company in a proposed ten-state class action alleging breach of contract and unjust enrichment relating to signal converter boxes.  Plaintiffs’ request for class certification was denied and the case was dismissed with prejudice.
• Represented a specialty metals manufacturer in an eminent domain action involving a 50-acre waterfront property. The case settled during trial after the Second Circuit held that the proposed condemnation constituted irreparable injury.

EDUCATION :

• University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D., cum laude, 1997
• New York University, M.F.A., 1990
• Princeton University, A.B., cum laude, 1987

BAR ADMISSIONS : New York; Pennsylvania

COURT ADMISSIONS :

• New York Court of Appeals
• Pennsylvania Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania

AFFILIATIONS :

• American Bar Association
• Philadelphia Bar Association
• Historical Society of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania