SEND AN E-MAIL TO THIS FELLOWR. Joseph Barton
Washington, DC
R. Joseph Barton is a Partner at Barton & Downes LLP, a litigation firm that focuses primarily on employee benefits and veterans/servicemember rights. Mr. Barton has over two decades of experience handling a diverse array of complex and class action employee benefits litigation. Mr. Barton has a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Rating, has been a Washington, D.C. Super Lawyer since 2013, has a 10.0 rating from Avvo, and is listed in the Marquis’ Who’s Who in American Law.
Since 2001, he has litigated ERISA fiduciary breach and other claims involving defined benefit pension plans, 401(k) plans, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), profit-sharing plans, top-hat plans, health plans, disability plans, severance plans and life insurance plans.
He has been trial counsel in four ERISA cases – of which two were class actions and two other complex fiduciary breach cases. He was lead trial counsel in a case challenging a complex transaction involving the Trachte ESOP and the Alliance ESOP on behalf of a class of Trachte employees, Chesemore v. Alliance Holdings, Inc., No. 3:09-cv-00413 (W.D. Wis.). In that case, Mr. Barton obtained favorable trial decisions on a liability and remedies of more than $17 million (plus prejudgment interest) for the Class which was affirmed by the Seventh Circuit. In Severstal Wheeling Inc. Ret. Comm. v. WPN Corporation, No. 10-cv-954 (S.D.N.Y.), Mr. Barton was lead trial counsel for the fiduciaries of two pension plans suing their former investment manager for improper investments and obtained a judgment for plaintiffs of over $15 million which was affirmed by the Second Circuit.
Since 2012, Mr. Barton has been the Plaintiffs’ Co-Chair of the Civil Procedure Subcommittee for the ABA Employee Benefits Committee and a contributing author and an editor for Chapter 12, Civil Practice & Procedure of the Treatise Employee Benefits Law, published by BNA. Since 2015, Mr. Barton has served on the Programming Committee for the ABA Employee Benefits Committee, which is responsible for the planning for the Committee’s Midwinter conference. Mr. Barton is a member of the Publications Committee for the AAJ, which oversees selection and review of articles for AAJ’s award-winning magazine, Trial. Mr. Barton was Co-Chair of the AAAJ Class Action Litigation Group between July 2014 and July 2016 and the Chair of the AAJ Employment Rights Section between July 2013 and July 2014.
Mr. Barton provided an expert opinion on the scope of ERISA in a European case, Deminor International & all v/ Ageas/ BNP Paribas Fortis / Merrill Lynch International, Court of Commerce of Brussels, Chamber 14, Docket numbers: R.G. n A/10/00744, R.G. n A/12/05781, R.G. n A/12/09039 & R.G. n A/12/09035.
Mr. Barton is a frequent speaker at conferences including those sponsored by the American Bar Association, the American Association of Justice, the American Conference Institute, the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association, and the National Employment Lawyers Association.
