A Civil Litigation Firm In The U.S. Virgin Islands

On March 27, 2018, Chief Justice John Roberts handed down a unanimous decision in favor of the firm’s client. Andrew Simpson wrote all the briefs at both the certiorari and merits stages and argued the case before the court. As the respected Above The Law website put it: “To be given an opportunity to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court is an honor few lawyers get. Winning is a greater honor. But winning with a unanimous decision is the ultimate honor. And this honor goes to Andrew Simpson a solo practitioner in the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

On January 21, 2022, the firm received an Arbitrator’s award in favor of its client, finding after a four-day arbitration hearing that a personal injury claimant’s injuries were due to his own negligence (100%) and not due to any negligence on the part of the firm’s client.

In the first trial to be held in the District Court of the Virgin Islands after the COVID-19 outbreak, the firm defended a Vessel Owner alleged to have negligently secured two large vessels in a marina during Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 hurricane. The court found that the vessel owner was not negligent and awarded contract damages that were roughly 20% of what the plaintiff marina owner was seeking.

After a three day trial in January 2020 in the District Court of the Virgin Islands on St. Thomas, the firm succeeded in getting all counts of an eleven count civil rights complaint filed against a condominium association and its board of directors dismissed. The court also awarded the firm’s client over $126,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs.

On January 27, 2017, a Virgin Islands jury returned a defense verdict in a case in which a 65-year-old woman was suing the firm’s client, a 94-year-old man, accusing him of sexual assault at a dinner party. The verdict followed the second trial of the case after the jury deadlocked 8-1 in favor of the firm’s client in the first trial. The jury in the second trial also initially was deadlocked but after Andrew Simpson suggested to the court that the parties be allowed to each have five minutes for a second closing argument to address questions submitted by the jurors, the deadlock was resolved in favor of the firm’s client in less than 30 minutes.

On August 26, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled in favor of our client and reversed the District Court’s decision, reinstating the firm’s client to the ballot for governor of the Virgin Islands. The case was handled on an emergency basis, with the original complaint seeking an injunction filed on May 31, 2014. The firm briefed and argued the issues in the District Court of the Virgin Islands and then filed an emergency appeal with expedited briefing in the Third Circuit – from start to ultimate success on appeal in less than 90 days.

On August 16, 2019, the District Court of the Virgin Islands granted our client’s motion for summary judgment in a premises liability case arising out of a slip-and-fall in a bathtub at a hotel resort.