Human resources
- Negotiated physician employment agreements with physician practices and specialists
Financial
- Managed multi-million dollar budgets with full P&L responsibility (over 110,000 patient visits with a net provider collection of over $15 million)
- Collaborated with revenue cycle team to ensure the oversight of billing, collections, third party-insurer contracts, and coding
Quality and risk management
- Served as legal advisor and made recommendations in managing patient complaints
- Provided legal support to case management department on issues of power of attorney, health care proxy, and placement of patients due to insurance issues
- Provided support in assistance with Plans of Corrections for regulatory compliance with Department of Health, Office of Mental Health, Joint Commission, and Centers for Medicaid and Medicare
- Provided regulatory support in performing mock surveys for all departments to ensure regulatory compliance
- Legal advisor in matters involving potential malpractice cases and all insurance claims
- Legal counsel in matters related to operating agreements, bylaws, master services agreements, independent contractor agreements, employment agreements, liability waivers and releases, physician practice acquisition, 340B/pharmacy agreements
- Legal counsel in health care regulations such as Stark, Anti-Kickback, False Claims, Whistleblowers, DRA, ADA, IRS, HIPAA, New York Cybersecurity Regulations, and other various state regulations
- Oversaw corporate compliance program for major health care system, functioning as an independent and objective body that reviews and evaluates compliance issues/concerns within the organization
- Ensured that board of directors, management and employees were in compliance with the rules and regulations of regulatory agencies, that company policies and procedures are being followed, and that behavior in the organization meets the organization’s standards of conduct
- Perform the duties of Chief Compliance Officer and Privacy Officer
Negotiated in business-to-business transactions.
Drafted and redlined client and vendor contracts.
Assisted with building compliance frameworks for healthcare organizations.
Represented businesses and individuals in civil disputes concerning financial services, real estate, trusts, and various other matters involving contract, tort, and other legal issues
Represented bond issuers, underwriters, and trustees on various multimillion dollar public finance transactions
Represented businesses and individuals in civil disputes involving financial services (loan enforcement and collection, foreclosures, workouts, and “lender liability”), real estate (property management, landlord/tenant, and default resolution), trusts, and various other matters concerning contract and business tort issues
Provided general advice to clients on risk assessment, mitigation, and avoidance and law practice management
Served as an Assistant District Attorney and prosecuted numerous misdemeanor cases as part of the Dallas County Lawyer on Loan Program (April 2012 – June 2012)
Represented health care providers in disputes stemming from participation in federal and state programs.
Assisted healthcare client restructure business relationships to maximize safe harbor protections.
Performed Risk Assessments and Gap Analysis for two healthcare entities.
Engaged by buy-side and sell-side clients in negotiated acquisition projects totaling over $30 million since Q4 2017.
Successfully represented a custom prosthetics manufacturer with respect to a series of audits of its Medicaid billing practices, conducted by the Office of the Inspector General in several offices throughout the state.
Secured a final take-nothing summary judgment in favor of a clean energy technology manufacturer, disposing of claims brought by a convertible note holder alleging breach of contract and securities violations, and seeking $1.2 million in damages and attorney’s fees.
Sole counsel to an investment firm with respect to an $85 million purchase of all outstanding preferred shares in a privately held global accounting firm, in a transaction that was structured over an 18-month period and included interrelated membership purchase agreements, a $50 million secured project finance deal, operating agreements governing the target firm’s multi-tiered corporate structure, and a $300 million credit facility agreement issued to the target firm by a consortium of lenders.
Successfully neutralized, without litigation, a series of orchestrated attempts by majority owners of an LLC to squeeze out a minority owner in connection with a $50 million acquisition of the company.
Represented clients in commercial and residential real estate transactions, including contract drafting, negotiations, title review and final closing.
Counseled and negotiated leases for retail, office, and general commercial tenants and landlords
Advised clients and assisted with acquiring and developing land for commercial and residential multi-phase development projects, including establishing infrastructure and improvements, financing acquisition and development, applying for governmental economic incentives, establishing restrictions and selling land for further development.
Represented homeowner and condominium associations in establishing, filing and enforcing declarations, covenants and restrictions.
Structured debt financing transactions for land acquisition, development and construction costs.
Established and implemented compliance programs for healthcare entities.
Designed and implemented Physician-safe investment entities for health system and ancillary solutions companies.
Compliance training for private practices, acute, post-acute, pharmaceutical, medical device and ancillary services entities.
Led and closed the negotiation of the largest single pharmaceutical customer contract for a national pharmaceutical company.
Led and closed the negotiation and acquisition of the largest enterprise software solution for a post-acute national company.
Awarded for excellence in leadership for post-acquisition integration of new entity into the parent company.
Drafted loan documents, security agreements, guaranty agreements and other lending related documents.
Represented lenders and borrowers in commercial and private lending transactions.
Represented general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, homebuilders and interior design professional.
Represented borrowers and lenders in commercial and residential lending and HUD development projects.
Structured debt financing transactions for development and construction.
Assisted clients with zoning and land use issues.
Drafted, reviewed and negotiated contract documents and bid packages for private, federal, state and municipal projects.
Structured and documented joint venture and profit-sharing agreements.
Represented clients in payment disputes and assists with mechanic’s liens.
Successfully defended Cullen Davis in all 3 criminal capital murder and solicitation of capital murder trials.
Member of the Cullen Davis criminal defense team.
- Mentored by Richard “Racehorse” Haynes from Houston, Steve directed the investigation and acted as one of the four trial lawyers who successfully defended Mr. Davis in three high profile trials, including capital murder charges and solicitation of capital murder charges, which resulted in an acquittal of Mr. Davis on all charges.
- Five books chronicle Steve’s work on the cases, including Texas v. Davis by Mike Cochran and Blood Will Tell by Gary Cartwright, as well as a made for television movie and an hour feature on the A&E Criminal Justice series.
- Fort Worth, Tarrant County District Attorney Tim Curry: “The man who won the case for them was Steve Sumner…They put Priscilla [Davis] on trial and Steve was the one coming with all the dirt. Whatever they paid him, it wasn’t enough.” (as quoted in Texas v. Davis, p. 529).
Lead trial counsel for the World Boxing Council in a libel/slander civil lawsuit filed against Howard Cosell and the New York Post in Federal Court in New York City.
As lead counsel, successfully defended Mr. Davis in the wrongful death civil lawsuit filed by Priscilla Davis in a very high profile month long trial in Fort Worth.
- The case was featured in the epilogue of Texas v. Davis by Mike Cochran.
Successfully defended Ricky Kyle in Los Angeles against charges of murdering his father, after two trials and fifteen months in the courtroom.
- Ulterior Motives, a book written by Suzanne Finstead, featured the cases.
- The television news shows A Current Affair and Hardcopy featured the case.
- The television show The Dominick Dunne Hour featured the case.
- The case was featured on the television show Investigation ID in the “Behind Mansion Walls” series, episode entitled “Beverly Hills Kids”.
Represented Barbara Piotrowski in a civil rights lawsuit against the City of Houston in a very high profile, month long civil trial, in federal court in Houston, Texas.
- The jury awarded a verdict of $38 million to Ms. Piotrowski.
- The Piotrowski case is chronicled in the book Sleeping with the Devil by Suzanne Finstad.
Represented Amanda Dealey in a wrongful death civil jury trial against her brother over the murder of their father.
- The trial was featured live daily, for over a month, on national television on Court TV. The jury awarded Steve’s client $26 million and found that Ms. Dealey’s brother had murdered their father.
- The case was featured on the television programs Inside Edition and 20/20.
- The jury awared was affirmed on appeal by the Texas Court of Civil Appeals and was the largest verdict affirmed in Texas that year.
Represented clients in payment disputes and assists with mechanic’s liens.
Represented companies in all varieties of competitor misconduct cases to protect each company's interests against competitors.
Represented international companies in software implementation cases, both prosecuting and defending under complex commercial contracts.
Represented Fortune 500 company officers in an investigation of alleged backdating of stock options.
Represented Computer Sciences Corporation in a Qui Tam case in New York state, defending the client against claims involving Medicaid fraud.
Represented a Fortune 300 company in unfair competition and trade secret lawsuits.
Represented an international Fortune 300 company in copyright infringement and unfair competition federal lawsuit.
Represented outsourcing company in a lawsuit against the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Association.
Represented companies in non-competition and non-solicitation disputes involving high level corporate officers.
Represented a company in employment disputes with high level former employee in Los Angeles, California.
Lead counsel in the defense of one of countries largest defense contractors in Tampa Florida for six years - successfully obtained dismissal of case.
Lead counsel in the defense of Fortune 500 Companies in Florida and Iowa - all cases were dismissed.
Lead counsel in the defense of a Fortune 300 Company in Albany, New York from allegations of fraud in the administration of processing of Medicare/ Medicaid claims for the State of New York for four years - Persuaded the Government to choose to not intervene and Relator chose to not go forward with the case.
Lead counsel in prosecuting cases for whistleblowers in the past and currently wherein millions of dollars have been recovered and awarded to his clients.
Represented individuals and corporations in high profile white collar criminal cases.
Tried an abusive tax shelter case in federal court in the Northern District of Texas against the federal government's Abusive Tax Shelter Task Force, resulting in acquittal for his client. To this day, it is the only case the task force has lost.
Represented a national corporation in matters involving allegations of violations of privacy rights regarding the supervision of the use of email by employees
Conducted an internal corporate investigation to defend against alleged fraudulent billing practices pursuant to a government services contract and the dismissal of a Department of Labor fraud investigation.
Represented corparate clients on numerus cases involving allegations of wrongful termination and discrimination including defense verdicts from juries.
Represented corporate clients in defense of qui tam actions under the False Claims Act in Texas, Florida and New York.
Represented a corporate client against multimillion dollar claim for indemnification based in part on fraud arising out of an asset sale transaction.
Represented a corporate health care company involving allegations of improper Medicare and Medicaid billing practices resulting in dismissal of the federal investigation by the HHS.
Represented a regional corporate health care staffing client involving allegations of improper billing practices resulting in a dismissal of the state investigation by the Texas Workforce Commission.
Represented an executive of a national corporation charged with violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act and bid rigging resulting in an acquittal by a jury
Represented the President of a financial institution charged with conspiracy, money laundering, mail and wire fraud resulting in an acquittal by a jury.
Represented a prominent Texas attorney charged with real estate fraud and wire fraud resulting in a jury acquittal.
Represented a prominent Texas real estate executive charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and mail fraud resulting in an acquittal by a jury.
Represented a business executive for personal tax evasion and tax fraud resulting in the dismissal of the investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.
Represented a business executive on allegations of securities fraud and insider trading resulting in the dismissal of the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Represented the owner of a regional health care services business on charges of tax fraud, mail fraud and health care fraud resulting in a dismissal of all federal investigations without civil or criminal charges.
Represented an executive of a reginal physical therapy corporation on allegations conspiracy, health care fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud resulting in a dismissal of all federal investigations without criminal or civil charges.
Successful defense of Fortune 300 company in multi-million dollar Whistle Blower/Qui Tam litigation in the State of New York.
Successful settlement negotiated for Fortune 300 Company involving an IT Outsourcing breach of contract case in Federal Court in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Successful representation and settlement for Fortune 300 Company involving and IT Outsourcing Dispute in the area of Health Insurance Claims Processing.
Successful representation and settlement of legal dispute between Fortune 300 Company v. IBM.
Representation of, and multi-million dollar settlement obtained for relator whistleblower in qui tam action brought in the State of Texas.
Representation and successful settlement of an airline company in $150 million breach of contract litigation, fraud, and alter ego/piercing the corporate veil claims. (DDH Aviation v. 4KS)
Successful defense of Fortune 300 Company involving labor and employment dispute in Los Angeles, California. Favorable settlement obtained.
Successful Representation and six-figure settlement obtained for an individual vs. Fortune 500 company involving age discrimination and FMLA Retaliation. (Family Medical Leave Act) in Federal Court Northern District of Texas. Prevailed on the motion for summary judgement.
Successful plaintiff representation with a multi-six figure pre-filing settlement of a labor and employment matter involving sexual and gender discrimination.
Successful plaintiff representation versus a Fortune 500 company, obtained six-figure settlement of a labor and employment matter involving Retaliation, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and Age Discrimination.
Representation of professionals from publicly traded company in investigations brought by the SEC following restatements of the companies’ financial statements.
Assisted in the successful representation of Fortune 500 Company Whistleblower Qui Tam litigation in the State of Iowa. The State chose not to intervene.
Assisted in successful litigation involving general employment matters: covenants not to compete, breaches of fiduciary duties, wrongful termination in numerous matters throughout the country.
Assisted in representation of Forbes 200 IT outsourcing company dispute regarding fraud and breach of contract.
Led global investigation of a Fortune 250 company involving trade secret violations, copyright infringement, and software misappropriation.
Lead attorney DWI jury trial. Not guilty.
Represented numerous individuals whom were were victims of premises liability, products liability, medical malpractice, automobile accidents, and those victims of consumer law DTPA violations.
Represented companies in competitor misconduct cases to protect each company’s interests against competitors.
Represented international companies in software implementation cases, both prosecuting and defending under complex commercial contracts.
Represented a Fortune 300 company in unfair competition and trade secret lawsuits.
Represented an international Fortune 300 company in a copyright infringement and unfair competition federal lawsuit.