Ann M. St. Peter-Griffith’s practice includes all aspects of complex commercial litigation, including health care, product liability, constitutional, and employment discrimination cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout the country. She has been recognized with an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating—the highest peer review rating—by Martindale-Hubbell.
Ann has substantive first chair jury and bench trial experience, having tried a number of cases in federal and state court. Most recently, Ann served as first chair trial counsel in the representation of the Liggett Group LLC in extended multi-defendant Engle progeny tobacco product liability trials where she secured a complete defense verdict after a five-week jury trial.
Ann also represents health care clients throughout the United States. She frequently consults clients on significant health care matters including qui tam, False Claims Act, Medicare fraud, pricing, Stark, Anti-kickback, HIPAA, and HITECH. Ann also lectures on health care and Medicare fraud topics across the nation.
Prior to joining the firm, Ann was an Assistant United States Attorney (“AUSA”) for the Southern District of Florida, where she was responsible for a major multidistrict litigation relating to multi-million dollar Medicare and Medicaid health care fraud by a drug company. Ann received the United States Attorney’s Team Award for Exceptional Performance in Civil Health Care Fraud in 2008-09, as well as two United States Attorney’s Special Service Awards. In addition, as an AUSA, she represented the United States through jury trials in complex employment discrimination cases, successfully defended the constitutionality of a federal law enforcement statute, and defended Department of Justice employees against constitutional challenges brought by a notorious drug kingpin.
Ann devotes a significant amount of time to pro bono matters. She was a member of the litigation team that received the Florida Supreme Court’s Voluntary Bar Association Pro Bono Service award for its representation of 34,000 Cuban detainees held at the Guantanamo Naval Base in 1994. She has also represented and served as a guardian ad litem for numerous severely abused and neglected children. Ann’s current pro bono representation includes defending clients in a complex constitutional and defamation case brought by a convicted child abuser and former church deacon, against the families of his victims and the church they attended.
Ann has engaged in public service to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, serving as a member of the Civil Justice Advisory Committee (CJA). As part of a federal effort mandated by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, the CJA conducted an extensive evaluation of the case flow and operations of all aspects of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
