Stephen G. Harvey is a partner in the Litigation Department of Pepper Hamilton LLP. Mr. Harvey concentrates his practice in commercial litigation, including business disputes, banking and financial services, and defense of class actions. He has represented many clients at trial and on appeal in state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. His experience includes all aspects of civil litigation including pre-dispute counseling, investigations, preservation of electronic data/e-discovery, and alternative dispute resolution.
Business Disputes
Mr. Harvey has counseled and represented numerous clients in business disputes involving breach of contract, fraud, trademark infringement, restrictive covenants, trade secrets, insurance coverage, products liability, defamation, tortious interference with contractual relations and fiduciary duties of corporate directors.
Representative engagements include:
- obtained preliminary and permanent injunctions under the Lanham Act against a terminated trademark licensee on behalf of an industrial manufacturer
- obtained a preliminary injunction against former executives of a health care company for violating the terms of their non-solicitation and non-competition agreements
- defended a real estate company charged with tortious interference with non-compete clauses in contracts of real estate agents
- defended an automobile manufacturer at trial on product liability claims brought by a seriously injured plaintiff
- defended an insurance company in an action brought by an automotive group seeking employment practices liability insurance coverage
- obtained a preliminary injunction against an employee of a medical device manufacturer who violated a non-compete agreement
- represented a contract research organization accused of trade disparagement
- defended a nonprofit organization during a multi-week trial against defamation claims brought by its former executive director.
Banking and Financial Services
Mr. Harvey is experienced in issues relating to federal preemption of state law, lender liability, fair lending, interest rate exportation, and state unfair and deceptive trade practices acts. He is active in the American Bar Association Section of Business Law and its Committees on Banking and Consumer Financial Services. He is the former chair of the Subcommittee on Litigation and Arbitration for the ABA’s Committee on Consumer Financial Services.
Representative engagements include:
- obtained summary judgment on federal preemption grounds for a national bank charged with violating state unfair and deceptive trade practices acts
- represents a lender in California state court against alleged violations of Section 17200, California’s unfair and deceptive trade practices act, in connection with consumer loans alleged to violate state usury laws
- enforced arbitration clauses in consumer contracts for banks and automobile finance companies on numerous occasions in federal and state courts nationwide
- obtained summary judgment in federal court for a bank charged with lender liability in connection with a failed lending relationship
- defended a bank in federal court against charges of intentional infliction of emotional distress and respondeat superior liability for unauthorized acts of a rogue debt collector
- defended an automobile finance company in multiple cases alleging violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act
- obtained summary judgment and defended it on appeal for an automobile finance company charged with violating the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Sales Finance Act
- represented clients under investigation or in disputes with the Pennsylvania and New Jersey banking departments and/or offices of the attorney general
- represented mortgage lenders on numerous occasions in cases alleging violations of the Truth-in-Lending Act and other federal and state laws
- represented an automobile finance company on numerous occasions in cases alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and other federal and state laws.
Class Actions
Mr. Harvey has served as lead counsel in federal and state court on numerous class actions, many in the area of banking and financial services law.
Representative engagements include:
- obtained summary judgment and defeated class certification for an automobile finance company in a putative nationwide class action alleging disparate impact racial discrimination under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act
- defeated class certification in federal court cases in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for a national bank charged with violating state unfair trade practices acts in connection with the sale of gift cards. A third related federal court case in New York was voluntarily dismissed with no payment.
- defended a class action for a bank charged with violation of Pennsylvania’s usury law and unfair and deceptive trade practices act
- defended a class action for a national drug store chain charged with violating the privacy rights of customers in connection with information provided on sales receipts
- defended a class action for a bank charged with violating New Jersey’s unfair and deceptive trade practices act in connection with credit card fees
- defended a class action for a company charged with violating the federal Credit Repair Organizations Act
- defended numerous companies in class actions alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Civil Rights/Pro Bono
Mr. Harvey also is dedicated to litigating civil rights and pro bono matters involving constitutional, statutory and public policy matters. In 2005, he was awarded the Clarence Darrow Award from the National Center for Science Education. In 2006, he was awarded the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Pro Bono Award.
Representative engagements include:
- served as co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 400 F. Supp. 2d 707 (M.D. Pa. 2005), the landmark case testing the constitutionality of teaching “intelligent design” in public school science class. In 2007, Pepper and Mr. Harvey were featured in the two-hour Nova program “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial.”
- obtained a jury verdict in a federal court civil rights action for a state court prisoner mauled by a dog while handcuffed
- represented the estate of a state court prisoner who died in prison after an emergent medical condition was ignored and his condition deteriorated
- litigated the constitutionality of the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 in trial court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- obtained political asylum for a sociology professor who was subjected to serious physical attacks in his home country based on his religious beliefs
- represented a 10-year-old boy from Ghana who sought protection under federal immigration laws after appearing unsupervised and alone in JFK Airport, both in federal district court and then on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Articles / Speaking Engagements
Mr. Harvey speaks and writes regularly on topics related to his areas of practice. In addition to the articles listed at right, he is the author of Enforcing the Non-Compete and Confidentiality Duties of High Level Executives (Aspen Law & Business 1998). In 2010, with Pepper partner Eric Rothschild, he published an article titled “Defending Darwin” in the ABA publication Litigation, Fall 2010 (37:1).
Recent speaking engagements include the following:
- spoke at the invitation of the Federal Trade Commission at roundtable program in San Antonio on “Fair Lending – Compliance, Risk and Liability” (August 2, 2011)
- spoke at the ABA Section of Business Spring Meeting, Committee on Consumer Financial Services in Boston on “Litigation and Dodd-Frank – Possible Effects on Consumer Litigation” (April 14, 2011)
- spoke at the Delaware Valley Corporate Counsel Association annual in-house conference in Philadelphia on “Selected Issues in the World of Social Media” (April 7, 2011).
Mr. Harvey serves as vice president on the Executive Committee of the Homeless Advocacy Project in Philadelphia and on the Legal Advisory Board for the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California. He also serves as a judge pro tem/mediator for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. He is a master in the Temple American Inn of Court in Philadelphia.
Mr. Harvey received his B.A. in 1982 from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, in 1989 from Villanova University School of Law, where he was managing editor of the Villanova Law Review and a national moot court champion. At Villanova, he was awarded the Hyman-Goodman Award for Academic and Extracurricular Excellence. Following graduation from law school, he clerked for the Honorable Myron H. Bright of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Mr. Harvey then entered the Honors Program of the U.S. Department of Justice and served as a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division in Washington, D.C. He joined Pepper Hamilton in 1995.
