Roman P. Wuller

Partner

Direct (314) 552-6121

Fax (314) 552-7121

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Overview
Affiliations
Civic Involvement
Clients
Honors
Noteworthy
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Roman is vice chair of the firm’s business litigation practice group and chair of the firm’s class action practice area. He concentrates his practice in complex commercial litigation and class action. He has litigated class actions in 28 states in the past fifteen years. Roman has substantial experience defending complex business lawsuits and coordinating multi-district litigation. Approximately 20 percent of Roman's practice involves arbitration or some other form of alternative dispute resolution. He has tried numerous complex arbitrations for major clients of the firm.

He recently made his debut in the 2012 Chambers USA rankings. The publication noted Roman for his "increasingly busy class action practice," with one client commenting, "He does an outstanding job for us."

American Bar Association

The Missouri Bar

Illinois State Bar Association

St. Clair Auxiliary Medical Society

St. Henry’s Men’s Club

AT&T

Charter Communications

AT&T Mobility

ConocoPhillips

Energizer

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

JPMorgan Chase

Peabody Energy Corporation

Selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2013 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® (Copyright 2012 by Woodward/White, Inc. of Aiken, S.C.)
Chambers USA: General Litigation (2012)
Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers (2005-2006, 2008-2012)

Roman represented AT&T Mobility, America’s second-largest wireless telecommunications provider, in the settlement of 57 class action suits filed across the country over its assessment of state and local sales taxes on Internet access through certain services, including iPhone data plans, BlackBerry data plans and laptop connect cards. Plaintiffs alleged that AT&T violated the Internet Tax Freedom Act that prohibits states and localities from taxing access to the Internet. Roman took the lead in negotiating and drafting a global settlement that resolved claims worth nearly $1 billion in damages.

He successfully defended JPMorgan Chase against a putative class action filed by a JP credit card holder alleging JP imposed illegal penalties and violated the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act (MMPA). JP moved to compel arbitration pursuant to the terms of the cardmember agreement. The District Court denied JP’s motion to compel and to stay the litigation. The Eighth Circuit reversed the District Court’s Order and held that the arbitration clause and class-action waiver in the cardmember agreement are not procedurally or substantively unconscionable under Missouri law. Pursuant to a mandate from the Eighth Circuit, the District Court entered an order granting JP’s motion to compel and to stay the litigation. In March of 2010, the parties agreed to a settlement and the case was dismissed.

Roman has successfully served for many years as lead counsel to Peabody Energy, the world’s largest coal company, on its large dollar commercial disputes. Included among these was a 30-year supply agreement between Peabody Energy and a consortium of Western U.S. utilities, under which the parties could renegotiate certain contractual pricing mechanisms every five years. Disputes were to be resolved before a panel of arbitrators. The utilities rejected Peabody’s offer of a price reduction and subsequently sought to recover $130 million in overpayments for four years. Peabody countered with a claim that the pricing factors should produce a price increase for those four years. Roman successfully argued and obtained from the arbitration panel a ruling which resulted in the utilities owing Peabody approximately $30 million and all overpayment allegations being rejected.

Co-Author, “The Attorneys’ Fee Award in Class Action Litigation – Is the Carrot Too Big?” St. Louis Lawyer (November, 1999)

Education

University of Illinois College of Law: J.D., magna cum laude (1986); Order of the Coif
Saint Louis University: B.S., magna cum laude (1982)