Allen Ruby ’68

t was a big-time slap down for heavyweight litigator and one-time wrestler Allen Ruby ’68, taking on the U.S. Government and one of its top defense manufacturers, FMC Corporation. Ruby won.

After 14 years, 100 motions, and 1,000 boxes of supporting material, the protracted battle fought in federal trial and appellate courts ended in U.S. District Court in San Jose in January with a unanimous court jury award of $139 million, and an $80-million post-verdict settlement.

Ruby’s team included former classmate J. David Black ’68 of White & Case, Phillip G. Svalya of Cupertino, and Roy Bartlett.

The government false claims whistle-blower case, United States of America ex rel Henry Boisvert v. FMC Corp., began in 1986 with a lawsuit filed by Boisvert, a former employee of FMC, manufacturer of the U.S. Army’s Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

The all-terrain vehicle was designed to carry troops and equipment through water and on land, but it leaked, according to Boisvert, an FMC test analyst, who continued to report the deficiencies. Ruby proved Boisvert was wrongfully terminated by FMC after he filed suit under the False Claims Act.

Ruby, a partner in the San Jose firm of Ruby & Schofield, has practiced criminal and civil law since graduating from Stanford. He says he learned a lot about law between high school and law school while on the professional wrestling circuit in the Midwest, following in the footsteps of his father. “I learned how to get beat and not whine about it, and that was the most valuable lesson I could have learned as a trial lawyer.”

report by the National Association for Public Interest Law has found that Stanford is one of only six law schools that make up 70 percent of loan repayment assistance program funding nationwide.

LRAPs, such as the Miles & Nancy Rubin Loan Forgiveness Program at Stanford Law School, are credited with enabling more graduates to enter the lower paying public service area of law, despite substantial educational debt incurred by many law students.

The report listed Stanford along with Yale, NYU, Harvard, Columbia, and Georgetown. According to the report, although the number of loan assistance programs is down slightly since 1994, the pay out has risen from $3 million to $7.6 million in 1999.