John Zavitsanos

Lawyer information

Practice Areas

John Zavitsanos is a highly regarded trial lawyer who loves trying cases and loves winning. He has achieved success for a multitude of clients – both defendants and plaintiffs, from big energy companies to lone whistleblowers battling the odds.

He has tried almost 100 cases to verdict in litigation that runs the gamut: financial services, oil and gas, construction, complex commercial disputes, director and officer liability, non-compete and trade secret disputes, and defamation/business disparagement. He is the primary author of O’Connor’s Texas Rules * Civil Trials 2018-2021, the premiere civil trial rules guide for Texas lawyers and judges.

He has learned from every jury trial by surveying the jurors after the case and learning what conventional wisdom has outlived its usefulness. That’s a lot of input since even just he has tried more than a dozen cases in the last few years.

And his willingness – delight, actually – at trying a case with confidence has impressed numerous heavyweight clients. As one happy customer put it, “I find that many large law firms are willing to capitulate too quickly and pressure me to settle too soon.” He said he knows that Mr. Zavitsanos is “serious about going to trial.”

Mr. Zavitsanos’ considerable talents have been recognized by every possible legal rating service. For 18 consecutive years, he’s been listed by Best Lawyers in America. He’s recognized for his General Commercial Litigation work in Texas by the highly respected Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, published by London-based Chambers and Partners. He was also named a Benchmark Litigation Star in 2016-2022. And he is a Litigation Counsel of America Senior Fellow. And he was named a Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers in America for 2021 with a focus on commercial litigation, intellectual property, and securities.

He has achieved the highest possible peer rating, AV Preeminent, by Martindale-Hubbell, the premier legal directory, for his Business Litigation practice. He’s been named by his peers as one of the top 100 Texas Lawyers on the annual Texas Super Lawyers list for the past eleven years. And he is board certified in civil trial law by both the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and the National Board of Trial Advocacy, an accomplishment held by less than 2 percent of all practicing lawyers in the state of Texas.

THE RESULTS OF SOME OF MR. ZAVITSANOS’ RECENT CASES

In 2021, Mr. Zavitsanos won a $62.65 million verdict from a Nevada jury in a nationally watched case for emergency room physician group clients who were underpaid by United Healthcare, the largest insurer in the nation. The jury in this seven-week trial unanimously found malice, oppression, and fraud in the underpayment of the doctors. This verdict against a cluster of United Healthcare affiliates will serve as a bellwether for more than two dozen similar cases around the nation against various insurers.

In 2021, Mr. Zavitsanos successfully represented emergency room physicians in obtaining a $19.1 million Houston jury verdict against a large insurance company in the first case in the nation to litigate emergency room physicians’ out-of-network pay from private insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act.

In 2021, Mr. Zavitsanos successfully represented the estate of a red snapper fisherman who had been cheated out of $1 million. We obtained $5.1 million for his heirs just when the jurors started to deliberate the four weeks of testimony they had heard. The pre-trial offer was $0.

In 2020, Mr. Zavitsanos successfully represented emergency room doctors in obtaining a $9.4 million jury verdict against an Arkansas insurance company in a breach-of-contract case in which the insurance company grossly underpaid emergency room doctors. AZA was hired six days before trial. AZA will be representing more emergency room doctors’ groups against insurance companies across the country that have been systematically stripping doctors of their pay. See the Texas Lawbook story on this win Six Days Notice, Six Witnesses, Six Jurors, 150 ER Doctors, Two Ticked Off In-House Counsel and a $9.4M Verdict (subscription requited). It is in the 2020 Top 100 Verdicts as calculated by Verdict Search. It is was a 2020 Top 10 Verdict nationally.

Career

HONORS & DISTINCTIONS

Board Certified, Civil Trial Advocacy Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy

Board Certified, Civil Trial Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization

Leader in Texas General Commercial Litigation in the 2014- 2021 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business

Chambers USA Texas Trial Lawyers Spotlight honor 2021

The Best Lawyers in America, 2006-2022

National Elite Trial Law Firm 2021 Award Winner

2019 Nicholas J. Bouras Award for Extraordinary Archon Stewardship presented by the National Council of the Order of Saint Andrew

Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers in America for 2021 with a focus on commercial litigation, intellectual property, and securities.

Litigation Counsel of America Senior Fellow including Trial Law Institute, Diversity Law Institute and Order of Justitia

Houston Bar Association Speakers Bureau Committee for the 2020-2021

Benchmark Litigation Star in 2016-2022

Texas Super Lawyers, 2003-2021

Top 100 Texas Lawyers, 2011-2021

Top 100 Regional Business Litigators, 2007-2016

Who’s Who in American Law

Million Dollar Advocate Forum

Outstanding Lawyers of America, 2003 – present

Litigation Counsel of America, Fellow

Texas Bar Foundation Fellow

Who’s Who in Energy, 2011-2014

College of the State Bar of Texas, 2005

Rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell

Publications

PUBLICATIONS, PAPERS AND CLE PRESENTATIONS

Mr. Zavitsanos’ authorship and presentations at seminars include:

Primary author of O’Connor’s Texas Rules * Civil Trials 2018-2021

“How to Command a Room: Impactful Presentations to Juries and Clients,” Houston Bar Association seminar, February 2022

“Strategies from Trial Titans: Trying a Case to the Modern Jury of the 2020s,” Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists, September 2021

“Civil Case Update,” Texas Center for the Judiciary Spring Regional Conference, May 2021

“Live Jury Trials in the Time of Covid: Lessons from the Front Lines,” Litigation Counsel of America webinar, November 2020

“How the Pandemic is Impacting the Future of Jury Trials in Texas,” Texas Lawbook webinar, Houston, October 2020

“The Art of Business Litigation: A Conversation,” ALM’s Texas Business Litigation CLE presentation, Houston, March 2020

Contributing author of Texas Business Litigation 2019, published by Texas Lawyer

“The Art of Business Litigation,” University of Houston Law Center CLE, Houston, November 2019

“Opening Statements in David vs. Goliath,” America Bar Association, Litigation Section, New York City, May 2019

“Tactical Considerations in Business Trials,” Houston Bar Association, Litigation Section, Houston, April 2019

“Mining for Silver: Discovery Update,” 2019 HBA Civil/Appellate Bench Bar Conference, Houston, April 2019

“Voir Dire Panel Perspective – Effective Voir Dire and Opening,” Texas Bar CLE, Houston, October 2017

“Lies in Business and Under Oath” CLE course in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, December 2016

“Punitive Damages in Commercial Litigation: Pursuing and Defending Claims – Leveraging Pretrial Motions, Discovery and Trial Strategies, Navigating Constitutional Restraints” webinar, Strafford Publications Inc., April 2014

“Witness Credibility in Trial and Depositions,” Texas Lawyer’s In-House Counsel Summit, April 2014, November 2013, May 2012

“Witness Credibility at Depositions and Trial – Do’s and Don’ts,” State Bar of Texas – Texas Minority Counsel Program, 18th Annual Conference, September 2010

“Lessons Learned from Trying a Breach of Fiduciary Case,” Houston Bar Association, Litigation Section, December 2008

“Cross Examination,” University of Houston Law Foundation, Civil Litigation, February 2008

Credibility and Impeachment – University of Houston Law Foundation; Advanced Evidence and Discovery, November 2007

Witness Credibility – How To Prepare, Achieve, And Destroy It; Lorman Education Services, June 2006

Preparing Your Witness for Deposition and Trial, Houston Bar Association, March 2006

Types of Claims and Their Values, Houston Bar Association, September 2005

Preparing Your Witness for Deposition and Trial, Houston Bar Association, November 2004

Witness Credibility – How To Prepare, Achieve, And Destroy It, Lorman Education Services, September 2004

Credibility and Impeachment: Fundamentals of Direct and Cross- Examination, University of Houston Law Foundation – How to Offer and Exclude Evidence, September 2002

Preparing Your Witness for Deposition and Trial, University of Houston Law Foundation, June 2002

Punitive Damages – Phase II, University of Houston Law Center – Litigation and Trial Tactics, December 2000

Asserting, Contesting and Preserving Privileges Under the New Rules, University of Houston Law Foundation – Advanced Civil Discovery Under the New Rules, June 2000

Education