Lucus A. Ritchie

Lucus Ritchie is a partner in Pierce Atwood's Litigation Practice Group. Lucus' practice covers a wide variety of complex commercial disputes, with a particular emphasis on class action defense and energy litigation. Lucus regularly appears in federal and state trial courts throughout the country, and represents clients in arbitrations, mediations and contested administrative proceedings. In each case, Lucus focuses on developing a detailed understanding of his client's business and its goals, and uses advocacy and creativity in order to obtain favorable results in a practical and efficient manner.

Lucus' recent representations include defending a top 10 U.S. bank in a series of class action lawsuits related to the bank's overdraft fee practices consolidated in MDL proceedings in South Carolina and Florida; defending a national check processing company against consumer class action lawsuits consolidated in MDL proceedings in Maine; representing former nuclear generating plants in lawsuits seeking recoveries from the U.S. Department of Energy for its refusal to remove spent nuclear fuel from the plants' sites; and serving as lead trial counsel to a California state agency in ongoing FERC litigation challenging long-term power contracts executed during the Western energy crisis.

Honors & Distinctions
  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Commercial Litigation and Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants (2023-present)

Practice Areas

Representative Experience
  • Defended multiple banks in class actions regarding overdraft practices and fees
    • A national bank in proceedings in Maine state court
    • A state-chartered bank in proceedings in Massachusetts state court
    • A state-chartered bank in proceedings in the District of Massachusetts
    • A national bank in two multidistrict litigation proceedings in the Southern District of Florida and District of South Carolina
    • A national bank in proceedings in the Districts of New Jersey and  Pennsylvania and the Southern District of Florida
  • Defended regional bank in class action regarding mortgage discharge payments in Massachusetts state court
  • Defended national bank in identity theft case in Maine state court
  • Successfully defended state-charted bank against RICO and state law claims in Maine state court
  • Defeated class certification of tag-along cases in Fair Debt Collection Practices Act MDL proceeding.
  • Represents California Public Utilities Commission in ongoing litigation before FERC concerning the 2000-01 Western energy crisis. See Pub. Utils Comm’n of Cal. v. Sellers of Long-Term Contracts, 155 FERC ¶ 63,004 (2016) (initial decision finding that CPUC and other California complainants made necessary showing that Mobile-Sierra presumption does not apply to two long-term contracts based on findings of market manipulation, fraud and public harm in excess of $1 billion).
  • Represents former nuclear generating plants in cases filed in the Federal Court of Claims seeking nine-figure recovery from the Department of Energy for its refusal to remove spent nuclear fuel from the plants' sites.