Tracy K. Stratford

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Tracy Stratford is a trial lawyer with more than 25 years of experience. Clients turn to her when complex litigation calls for both deep courtroom experience and fresh strategic thinking. She has served as trial counsel in multijurisdictional litigation, class actions, mass torts, and high-profile commercial disputes. She has tried product liability, accounting malpractice, legal malpractice, tax, and shareholder dispute cases to verdict. Tracy is known for finding unconventional paths to favorable outcomes. She builds coordinated strategies across simultaneously pending cases and aligns fact and expert development so that each proceeding strengthens the overall defense.

Tracy's record shows a consistent ability to reframe difficult cases. She was part of the Jones Day team that defended Sherwin-Williams in more than 150 coordinated lead-pigment cases brought under Wisconsin's unique "risk contribution" theory of alternative liability. That work produced a precedential Seventh Circuit decision that reshaped the pending personal injury cases.

Tracy has also led litigation strategy in a wide range of health care matters. These include high-profile disputed hospital closures, putative class actions over hospital billing, commercial disputes between health care providers, and real estate tax exemption litigation.

Her experience spans industries and both sides of the "v." She helped the City of Cleveland obtain a historic $100 million settlement with the Cleveland Browns. She secured a complete defense verdict against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and helped the Vermont Insurance Commissioner, as receiver of Ambassador Insurance, win a $119.9 million jury verdict for auditing malpractice that was upheld by the Third Circuit.

Tracy speaks regularly on attorney-client privilege and work product, issues that are critical to managing large-scale, multiforum litigation.

Erfahrung

  • City of Cleveland obtains historic $100 million settlement with Cleveland BrownsJones Day successfully represented the City of Cleveland in federal and state litigation arising from the Cleveland Browns' proposed relocation of the team's stadium to a suburban location, ultimately resolving the matter with a $100 million settlement with the Browns to fund the City's redevelopment of the existing stadium site and improvements to the Cleveland lakefront.
  • Sherwin-Williams wins appellate decision from Seventh Circuit affirming defense judgments in more than 150 coordinated lead-pigment casesJones Day client The Sherwin-Williams Company recently won a decision from the Seventh Circuit affirming final judgments in several coordinated cases against approximately 150 personal injury plaintiffs.
  • Sherwin-Williams wins precedential, en banc decision dismissing public nuisance claims involving 300,000 private propertiesJones Day client The Sherwin-Williams Company won dismissal of claims filed by two Pennsylvania counties alleging that former manufacturers of lead paint and pigments should be ordered to abate lead paint in all the pre-1978 homes within their jurisdictions.
  • J. M. Smucker Company secures complete dismissal in challenge to vaccination policyJones Day secured complete dismissal of all claims brought against The J. M. Smucker Company by former employees challenging their terminations pursuant to Smucker’s COVID-19 vaccination policy.
  • Sherwin-Williams obtains favorable decision from Seventh Circuit in personal injury casesA Jones Day cross-office, cross-practice team obtained a precedential decision from the Seventh Circuit that directed judgment as a matter of law for The Sherwin-Williams Company following a consolidated trial of three personal injury plaintiffs claiming injury from their exposure to white lead carbonate pigments (WLC).
  • KeyBank obtains dismissal of class action involving agent fees related to PPP loansJones Day successfully represented KeyBank in obtaining dismissal of a putative class action seeking payment of agent fees associated with Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") loans.
  • FirstEnergy's subsidiary will emerge from bankruptcy and separate from parentJones Day represented FirstEnergy Corp. and its non-debtor affiliates (FirstEnergy) in connection with the chapter 11 cases commenced on March 31, 2018, by its subsidiary First Energy Solutions, Inc. and certain of its other unregulated subsidiaries in the Northern District of Ohio, which are some of the largest chapter 11 cases to be filed in Ohio in recent memory.
  • R.J. Reynolds successfully defends dismissal of unfair trade practices suit in Fifth Circuit appealOn July 10, 2019, the Fifth Circuit unanimously ruled in favor of Jones Day client R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJRT), affirming the district court's dismissal of a suit brought by Caldwell Wholesale Company, L.L.C. (Caldwell).
  • M&G debtors confirm chapter 11 plan of liquidation and close sale of Corpus Christi plant for $1 billionOn December 17, 2018, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware entered an order confirming the Third Amended Plan of Liquidation (the "Plan") of Jones Day client M&G USA Corporation and eight of its affiliates (the "M&G Debtors"), which prior to the chapter 11 filing, were, along with their affiliates in Mexico, Brazil and Europe, one of the largest producers of polyethylene terephthalate resin – used for packaging applications – in the world. On December 28, 2018, after receiving antitrust approval, the M&G Debtors closed the sale of their partially constructed manufacturing facility in Corpus Christi, Texas, (the "Corpus Christi Plant") with a deal value in excess of $1 billion.
  • Weltman wins complete defense verdict in litigation brought by Consumer Financial Protection BureauJones Day client Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., LPA ("Weltman") secured a complete defense verdict in litigation brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB").
  • Cable company wins favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling denying plaintiff’s "sham litigation" appealThe U.S. Supreme Court on April 23, 2018, denied the request of a Puerto Rican telecommunications company to hear the appeal of its claims against Jones Day client San Juan Cable, a subsidiary of Liberty Global (the world's largest international TV and broadband company), bringing an end to the long-running antitrust case. 
  • FirstEnergy defends coal contract dispute with Tunnel RidgeJones Day defended FirstEnergy Corp. in a now-resolved and dismissed lawsuit brought by Tunnel Ridge, LLC in the Court of Common Pleas for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania against FirstEnergy Corp. and three of its subsidiaries, alleging breach of a coal supply agreement, among other claims.
  • FirstEnergy raises $1.616 billion in private placement of Convertible Preferred StockJones Day represented FirstEnergy Corp., a diversified energy holding company, in connection with its issuance of $1.616 billion of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock in a private placement to affiliates of Elliott Management Corporation, Bluescape, and GIC.
  • FirstEnergy raises $850 million in private placement of Common StockJones Day represented FirstEnergy Corp., a diversified energy holding company, in connection with its issuance of $850 million of Common Stock in a private placement to funds affiliated with Zimmer Partners, LP.
  • Goodyear prevails in long-running dealer termination disputeJones Day obtained the dismissal of a long-running lawsuit filed by a California distributor challenging The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company's termination of its dealer contracts as breaches of contracts, tortious interference, and violations of California unfair competition and federal antitrust law.
  • Molycorp emerges from bankruptcy as Neo Performance MaterialsJones Day advised Molycorp, Inc. in the bankruptcy buyout of the company by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.
  • Liberty Global defends antitrust class action brought by cable services subscribersJones Day is defending Liberty Global, Inc. subsidiary Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico in an antitrust lawsuit in which the plaintiff alleges monopolization and exclusionary conduct in a claimed market for cable television services in Puerto Rico.
  • Diebold obtains dismissal of breach of contract claimJones Day client Diebold, Incorporated obtained dismissal of an $11 million breach of contract claim filed by Webster Bank N.A. involving a subcontractor who was convicted of fraud and the theft of millions of dollars from several banks.
  • Cleveland Clinic prevails in challenge to its real estate tax exemptionJones Day represented the Cleveland Clinic in cases challenging the Cleveland Clinic's status as a charitable institution.
  • National mortgage lender wins motion to dismiss fraud and illegal loan claims under West Virginia lawJones Day represented a national mortgage lender and successfully argued that two West Virginia borrowers' fraud and illegal loan claims against the lender were time-barred, notwithstanding the plaintiffs' arguments for a longer limitations period.
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    DECEMBER 2025 Alert

    New Federal Rule Will Help Discourage Meritless Claims in Multidistrict Litigation

    May 2025 Alert

    Georgia Limits Liability for Pesticide Manufacturers

    Weitere Veröffentlichungen

    • 2000 - 2022
      2000 (updated annually through 2022) Successful Partnering between Inside and Outside Counsel, Chapter 9, Engagement Letters

    • October 20, 2014
      Developing Trends in Real Estate Tax Exemption, American Health Lawyers Association, Tax Issues for Health Care Organizations
    • January 2014
      Advising Nonprofit Providers: What All Health Care Lawyers Need to Know about Tax, Part IV: State and Local Tax-Exemption Issues, American Health Lawyers Association
    • April 2012
      Ohio Real Estate Tax Exemption Applications for Non-Profit Hospitals, Ohio Hospital Association

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