Ryan Ulloa
Biography
Overview
Ryan is a partner in the Firm's Commercial Litigation Practice. He represents clients involved in high-stakes litigation and complex business disputes with a particular emphasis on federal court practice, appellate litigation, and international arbitration.
Ryan has represented clients in diverse industries, including financial institutions, investment management firms, insurance companies, healthcare companies, and distributors. He has represented these clients in a variety of matters at both the trial and appellate levels in state court, federal court, bankruptcy court, and before arbitral tribunals. His practice focuses on a broad range of complex commercial litigation and arbitration matters, including claims for breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, violations of securities statutes, and products liability.
Ryan's appellate experience includes playing a critical role in victories before state and federal appeals courts. In the Third and Fourth District Courts of Appeal he secured reversal of non-final orders denying an insurer’s motions to compel appraisal. In the Eleventh Circuit, he secured affirmance of a district court order denying a motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds. In the Florida Supreme Court, he helped secure the dismissal of a bad faith claim against Florida's state-created insurance entity. He also assisted in securing the reversal of a summary judgment order against two hospitals seeking reimbursement for the treatment of medically indigent patients. In the Florida First District Court of Appeal, he helped secure reversal of a non-final order enjoining a hospital from operating a provisional trauma center. Ryan has appeared before all five of Florida's District Courts of Appeal, the US Court of Appeals for the Third and Eleventh Circuits, and the Florida Supreme Court on behalf of his clients. In addition, Ryan has presented oral argument before the Third District Court of Appeal, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Ryan also maintains an active pro bono practice in which he has represented a Guatemalan juvenile seeking permanent residency based on special immigrant juvenile status, low-income residents in landlord tenant disputes in south Florida, and an individual against a claim of qualified immunity in a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 claim stemming from his false arrest by a police officer.
Before joining White & Case, Ryan served as a law clerk to the Honorable Cecilia M. Altonaga, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, from January 2013 to January 2014, and the Honorable Melanie G. May, Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal, from August 2010 to December 2012.
Ryan is a member of the Federal Bar Association and the Appellate Practice Section of the Florida Bar. He serves on the Local Rules Committee of the Southern District of Florida. Ryan has also been appointed to the Southern District of Florida’s Miami Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the selection and reappointment of Federal Magistrate Judges.
Experience
Represented Florida's state-created insurance entity in a bad faith claim brought by its insureds. After the trial court dismissed the claim, the District Court of Appeal reinstated the action. The Florida Supreme Court, however, reversed the District Court's opinion and held that Florida's state-created insurance entity was immune from bad faith claims like the one brought by the insureds.
Represented two hospitals in a claim for reimbursement of services provided to medically indigent patients pursuant to a special law enacted by the Florida Legislature. The trial court granted summary judgment against the hospitals, finding that the special law granted an unconstitutional privilege to a private corporation. The Second District Court of Appeal affirmed the ruling, but the Florida Supreme Court reversed the District Court's opinion and upheld the constitutionality of the special law.
Represented a hospital seeking approval to operate a provisional trauma center against a suit from a neighboring hospital that already had an existing trauma center. The trial court granted a temporary injunction against the applicant-hospital, precluding it from operating as a provisional trauma center. The First District Court of Appeal reversed the temporary injunction, holding that the competitor hospital had failed to prove its entitlement to the injunction.
Represented an insurer against claims by its insureds in which the parties disagreed about the amount of the covered loss. In two similar cases, the trial court denied the insurer's motion to compel appraisal, but the appellate courts—Third and Fourth District Courts of Appeal—reversed the orders, and held that the dispute over the amount of the covered loss was for the appraisers and not the court.
Represented an insurer in a declaratory relief action brought by its insureds in federal district court. In the suit, the insureds sought a declaratory judgment and an anti-suit injunction that would resolve which of two parallel arbitration proceedings—in Miami and Germany—should proceed. The insurer successfully obtained a stay of the district court proceedings, and eventually secured a dismissal of the case.
Represented a financial institution in an action filed in state court by three former accountholders. The financial institution removed the cases to federal court pursuant to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, and successfully compelled arbitration under the account agreement.
Florida Super Lawyers Rising Star, 2018-2020
Appellate Practice
