Focus Areas
- Represented a manufacturer and distributor of personal care products against a model’s claim for image misappropriation from use of his photograph on product packaging. After forcing the matter into arbitration and preventing costly discovery, damages were limited and a favorable settlement was obtained.
- Resolved false advertising claims threatened by a putative class action plaintiff against our client, a manufacturer and distributor of hair care products, without any payment or change to advertising.
- Prepared a comprehensive product liability risk management assessment, including a product recall plan, for a manufacturer of commercial equipment in response to concerns about product safety.
- Successfully resolved Proposition 65 Notices of Violation and lawsuits involving a wide range of consumer products.
- Obtained favorable monetary settlement in action for bad faith breach of insurance contract against insurance company that had failed to defend client against intellectual property infringement claims.
- Jury trial resulting in $6.2 million judgment for sales representative who was refused his commissions. Judgment upheld on appeal in the first California precedent confirming right to treble damages for breach of sales commission contract.
- Represented a financial institution and its officers and directors in a complex action involving missing funds from electronic fund transfer transactions by a third-party payment processing company, resolving the claims using insurance proceeds.
- Obtained dismissal of a False Claims Act case against our client, a Medicare fiscal intermediary.
- Defended clothing wholesalers and resellers against claims of copyright infringement in fabric designs, resolving them at nuisance value.
- Defended institutional investors in action by Small Business Administration as federal court-appointed receiver of a small business investment company related to the investment of capital. Successfully negotiated resolution that ended investors’ commitments to fund failing partnerships, drastically reducing the amounts claimed by the SBA, and obtained a refund of several hundred thousand dollars overpaid by a client on the demand of the SBA.
- Obtained a preliminary and permanent injunction against a competitor’s sale of a similar product in action for trademark infringement, trade dress infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition.
- Defended a manufacturer of specialized heating and cooling lubricants and its employee against a competitor’s claims that hiring the employee violated a non-compete agreement. Negotiated a settlement that broadly enabled the employee to continue to work for our client and perform all of the employment duties he was hired to perform.
- Featured in, “Fallout from an Oral Contract,” Agency Sales Magazine, January 2014
- “Breach of Oral Contract, Treble Damages,” Los Angeles Daily Journal, August 13, 2013
- Virtual Summit, Personal Care Products Council
- Legal and Regulatory Conference, Personal Care Products Council
- “Emerging Legal Issues,” Personal Care Products Council
- “Cosmetic Regulations,” Beauty Marketing & Product Development, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising
- “Cosmetic Guide to Labeling, Testing & Documentation,” Beauty Marketing & Product Development, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising
- “Navigating Civil Regulatory Issues,” Beauty Industry Market Access (BIMA), Center for International Trade Development
- “Collecting from Principals,” Electronics Representatives Association Southern California Owner’s Forum
- “Introduction to Judicial Clerkships,” UCLA School of Law
Professional Associations
- American Bar Association
- Los Angeles County Bar Association
Community Activities
- Volunteer, Attorney Mediator, Los Angeles Superior Court
- Volunteer, American Youth Soccer Organization
Education
- University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, J.D., 2007,
managing editor, UCLA Entertainment Law Review
- University of Southern California, B.A., 2004,
with honors
Bar Admissions
- California
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit