Business Litigation

Represent Tilt Holdings and cannabis technology company Baker Technologies in defending a proposed Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action.

Chief Magistrate Judge Spero of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California appointed Farella partner Doug Young as the Special Master charged with overseeing implementation of the injunctive relief ordered by the court in this landmark class action regarding coverage of behavioral health claims.

We defeated plaintiffs’ main claims in a multi-million dollar international arbitration under UNCITRAL rules relating to deep-sea diving pipeline work in an offshore oil field off the coast of Angola. 

Filed an antitrust suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of the International Swimming League, and a class action on behalf of Olympic champion swimmers, against Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA). The suit was brought to remedy FINA’s unlawful group boycott of international swimming competitions sponsored by promoters other than FINA, such as the International Swimming League. FINA sought to enforce its group boycott by threatening the world’s elite swimmers with future disqualification from Olympic competitions if they participated in non-FINA approved events. FINA abandoned its group boycott once sued, but the actions are continuing so that plaintiffs can recover damages and attorneys’ fees and ensure that FINA does not take other actions to abuse its Olympic gatekeeper role.

Defended a class action filed in the Central District of California against Monex and related entities and individuals. The suit alleged misrepresentations and omissions in the solicitation and trading of monies used to invest in precious metals, and alleged claims under the Commodities Exchange Act and California consumer protection laws (the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and 17200). The team simultaneously defended a related, parallel enforcement action filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, raising similar allegations.

Represented former CFO in U.S. DOJ prosecution and parallel SEC case relating to alleged backdating of stock option grants and tax evasion counts. Though she faced a potential sentence of up to six years, Ms. Abrams ultimately received a much more favorable sentence of only four months in custody.

In addition to retail sales of bottled water, Nestle Waters, dba Arrowhead, also makes recurring monthly deliveries to home and office customers (i.e., water coolers). Plaintiffs brought a class action under a new California statutory scheme that regulates “automatic renewal contracts” – i.e., contracts where a credit card is charged on a repeated basis for continued deliveries of goods or services. Precedent in this area was limited because the statute is relatively new. In September 2017, the court denied class certification; plaintiff sought to try the case in order to preserve the right to appeal, and the case was set for trial in December 2017. After a pretrial ruling interpreted the statute to reject most of plaintiffs’ claims, the plaintiff agreed to dismiss with prejudice for a waiver of costs. 

Co-lead defense counsel for Toyota in federal multidistrict proceedings alleging a putative nationwide class of vehicle owners who claim economic losses stemming from diminution of resale value due to purported concealed defects in electronic throttle control systems.  Plaintiffs asserted claims under the UCL, FAL, CLRA and various statutory warranty and common law claims.

Represented Philippine company in a breach of contract action against a supplier of windmills and solar panels. Obtained a stipulated judgment against defendants for the full amount sought, plus fees and costs.

We represented Dr. Bronner’s, a manufacturer of organic skin care products, in an action against several major cosmetic companies asserting that the skin care products of the defendants which were advertised and sold as “organic” were not in fact organic as understood by consumers in California. The critical issue in this action was determination of what constitutes “organic” ingredients in skin care products to justify advertising and presenting those products as “organic.” After several years of litigation in state and federal courts in San Francisco, the matter is currently pending before the USDA.

Represented a cloud storage company against copyright infringement claims brought by five major movie studios in federal district court in Florida. The case involved cutting-edge issues of law under the DMCA, the Stored Communications Act and the Copyright Act in the cloud-computing context. 798 F. Supp. 2d 1303 (S.D. Fla. 2011)(motion to dismiss denied in part)

Representing Danicsco in litigation pending in United States District Court for Northern District of California relating to enforceability of restrictive covenant in senior executive employment contract.

We have represented FelCor, a Texas REIT and operator of Holiday Inns' hotels in San Francisco, in an appeal in front of the San Francisco Handicap Access Board of Appeals, resulting in the exemption of a Hotel's parking facility from compliance with certain access requirements. We also have represented FelCor in disputes relating to its centralized operation of and advertisement for several Holiday Inn hotels, and the allocation of and accounting relating to associated costs and fees.  Through a mediation process involving accountants and industry experts, we were able to structure a resolution between the owners and operators relating to both past and future practices.

We represented Stryker in a class action alleging unlawful kickbacks to physicians in order to encourage them to select Stryker medical devices. We substituted in as co-counsel after the matter had been litigated for two years and a motion to dismiss had been denied, and within six months convinced plaintiff to dismiss the case with prejudice in exchange for a waiver of costs.