2016 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year
PO Box 4104, Horseshoe Bay, TX 78657, USA
Significant Cases and Matters (By Type of Case)
Antitrust
Optical Disk Drive Antitrust Litigation, San Francisco Federal Court. Represented NEC Corporation in multi-district class actions brought by direct purchasers, indirect purchasers, OEM opt outs and the State of Florida attorney general alleging a conspiracy to fix the prices of optical disk drives and products containing optical disk drives.
Lithium Ion Batteries Litigation, Oakland Federal Court. Represented NEC Corporation in direct purchaser class and indirect purchaser class actions alleging a conspiracy to fix the price of lithium ion batteries and battery products.
SRAM Antitrust Litigation, San Francisco Federal Court. Represented NEC Electronics America (now known as Renesas Electronics America) in DOJ Antitrust Division grand jury proceedings and multi-district class actions brought by direct purchasers and 27 state classes alleging a conspiracy to fix the prices of SRAM memory chips. Selected by defense counsel and appointed by Court as Defendants’ Liaison Counsel.
DRAM Antitrust Litigation, San Francisco Federal Court, Ninth Circuit and 35 state courts. Represented NEC Corporation and NEC Electronics America (later known as Renesas Electronics America) in DOJ Antitrust Division grand jury proceeding and multi-district actions brought by more than 30 state attorneys general, classes of direct purchasers and indirect purchasers, and large opt-out customers alleging conspiracy to fix prices and reduce the output of DRAM memory chips. Our client was the only major defendant not to plead guilty in the criminal investigation.
Cascades Computer Innovation LLC v. RPX Corporation. Oakland Federal Court. Represented Dell in antitrust action alleging that defendants conspired to boycott plaintiff by refusing to take a patent license or engage in meaningful negotiations.
Magnetic Iron Oxide Antitrust Litigation, San Francisco Federal and State Courts. Represented defendant in multi-district cartel class action alleging a conspiracy to fix prices and reduce output of MIO, a chemical used to magnetize video and audio tapes and products.
Bell Atlantic v. AirTouch Cellular, San Francisco Federal Court. Represented AirTouch Cellular in breach of contract, fraud, and monopolization case between two partners in the first-ever nationwide cellular joint venture. Settlement and Vodafone’s subsequent acquisition of AirTouch led to the creation of the entity now known as Verizon Wireless.
Vodafone America. Retained by Vodafone America following Vodafone’s acquisition of AirTouch Cellular to negotiate transition and indemnity agreements with Verizon Wireless and Verizon Communications. Served as one of the primary outside litigation counsel for Vodafone America.
Garabedian v. Los Angeles SMSA Telephone Company, Orange County, California Superior Court. Represented AirTouch Cellular and GTE Mobilnet in $3 billion class action alleging price fixing, conspiracy, and unfair competition between the two cellular carriers offering cellular service in the greater Los Angeles/Orange County market during the 1980s and early 1990s. Case settled for coupons.
Lobatz v. U. S. West, San Diego Federal Court. Represented AirTouch Cellular in class action alleging price fixing, conspiracy, and unfair competition between the two cellular carriers offering cellular service in the San Diego market during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Lawndale v. Bay Area Cellular Telephone Company, San Francisco Superior Court. Represented AirTouch Cellular in consolidated class actions alleging price fixing, conspiracy, and unfair competition between the two cellular carriers offering cellular service in the San Francisco market during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Parrish v. Pacific Telesis Group, Sacramento, California Superior Court. Represented AirTouch Cellular in class action alleging price fixing, conspiracy, and unfair competition between the two cellular carriers offering cellular service in the Sacramento Valley market during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Wolf v. Toyota (In re Toyota Antitrust Litigation), San Francisco Federal Court. Represented the Northern California Toyota Dealers Association and a nationwide class of Toyota dealers in consolidated antitrust and fraud class actions alleging price fixing and conspiracy among Toyota and its dealers to inflate the price of local advertising charged to consumers on Toyota vehicles.
American Booksellers Association v. Barnes & Noble and Borders, San Francisco Federal Court (the "You've Got Mail" case). Represented Borders in price discrimination and unfair competition action by 26 independent bookstores nationwide and their trade association against the two largest bookselling chains.
McCaw v. PacTel Cellular, San Francisco Federal and Superior Courts, California PUC, and FCC. Represented PacTel Cellular and Pacific Telesis Group in five antitrust actions by cellular and paging competitors against PacTel alleging monopolization, unfair competition, fraud, and breach of contract with respect to a cellular telephone partnership and Pacific Telesis Group’s acquisition of Communication Industries.
Ball v. GTE Mobilnet, Sacramento, California Superior Court. Represented AirTouch Cellular and Verizon Wireless in class action against California cellular service providers alleging that a variety of business practices constituted unfair competition and unfair business practices.
Goldenwest v. Los Angeles Cellular Telephone Company, Orange County, California Superior Court. Represented AirTouch Cellular in price fixing, conspiracy, and unfair competition action by a cellular equipment retailer against the two cellular service providers in the greater Los Angeles/Orange County market during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Covad v. Pacific Bell, San Francisco Federal Court. Represented Pacific Bell and SBC in monopolization and breach of contract case by DSL company against Pacific Bell alleging exclusionary conduct.
Century Cable v. City of Palo Alto, San Francisco Federal Court. Represented Pacific Bell in action against a municipality and Pacific Bell alleging monopolization and unfair competition with respect to exclusive cable franchises.
Marine Construction Antitrust Litigation, New Orleans Federal Court. Represented Chevron in antitrust claim against McDermott and Brown & Root alleging price fixing of marine construction platforms, pipelines and equipment.
United States v. B&H Construction Co., Denver Federal Court. Represented B & H Construction, a subsidiary of InfrastruX, in acquittal by jury of criminal bid-rigging charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.
Federal Trade Commission v. Chevron Corporation and Gulf Oil Company, Federal Trade Commission. Represented Chevron in action by FTC to enjoin the then-largest merger in history, second request and HSR negotiations.
In re Natural Gas Antitrust Litigation, San Diego Superior Court. Represented TXU Corp. in twelve coordinated price-fixing actions brought by California governmental entities arising out of the California energy crisis.
State of California v. Safeway, Los Angeles Federal Court and Ninth Circuit. Representing Ralphs and Kroger in antitrust action by the California Attorney General alleging that a mutual strike assistance agreement and partial revenue-sharing agreement entered into by grocery companies, in connection with a labor strike, violated the Sherman Act.
City of Long Beach v. Chevron (In re Petroleum Products Litigation - MDL 150), Los Angeles Federal court. Represented Chevron in price-fixing and conspiracy action by the State of California and California municipalities against the major California refiners alleging overcharges for crude oil.
T-Mobile/AG Investigation. Represented T-Mobile in investigation by California Attorney General.
Various clients. Advice on antitrust, distribution, pricing, contract, mergers, joint ventures, strategic alliances, business terminations and general business matters.
Commercial/Business Litigation
State of Alaska v. Amerada Hess (In re Alaska North Slope Royalty Litigation), Juneau, Alaska Superior Court. Represented Chevron in action by State of Alaska against the Alaska oil industry alleging underpayment of crude oil royalties, fraud, and breach of contract.
BusinessLand v. PacTel InfoSystems, Sacramento, California Superior Court. Represented PacTel InfoSystems in unfair competition/theft of trade secrets/unlawful raiding of employees action by one competitor against another in the computer hardware retailing industry.
Fieler v. Chrysler Corporation, San Francisco Federal Court. Represented Chrysler in unfair competition, fraud, and breach of contract action by an advertising company against Chrysler and its Northern California dealer association.
Furniture Creations v. Universal Furniture, Los Angeles Superior Court (Norwalk). Represented Universal Furniture in breach of contract, unfair competition, and fraud action by a former exclusive distributor of furniture products against a Hong Kong manufacturer.
Golden v. J. C. Penney Company, Orange County, California Superior Court. Represented Borders in unfair competition class action alleging that a number of retailers in different industries sold gift certificates that expire in violation of California law.
RAS v. Borders Group, Inc., Sacramento, California Superior Court. Represented Borders in unfair competition class action alleging that a number of retailers in different industries sold gift certificates that expired in violation of California law.
Jones v. Borders, San Diego Superior Court. Represented Borders in class action alleging that the refusal to redeem gift cards for cash violates California’s gift card statute and unfair competition law.
Ramirez v. Eddie Bauer, San Diego Superior Court. Represented Borders in class action alleging that failure to replace lost, damaged, and stolen gift cards violates California law.
Leffert v. Amazon.com, San Francisco Superior Court. Represented largest manufacturer of MP3 players in class action against the MP3 player industry alleging that memory capacity was overstated.
Kantarian v. UltimateBid.com. Represented Ultimatebid.com in claim by terminated former president of an internet auction site company against his employer for breach of contract and fraud.
California Department of Motor Vehicles v. Chrysler Corporation. Represented Chrysler in disciplinary action and administrative trial in Sacramento by the California DMV to suspend Chrysler’s license to sell or supply vehicles in the State of California for alleged violations of California’s lemon law.
T-Mobile. Retained by T-Mobile to advise on launch of its cellular operations in California.
Intellectual Property
Integrated Device Technology v. ILJIN Electric Company. Represented IDT in international arbitration in Singapore under the ICC rules against ILJIN for breach of an SRAM and a microprocessor technology licensing agreement, fraud, and unfair competition.
High Country Linens v. American Pacific Enterprises, San Francisco Federal Court. Represented High County Linen in trademark, copyright infringement and unfair competition action by one competitor in the luxury bedding and linen industry against another.
Freedom Wireless v. Boston Communications Group, Boston Federal Court. Represented AirTouch Cellular and Vodafone in patent infringement action against prepaid cellular service providers.
CB Richard Ellis v. Insignia Financial, Southern District of New York Federal Court. Represented CB Richard Ellis in trademark infringement action relating to the worldwide rights to the name “Richard Ellis.”
Silicon Valley Joint Patent User Group. Advised group of 17 semiconductor companies on joint antitrust issues against common hostile patent owners.
Celebrity Negotiations for UltimateBid.com. Negotiated contracts with Joe Montana, Tiger Woods, Heidi Klum, and Geena Davis for internet company UltimateBid.com.
Product Liability
Smoking and Health Product Liability Litigation. Represented American Tobacco Company in 40 personal injury and wrongful death product liability cases in California in various federal and state courts.