Business Fraud
2011 Verdict – $270 thousand
We represented an investor who was scammed out of a quarter million dollars. The defendant broker convinced plaintiff to “invest” $261,357.90 in a gas station near Palm Springs with a series of lies about its viability. Defendant broker then waited six months for the property to into foreclosure. When it did, Defendant broker bought the property out of foreclosure for $50,000. Plaintiff lost almost a quarter of a million dollars; Defendant risked nothing and walked away with a Gas Station near Palm Springs. The broker blamed the market for Plaintiff’s loss and offered $10,000 to settle. After a week long bench trial Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel found for Plaintiff on all counts including fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence and awarded plaintiff $261,357.90. In addition, the Court disregarded the Defendant’s corporate entities thus leaving Defendant liable for the full amount.

Consumer Class Action
2011 Settlement – $450 thousand
We represented a class of more than 1,000 people who stayed at the Reiss, the Pine or Brunswick Hotel. The class action plaintiffs claimed that the Single Resident Hotels (“SRO”) circumvented landlord-tenant law by treating its guests as transient occupants and failed and/or refused to provide heat and/or other services to its guests. The case was mediated before Robert Kaplan and a settlement of $450,000 was reached. A majority of the class members received more $1,000 each.

Wage & Hour Class Action – Tire Retailer
2005 Settlement – $3 million +
In 2005, the firm was co-lead counsel in a wage-and-hour class-action case on behalf of more than 2,500 employees who were improperly classified as “exempt” from overtime laws and did not receive the proper meal and rest breaks. The case settled for over $3 million after nearly 13 months of litigation and discovery. The case involved the filing and opposing of several motions, including motions to prevent the firm from speaking to potential class members. The firm also received over 50,000 pages of documents that were reviewed and organized. After two months of lengthy settlements discussions, the case settled.

Stock Broker Negligence
April 2004 Settlement – $230 thousand
We represented a family, including a well respected attorney from San Diego, in a NASD Arbitration case against a worldwide brokerage firm. The broker placed the family in a number of speculative and risky technology stocks that resulted in severe losses. The brokerage firm, as is common place, used the “we are just order takers; the family wanted all of those risky stocks” argument. We contacted the broker, who not represented, and convinced him to sit for a video-taped deposition where he admitted that he was instructed by his supervisors to put clients, like our clients, into the risky speculative technology stocks in order to get rid of garbage stocks in the firm’s inventory. After presenting the video-tape to the brokerage firm, the case quickly settled.

Wage & Hour Class Action – Clothing Retailer
2003 Settlement – $10 million +
We represented a class of over 3,000 employees of one of the largest retailers in the country. The lawsuit alleged that the retailer wrongly classified these employees as managers when they were performing the same duties as subordinates. This was done to deprive these employees millions of dollars in overtime pay.

The retailer fought us at every stage in the litigation. For example, they dumped over 600,000 pages of documents on us in hopes that we would not look at them. We did. And, in the process uncovered several documents that established our claims – – including an admission that the retail giant was violating the law by wrongly labeling employees as managers.

Prisoner Rights Violations – Calipatria State Prison
2003 Settlement – $85 thousand
In 2003, the firm settled a federal civil rights action against the warden and certain correctional officers of Calipatria State Prison (Robinson v. Prunty US Dist. Court, Southern District 98CV-0676.)

The firm’s client was an inmate who was a victim of prison sponsored “gladiator fights.” Aware of racial tensions between African-Americans and Mexicans, Defendants placed inmates of different groups into small exercise yards that resembled locked cages knowing that a fight would ensue.

To stop these fights, which they created, the guards would fire guns and launch gas canister at the inmates. During the litigation, the firm was able to obtain video-tapes that graphically showed the “gladiator fights.” Interestingly, the specific tapes of the firm’s client disappeared. The case lasted several years, and involved Defendants’ several motions for summary judgment and appeals. It finally settled after months of settlement discussions and only days before trial was to commence.