Criminal Law

• Wrongful Death
  On behalf of the family and estate of Fridoon Rawshan Nehad, secured a $3 million settlement in December 2021 in a wrongful death and excessive force police shooting case against the San Diego Police Department on the eve of trial.  Fridoon was shot and killed by a San Diego police officer and the incident was captured on surveillance video.  Before the Ninth Circuit, Miller Barondess obtained a reversal of the grant of summary judgment and reinstated the lawsuit, remanding the case back to District Court for a jury trial.  The case also involved briefing before the U.S. Supreme Court which requested a brief on the qualified immunity issue.  The settlement amount is an unusually high number for San Diego. [Read more]
• Sex Crimes
  How Sexism Plays Out in the Courtroom in Sexual Assault, Discrimination, Harassment, and Every Other Kind of Case, Big and Small. The discussion will cover the disadvantages and biases women still face as litigators and potential strategies to address these issues at a personal and a broader level.
• Theft
• Restraining Order
  Won a published decision from the California Second District Court of Appeal on behalf of the County of Los Angeles.  In an effort to combat the surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the County of Los Angeles issued a modified order effective November 25, 2020 restricting outdoor dining services at restaurants, breweries, wineries, and bars.  The California Restaurant Association sought a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to enjoin the County from implementing the ban.  A superior court judge enjoined the County’s order, but the County filed an immediate petition for writ of mandate.  The Second District Court of Appeal issued an immediate stay of the superior court’s injunction against the County and an order to show cause as to why the injunction should not be reversed.  On March 1, 2021, the Second District Court of Appeal ruled that the superior court had abused its discretion in granting a preliminary injunction against the County, and directed the court to deny the California Restaurant Association’s request for preliminary injunction.  This victory helped to ensure the protection of County residents during a raging pandemic and set an important statewide precedent granting public officials broad discretion to take preventative measures during an emergency. [Read more]

Business and Corporate Law

• Mergers and Acquisitions
  Miller Barondess, LLP is a 40-lawyer firm in Los Angeles specializing in high-stakes litigation, trial, and appellate work in California and around the country.  The firm represents clients in a wide range of sectors, including technology, real estate, healthcare, entertainment/media, sports, consumer products, insurance, real estate, environmental, licensing, financial services and mergers and acquisitions.  The firm also has significant experience representing government clients.  With a reputation for victories in “bet-the-company” cases, the firm is frequently hired to “save the day” before trial.  Other law firms call us when their clients need a trial team.
• Trade Secrets
• Intellectual Property
• Antitrust

Employment Law

• Wrongful Termination
  Defended Applied Merchant Systems (“AMS”) in two separate lawsuits, one filed by Bancard Systems, Inc. (“BSI”) alleging fraud and breach of contract, and the other filed by a former AMS employee alleging fraudulent inducement and wrongful termination. In February 2016, AMS purchased BSI and acquired key BSI employees, including the former AMS employee, who entered into an employment agreement to serve as VP of AMS.  In February 2018, AMS terminated the former employee’s employment for various acts of misconduct.  AMS filed a cross-complaint against the former employee for breach of his employment and confidentiality agreements, conversion and civil theft.  On March 7, 2019, a judge granted summary judgment in favor of AMS in the fraudulent inducement and wrongful termination action, defeating all of the former employee’s causes of action.  In May 2019, the BSI action was settled favorably in mediation. [Read more]
• Employment Contract
• Severance Agreement
  Motley Crue’s attorneys say he will continue to get royalties from publishing and sound recordings, but that he is not entitled to be a shareholder in anything else going forward. Their offer of a severance agreement, as explained in Mars’ lawsuit, was 5% participation in what the group will make from the current tour — their first without him — an offer he still considered an insult even when it was upped to 7.5%. He said he had been asked to sign away all future compensation from the band’s businesses — except for any merch that might bear his likeness — in return for that share of the current tour’s profits. Sources close to the band say that they already negotiated him out of an obligation to Live Nation for the ’23 tour, and considered it a favor to have gotten Mars released from that exposure.

Health Law

• Disability Discrimination
  Miller Barondess defends private and public employers in high stakes litigation involving claims of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour, and wrongful termination.  We also defend cases involving disability discrimination and accommodation, and family and medical leave rights.

Trusts and Estates

• Probate

Finance Law

• Bankruptcy
• Foreclosure
  Lehman sought to foreclose on the properties, leaving the unsecured creditors and debtors with nothing.  We stopped this tactic and kept the properties out of foreclosure.  Lehman failed to disclose, both when they sought relief from stay to foreclose, and when they filed proofs of claims, that they had sold most of the loans, pre-petition, to a third party pursuant to a repurchase agreement or so-called “repo” financing transaction.  They also tried to invoke their own automatic stay in New York to prevent us from subordinating the liens.