The National Law Journal's L.A. Legal Pad

Judge approves Mattel lead paint settlement

U.S. District Court Judge Dale Fischer of the Central District of California approved a class settlement yesterday that resolves multidistrict litigation involving lead paint in Mattel Inc. toys.

The settlement involves millions of toys that were recalled or removed from the market in 2007 by Mattel or its subsidiary Fisher-Price Inc. due to excessive lead content. The settlement also involves toys recalled due to small magnets that could come loose. No personal injury claims against Mattel are covered in the deal.

Class members who return toys now would be entitled to a check or voucher equal to the price of the recalled product. Class members without a proof of purchase could receive vouchers for as many as three toys per household, as long as the total settlement amount for those members does not exceed $10 million. Class members who paid for lead testing of their children within six weeks of the recall announcement can seek reimbursement, as long as the total amount for the class does not exceed $600,000.

Full story at NLJ.com.

New white collar defense partners at Arent Fox in L.A.

Arent Fox LLP announced today that Terree Bowers and Mary Carter Andrues have joined the firm as partners in Los Angeles. They join the white collar defense practice.

Terree Bowers is the former US Attorney for the Central District of California. During his tenure, he established and chaired the first Telemarketing/Investment Fraud Task Force in the country. He also created and led the Financial Institutions Fraud Task Force for the Los Angeles area. He later served as the Chief Deputy City Attorney for Los Angeles, supervising more than 525 attorneys. He received the prestigious Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service and has been honored by three United States Attorneys General and one Canadian for his outstanding work in a variety of fields. In 1994, the Department of Justice selected Mr. Bowers to serve as a US representative on the Yugoslavia War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY). He traveled to Bosnia at the height of the Yugoslav conflict to investigate allegations of genocide and helped present the international arrest warrant case against Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. He is an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer with over 30 years of experience in supervising and litigating complex commercial, white collar and regulatory cases in the areas of securities fraud, banking and financial institutions, civil rights actions, political corruption issues, government contracting, health care fraud, pharmaceutical testing issues, environmental criminal, false claims, customs, tax fraud, antitrust issues, insurance coverage and a variety of other complex litigation matters.

Mary Carter Andrues focuses on white collar criminal defense, internal corporate investigations, international and domestic regulatory compliance and enforcement and complex commercial litigation. Ms. Andrues was an Assistant US Attorney in the Central District of California, where she served as the Chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section; Deputy Chief of the Public Corruption and Government Fraud Section; and as Health Care Fraud Coordinator. She served on the US Department of Justice, Attorney General's Advisory Committee and Health Care Fraud Subcommittee. Ms. Andrues received the Attorney General's Director's Award for her role as the lead federal prosecutor in the LAPD Rampart Investigation. Ms. Andrues has more than 20 years of trial experience and handles matters involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, including investigations by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Her practice also focuses on areas of government contract and procurement fraud, improper gifts, gratuities and kickbacks, violations of federal export control laws, including the Arms Export Control Act, International Traffic in Arms Regulations, International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Administration Act. She regularly served as an instructor to federal law enforcement agencies and at the US Department of Justice, National Advocacy Training Center.

Gang Tyre has Gold in their hills again

Stanley Gold, the former managing partner of entertainment boutique Gang Tyre Ramer & Brown Inc., has returned to the firm as counsel.

Gold was managing partner of Gang Tyre until 1985, when he became president and chief executive officer of Shamrock Holdings Inc., the personal investment firm founded by the late Roy E. Disney. Gold also was a director on the board of The Walt Disney Co. until 2003. According to the law firm, Gold will continue to work with Shamrock.

He will specialize in financing and corporate deals in the entertainment industry at Gang Tyre.

Full story at NLJ.com.

Court rules cyber-gay bashing not protected free speech

The 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that students at Harvard-Westlake School who posted death threats and antigay messages on the Internet site of a 15-year-old classmate can't claim the constitutional protection of free speech. This upholds an earlier decision by the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Although the Los Angeles Police Department detective who initially investigated the hostile website postings and the district attorney have declined to press charges against the students, the decision will allow the family of the cyber-bullied boy to move forward with their suit against the students for alleged hate crimes.

The family was compelled to move to Northern California by the Internet postings, which pronounced the boy "wanted dead or alive." 

Full story at LATimes.com.

L.A. courtrooms hit hard by layoffs

Due to a massive budget shortfall, the Los Angeles County, Calif., Superior Court will lay off 329 employees and close 17 courtrooms. The announcement of the layoffs yesterday capped months of political wrangling between McCoy and California Chief Justice Ronald George over whether to spend state funds earmarked for courthouse construction to pay court operating expenses in Los Angeles County.

The layoffs won't be the last, as court officials predicted that as many as 500 more people could be laid off and 50 more courtrooms closed by September.

The 17 courtrooms being closed spread throughout Los Angeles County and include the main civil and criminal buildings in downtown Los Angeles and at Central Civil West, which handles complex litigation and multidistrict litigation. Additional courtrooms are being closed in Malibu, Hollywood, Santa Monica, West Los Angeles and San Fernando.

Full story at NLJ.com.

Jury says Anthem must pay for out-of-state operation

Last month Ephraim Nehme sued Anthem Blue Cross to pay for an out-of-state liver transplant after the insurance giant refused. Blue Cross originally approved for the transplant to take place at UCLA, where Nehme's doctor strongly recommended that the patient have the operation in Indiana, where wait times were much shorter.

Yesterday a jury concluded that Anthem should cover not only the cost of that operation in Indiana, but Nehme's legal costs as well.

At a hearing set for next week, Scott Glovsky, Nehme's lawyer, said he will ask Superior Court Judge Kenneth Freeman to order Blue Cross to allow its California members to pursue organ transplants at hospitals nationwide that do business with its parent, Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc.

Click these for details.

Munger Tolles attorney tapped to L.A. Police Commission seat

Richard Drooyan, a former assistant U.S. attorney, has been nominated by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to the Los Angeles Police Commission.

He would fill a seat vacated by Andrea Ordin, who stepped down recently to take a post in L.A. County government. The City Council must approve the choice of Drooyan, although the nomination isn't expected to raise any serious objections.  Drooyan would join a five-person panel charged with setting policy for the department and overseeing its operations.

Drooyan was a member of the blue-ribbon Christopher Commission formed to reform the LAPD after the Rodney King beating. He also served as general counsel to the Rampart Independent Review Panel. He is currently a litigation attorney at Munger, Tolles and Olson.

Click these for details.

Sanchez paroled after 23 years

In 1985, Rosie Sanchez was convicted of arson for a fire that killed a person sleeping inside a clothing store and sentenced to 25 years to life. Last week, after maintaining her innocence through the 23 years she spent in prison, she was granted parole.

Prosecutors argued at the time that she had a financial motive for burning down a competitor's business. But last month the case's judge, Sam Bubrick, had urged the governor to allow Sanchez's release in a letter. "The jury's decision in her trial has always continued to haunt me because it was one of the few times in my 59 years as a lawyer that I think justice was not served," wrote Bubrick.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took no action by Thursday's deadline to block the state parole board's recommendation that Sanchez be released. 

Full story here.

New charges from FL keep CA child molester behind bars a little longer

The release of convicted child molester George Joseph England from prison was thwarted last week by a criminal complaint signed in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The new charges include transporting a juvenile from California to Florida with the intent to engage in sexual activity, and possessing child porn in computer files transported across state lines. England will be ordered to a federal court for hearings on removal, identification and bond.

The new charges were announced a day after the Orange County, Calif., district attorney warned about the 65-year-old's impending freedom and released a video in which Jackie Zudis, 42, told of years of forced sex starting at age 5 after England bought her from her mother in Vietnam in 1972.

Full story here.

K&L Gates welcomes two new OC partners

K&L Gates LLP has announced the addition of Stephen T. Freeman and Gregory J. Hartker as partners in its tax practice. Both join K&L Gates from Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, where Freeman served as chair of the firm's tax practice.

With a focus on corporate tax planning, Freeman counsels clients on the tax implications of mergers and acquisitions, financings, entity formation, and executive compensation. He has substantial experience advising investment funds, venture funds, and institutional investors in all aspects of fund formation, alternative investments, and structuring. Freeman also represents clients in disputes with the Internal Revenue Service and the California Franchise Tax Board.

Hartker concentrates his practice on corporate and partnership tax issues involving taxable and tax-deferred mergers and acquisitions, public and private issuances of debt instruments, and partnership structuring and operating. He advises on international tax issues involving cross border transfer pricing, Subpart F, foreign tax credits, and treaty issues, as well as investment fund structuring and representing investors in such funds.

Both will work in the firm's Orange County office.

Alvarez to represent self in fourth trial

Charged with two counts of attempted murder and in custody for more than five years, Alvarez has been tried unsuccessfully three times. He announced on Thursday an intention to represent himself in his fourth trial, citing his court-appointed attorneys' desire to delay the trial as a reason.

That hearing was supposed to allow prosecutors an opportunity to defend their reasons for a fourth trial. That issue will be taken up on April 8, said Judge Wayne Ellison.

Ellison said that although Alvarez has a constitutional right to act as his own defender, he thought he was making a "big mistake."

Full story here. 

Brown goes to bat for farm laborers in new suit

A lawsuit filed in Imperial County Superior Court by State Attorney General Jerry Brown alleges that farm labor contractor Juan Munoz underpaid workers and scheduled them for continuous shifts in "potentially deadly" conditions in the Coachella Valley and other areas without training them to avoid heat exhaustion.

The suit seeks restitution in the amount of $500,000, plus an additional $500,000 in civil penalties. 

Additionally, prosecutors say that Munoz and his associates kept no records of the work being done, itself a violation of the state Labor Code.

Full story here.

Orange County sues Toyota

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced today that his office, along with other private attorneys, has filed suit against the U.S. sales arm of Toyota, alleging that the automaker has endangered the public with defective vehicles and engaged in deceptive business practices.

At a news conference, Rackauckas said his office will work with private attorneys from Robinson, Calcagnie and Robinson of Newport Beach in Orange County. He went on to say that since Toyota's office is in California his office has jurisdiction, and the private attorneys will be paid from any proceeds won in the suit.

The suit charges that Toyota knew about the defects in "selling and leasing hundreds of thousands of cars and trucks with defects that caused sudden unexpected and uncontrollable acceleration."

Full story at Reuters.

Governor changes parole file policy

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has reversed a longtime policy of shredding sex offenders' parole files, wanting those documents instead to be maintained indefinitely.

This policy change comes on the heels of a recent arrest of a paroled sex offender accused of killing a 17-year-old girl near San Diego last month. John Albert Gardner III was discharged from parole in 2008, and his file was purged after a year. An assemblyman had requested the file earlier this month and reportedly received only a one-page summary of Gardner's history in corrections. An investigation was called for, and later on Tuesday the governor issued a statement changing the policy.

Corrections officials said because of storage limitations, destruction of parole documents for other types of offenders will continue.

Click these for details.

Rosendahl joins DLA Piper in NY and LA

DLA Piper announced today that Roger W. Rosendahl has joined the firm’s corporate and finance practices as a partner in the New York and Los Angeles offices. He comes to DLA Piper from Kaye Scholer.

Mr. Rosendahl’s practice focuses on corporate, finance and securities transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, project and structured finance and restructuring, energy, commercial and international arbitration and mediation as well as general corporate counseling.

He received an A.B., cum laude, from the University of Southern California and a J.D. from Georgetown University.

"Roger has an extraordinarily deep pool of contacts and client relationships in the corporate and finance arena, both in the US and abroad," said Michael Meyer, Managing Partner of DLA Piper’s Los Angeles office. "He will be an invaluable resource to our US and multinational clients and we are thrilled to have him join our exceptional team in Los Angeles."

Suit alleges Korean immigrants targeted in loan modification scam

Attorneys with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center accused Trinity Law Associates Inc., a Los Angeles law firm, of defrauding at least 28 Korean immigrants out of thousands of dollars by falsely promising that their services would prevent foreclosures.  A lawsuit was filed Wednesday.

The complaint alleges that Trinity lawyer Timothy D. Thurman used Korean-speaking agents to lure clients, and then charging them an upfront retainer averaging $7,000, telling them that their litigation against lenders would forestall foreclosure and reduce the principal they owed.  According to Yungsuhn Park, an attorney with the legal center, Thurman's actions hastened the foreclosures and cost victims their homes.

Thurman was arrested last year on another loan modification case.

Full story at LATimes.com.

Rabson new partner at Wilson Sonsini

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati announced today that Michael Rabson has rejoined the firm as a partner. He will be based in the firm's Palo Alto office and serve as a strategic advisor to life sciences and clean technology clients.

Prior to joining the firm, Rabson served as general counsel and senior vice president for business development and legal affairs at Cytokinetics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of small-molecule therapeutics. Previously, he was general counsel and senior vice president at Maxygen, an international biotechnology company devoted to the production of improved protein drugs. Before his tenure at Maxygen, Rabson was a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where his practice focused on life sciences, including therapeutics, agriculture, and medical devices, as well as material sciences. Earlier in his career, he was a patent examiner specializing in biotechnology and genetic engineering at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Rabson received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1989, earned a Ph.D. in infectious disease epidemiology from Yale University in 1983, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. He received a B.S. in biological studies from Cornell University in 1975.

Full story here.

Alcala sentenced to death

During his closing remarks on Tuesday, Rodney Alcala asked the jury to forego the death penalty in favor of a life sentence. To do otherwise, he said, would make the jurors become "wannabe killer[s] in waiting." To underscore his point, Alcala played a portion of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" in which the protagonist tells a military psychiatrist about his desire to kill and "see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth."

It took the jury only a few hours to sentence Alcala to death. 

This will be the third such conviction for Alcala.  The last two convictions were overturned.  Alcala suggested during his remarks that a death sentence will only lead to appeals that could last up to 20 years.

Click these for details.

New partners named at Glaser Weil

Glaser, Weil, Fink, Jacobs, Howard & Shapiro, LLP announced today that litigator Scott Gizer and corporate attorney Lisa Hamilton Klein have been elected to the partnership.

Mr. Gizer handles all aspects of business litigation with a specialty in real estate and construction. He received his B.A. from the University of California, San Diego and received his J.D. from Loyola Law School.

Ms. Klein has over 20 years experience counseling both public and private companies in general business and real estate matters, including securities, acquisitions and financings as well as work-outs and restructurings. She received her B.A. from Northwestern University and received her J.D. from University of California, Los Angeles.

Court of Appeals says Sony owes C3 no Moe

Sony Pictures Television Inc. owned the copyrights to 190 Three Stooges short films. C3 Entertainment Inc. claimed Sony violated the terms of a contract between the parties when Sony distributed compilations of the shorts without paying C3 a share of the proceeds. C3 also asserted that Sony should have paid a portion of the revenue it received when it licensed the shorts to the cable channels AMC and Spike.

Additionally, Sony allegedly breached the terms of a separate agreement by failing to make a reasonable good faith effort to maximize gross receipts in all the markets in which it utilized those shorts.

The California Court of Appeals saw things differently yesterday, and ruled that C3 was not due any payment from Sony's actions.

Full story here.