Complex Civil Litigation

Gross Klein PC regularly represents businesses and individuals in complex civil matters in state and federal courts, from the very first stages of a dispute through verdict.  The firm’s experience in these matters is broad, and includes, antitrust, consumer fraud, breach of contract, securities fraud, business ownership disputes, shareholder litigation, trade secrets, class actions, RICO, professional liability, merger and acquisition disputes, investment disputes, insurance coverage matters, and vendor disputes, among others.

The firm’s attorneys have represented plaintiffs, defendants, and third parties in a broad range of sophisticated, litigation, in trial, arbitration, as well as mediation settings. Throughout the life of a case, the team at Gross Klein PC continually reexamines strategy, adapting quickly and efficiently in order to ensure that our clients maintain a competitive advantage. Although skilled in the courtroom, our attorneys often win cases for clients by motions before trial, and are frequently able to achieve favorable outcomes early in the litigation process.

Representative Cases

A sample of some of the recent complex litigation cases handled the firm:

  • Burchell, et al. v. City of San Francisco, et al. — Successful prosecution, in San Francisco Superior Court, on behalf of approximately thirty commercial crabbers and fishers of property damage and business loss claims against the City of San Francisco and two security providers arising out massive fire on San Francisco Pier 45. Attained settlement of $6.2 million after successful motion practice regarding City’s defenses and substantial fact discovery.

  • Bliquez v. Simpson — Successful prosecution of claims and defense against counterclaims, in Sonoma Superior Court, on behalf of individual arising from a post-relationship agreement addressing real property and other interests. After eight-week jury trial, attained multi-million dollar jury verdict, including punitive damages, an order requiring the defendant to quitclaim his recorded interest in multi-million dollar property, and complete defense verdict on the defendant’s counterclaims.

  • Fund.com Inc. v. Advisorshares Investments, LLC – Successful prosecution of freeze-out claims, in New York Supreme Court’s complex division, on behalf of a seed investor in a financial services company. Attained a settlement worth over $5 million during the pendency of cross-motions for summary judgment.

  • Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians v. Crosby — Successful representation of Indian tribe in actions, in the Eastern District of California, against former executives, including the tribe’s former treasurer, arising from an over decade-long scheme to embezzle tens of millions of dollars from the tribe. Representation included close cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice and resulted in criminal sentences of 57 months for two former officials and 41 months for another, the recovery of millions in restitution, and settlements of over $10 million.

  • Crooked Goat Brewing v. Barlow Star — Successful prosecution, in Sonoma Superior Court, of claims by multiple businesses against their landlord for failure to provide legally required flood protection. The case settled for several million dollars after the firm’s defeat of a motion for summary judgment based on exculpatory provisions in client leases.

  • Cramer v. Elements Mountain Company — Successful prosecution, as co-lead counsel on behalf of a class of Tahoe Donner homeowners, of price-fixing claims, in Nevada County Superior Court, related to snow removal services. The case settled for several millions of dollars in consideration for class members.

  • Iness Solutions v. Cisco Systems — Successful defense of a former executive and his wife, in Santa Clara Superior Court, against claims by his former employer, Cisco Systems, arising out of alleged procurement misconduct. Working closely with the executive’s criminal defense attorneys, we leveraged the civil case to attain a highly favorable result for the executive in a related criminal proceeding in the Northern District of California and settled the civil claims by Cisco against the executive and his wife for very favorable terms.

  • Kwak v. French Laundry Partners — Successful prosecution, in JAMS arbitration, of freeze-out claims of a former partner of Thomas Keller and the French Laundry in a consumer products business. Arbitration award required return to our client of canceled interest in the venture; subsequent favorable confidential settlement reached.

  • In re Gerova Securities — Successful defense of former executive in multi-district securities class action, consolidated in Southern District of New York, arising out of hedge fund redemption-related transactions. Achieved dismissal of the executive from the suit at the pleading stage and successfully negotiated his final, complete, class-wide release from all claims and insurance coverage for civil and criminal defense.

  • Paskenta Enterprises Corporation v. Cottle — Successful prosecution, in the District of Utah, of fraud claims by a tribal business against a healthcare company and its former executive. The case resulted in a substantial settlement for the tribal business.

  • Hunt v. Martin — Successful representation of technology company founder in freeze-out litigation, in Delaware Chancery Court. The case resulted in the retraction of for-cause termination of the founder and return to him of ownership interest.

  • Huani v. Donziger — Successful defense of New York attorney in defense of action brought by South American claimants, in the Southern District of New York, challenging distribution of proceeds from environmental litigation. Achieved complete dismissal on motion to dismiss.

  • JATAM v. Republic of Indonesia — Successful representation of Indonesian local communities and international environmental organizations in defense of a ban on open-pit mining in Indonesia’s protected forests in the face of threats by international mining companies. Litigation before the Indonesia Constitutional Court resulted in the partial overturning of the government’s reversal of the ban.