Greenberg Gross, along with other top firms, has been selected by the PG&E Fire Victim Trust to file lawsuits against vegetation management companies for their role in causing the deadly Northern California wildfires. The firm has also been selected to pursue global consulting firms, including PwC, for their role in the fires.
Reality star Erika Girardi, also known as Erika Jayne, retained Greenberg Gross to represent her in proceedings stemming from the bankruptcy case against her estranged husband, Thomas V. Girardi, and his firm Girardi & Keese. In January 2022, Greenberg Gross obtained a dismissal of Ms. Girardi from a Chicago federal district court lawsuit alleging embezzlement by her former husband. Greenberg Gross continues to represent Ms. Girardi in other pending bankruptcy and state court litigation.
Greenberg Gross, on behalf of UC Hastings and others, filed a historic lawsuit against the city and county of San Francisco to improve the Tenderloin district’s safety and public health problems. The city and county of San Francisco agreed to take significant steps to improve conditions that have long plagued the housed and unhoused residents of the Tenderloin, including approximately three thousand children.
Darigold, Inc., one of the largest U.S. dairy cooperatives, was awarded $1.9 million after a four-day arbitration against two competitors.
Evan Borges won a Ninth Circuit appeal for former ad agency executive Thomas Rubin against the Internal Revenue Service. Borges successfully argued that Rubin is entitled to pursue a $10 million tax refund because he had complied with a legal requirement to report inconsistencies between his personal tax return and his company’s tax return. The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal of Rubin’s lawsuit against the IRS for denying him the tax refund. Rubin’s tax refund litigation, which the court allowed to proceed, arose out of changes in law related to a bankruptcy trustee’s treatment on the corporate return of a claimed $67 million of cancellation of indebtedness income.
Greenberg Gross obtained a jury verdict against Uber Technologies, Inc. and its founders in the first phase of a $1-billion trade secrets theft case.
Alan Greenberg, Wayne Gross, and Claire-Lise Kutlay won a complete defense verdict for an AmLaw 200 law firm in a $600 million RICO and fraud case brought by the heirs to the Alta Dena Dairy fortune. The plaintiffs claimed that a close family friend conspired with a former law firm partner to gain control of the heirs’ estate and siphon off millions of dollars in the guise of implementing a highly complex estate plan. After a four-week trial, the judge dismissed a number of the claims and the jury rejected the rest, resulting in a complete victory after more than eight years of litigation. The client’s CFO credited the Greenberg Gross team’s “superb work,” describing them as “strategic, tenacious, and in consummate command of the evidence and the law.”
SpaceX tapped Greenberg Gross to defend five engineers hired by the rocket company against claims asserted by their prior employer, Broadcom, that they misappropriated trade secrets related to chipsets for satellite communications. On March 24, 2016, Greenberg Gross defeated Broadcom’s application for a temporary restraining order barring the engineers from working at SpaceX.
Following a seven-week jury trial in which it represented the defendants, Greenberg Gross obtained a complete defense verdict and also obtained a multimillion-dollar verdict on a counterclaim against the plaintiffs, including an award of punitive damages and the right to recover attorneys’ fees. The plaintiffs claimed that the firm’s client, a subsidiary of a Switzerland-based global engineering firm, owed more than $3 million in connection with the client’s purchase of a business from the plaintiffs. The client, Cavotec Inet US Inc., not only prevailed on that claim, but also prevailed on a counterclaim for breach of fiduciary duty and punitive damages in the amount of $3.3 million, plus attorneys’ fees.
Greenberg Gross obtained a dismissal of a lawsuit filed by PIMCO alleging that AIG made false and misleading public statements about its exposure to the subprime mortgage market in violation of federal securities laws.
Greenberg Gross obtained a multimillion-dollar jury verdict on behalf of the former chief operating officer of a chain of dialysis centers. Following a two-week trial, the jury found the defendant liable for fraud, breach of oral contract, and breach of written contract arising from the defendant’s failure to pay the COO a share of the $43 million sale of the centers.
Greenberg Gross obtained a no-liability settlement for the former CEO and chief credit officer of Pacific Coast National Bank in a lawsuit filed against them by the FDIC. The FDIC alleged that the executives breached their fiduciary duties by negligently approving various loans during the period from 2006 to 2008. After more than two years of hard-fought litigation, the FDIC agreed to dismiss the case with no payment by the firm’s clients and no finding of any negligence or wrongdoing whatsoever.
Greenberg Gross obtained summary judgment on behalf of Lowe’s Home Improvement, ending a putative class action that alleged violation of a criminal statute in the sale of portable heaters to consumers.
Greenberg Gross obtained summary judgment on behalf of the Automobile Club of Southern California and the Automobile Association of America to end a putative nationwide class action filed by job applicants and employees who failed criminal background checks. The lead plaintiff alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In granting summary judgment, the court agreed with Greenberg Gross that the Auto Club and AAA did not violate the Act.
Greenberg Gross obtained the dismissal of a fraud lawsuit filed against the former chief executive officer of the Automobile Club of Southern California. The plaintiff, an auto insurance policyholder, claimed material omissions in company correspondence. The court, in granting Greenberg Gross’s motion, not only dismissed the suit but also awarded attorneys’ fees and costs to the client.
Following a nine-day jury trial, Greenberg Gross obtained a defense verdict for a leading digital marketing company in a lawsuit brought by the Costa Mesa Conference and Visitor Bureau alleging fraud and breach of contract.
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On behalf of Highwinds Network Group, Inc., a content delivery network provider, Greenberg Gross filed a successful anti-SLAPP motion to strike a malicious prosecution complaint, obtained a dismissal, and recovered an award of attorneys’ fees.
Greenberg Gross secured a declination from the U.S. Attorney’s Office on behalf of the CEO of Medical Capital Holdings. Federal authorities investigated Medical Capital and its executives for allegedly engaging in the largest Ponzi scheme in Orange County history involving alleged losses of close to $1 billion.
Greenberg Gross represented the Chapter 11 trustee, John C. Hueston, in an investigation and related litigation involving Morgan Drexen Inc., a national debt relief and bankruptcy services company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued Morgan Drexen in 2013, alleging that the company deceived 14,000 consumers into paying illegal upfront fees. Greenberg Gross, in conjunction with the trustee, conducted an expedited investigation and shut the company down, enabling the recovery of assets for creditors.
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Greenberg Gross obtained a declination from the Securities and Exchange Commission on behalf of a biotechnology company official in connection with an insider trading investigation. As a result, the official was not named in an SEC enforcement action for insider trading against three other individuals related to a corporate acquisition by a Fortune 100 conglomerate.