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

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.

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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.

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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.

Taxes due for Twenty-Nine Palms tribe member

The California Court of Appeals has ruled that a Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians member must pay state income tax on the money she received from gaming operations at Spotlight 29 Casino.

Angelina Mike had been living on another tribe's reservation in 2000 when she got the per-capita distribution. Had she been living on the 240-acre Twenty-Nine Palms land at the time, the state would have been barred from collecting those taxes. 

The Fourth District appeals court, affirming a San Diego Superior Court ruling, said there is a rational basis or treating Indians who have left their own tribe's reservation like all other taxpayers in California. Mike will owe close to $345,000.

Full story here.

Residents' group opposing museum expansion drops suit

The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles has agreed to pay $150,000 to Homeowners Opposed to Museum Expansion, a neighborhood group that sued to block the center's expansion of its Museum of Tolerance.

The group is made up of residents who fought plans to extend the museum's hours and replace a Holocaust memorial garden a 28,000-square-foot reception and banquet area. Homeowners had filed the suit alleging that the environmental study conducted by the city was inadequate. They also argued that the expansion would increase noise and traffic in the area.

The case was supposed to go to trial on February 23, but the group agreed to drop the case. Susan Gans, an entertainment attorney who has led the opposition since 2007, said about $20,000 of the settlement funds would be used to reimburse elderly residents who contributed savings or pension money to oppose the expansion.

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Birotte is new U.S. Attorney for SoCal

Andre Birotte Jr. was sworn in yesterday as the U.S. Attorney for the district covering Southern California. He was nominated to the post by President Barack Obama.

Birotte is the first black U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, with responsibility for all federal litigation in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. 

He was inspector general of the Los Angeles Police Department since 2003. He was a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office from 1995 to 1999. Birotte graduated from Tufts University in 1987 and the Pepperdine University School of Law 1991. He started his legal career as a deputy public defender for Los Angeles County, a job he held from 1991 to 1995.

Full story here.

New LA partners at Foley & Lardner

Foley & Lardner LLP have announced that three of the firm’s senior counsel have been elected to partnership in the Los Angeles office.

Jeffery R. Atkin is a member of the Energy Industry Team and the Finance & Financial Institutions and Transactional & Securities Practices. Mr. Atkin’s experience in renewable energy and project finance includes representing developers, investors, lenders and landowners in the construction, development, acquisition and financing of renewable energy generation facilities, including wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and biomass facilities.

Jaime Guerrero is a member of the firm’s White Collar Defense Practice. Mr. Guerrero focuses in the areas of government enforcement actions, white collar criminal defense, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") investigations, accounting litigation, securities litigation, and partnership disputes. He represents companies and individuals in parallel civil and criminal proceedings initiated by regulatory and prosecuting agencies for a variety of alleged wrongdoing and business disputes. Mr. Guerrero has conducted internal investigations in the United States and Latin America in both English and Spanish.

John G. Yslas is a member of the Labor & Employment and General Commercial Litigation Practices. He is also a member of the National Class Action Group and the Litigation Department Training Committee. Mr. Yslas has represented employers in a wide variety of actions, including those involving state and federal claims of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, breach of employment contract, wrongful termination, unequal pay, breach of fiduciary duty, unlawful interference with prospective business opportunity, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, constitutional rights violations, and wage and hour violations.

Ramirez confirmed by Senate to FTC

The U.S. Senate has confirmed President Obama’s nomination of Edith Ramirez to the Federal Trade Commission. She will be replacing Republican Deborah Majoras, who stepped down in March 2008.

A partner in Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges’ Los Angeles office, Ramirez specializes in intellectual property and complex litigation matters. She graduated from Harvard-Radcliffe College prior to attending Harvard Law School. She was admitted to the bar in 1993.

Ramirez also worked as deputy political director and director of Latino outreach for Obama’s presidential campaign in California.

Full story here.

New OC Corporate & Finance partner at Manatt

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, announced today that Thomas J. Leary has joined the firm’s Orange County office as a partner in the Corporate and Finance practice group.

Leary has extensive experience advising public and private companies, boards of directors and executives in a broad range of complex business, litigation and transactional matters. He has served as outside transactional and general counsel to clients in a variety of industries.

Leary comes to the firm most recently from his position as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of national retailer Pacific Sunwear, where he was responsible for management and oversight of all legal affairs and human resource functions. Prior to his position at Pacific Sunwear, Leary was a partner for more than 12 years at O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

Leary earned a B.A. in Economics and Business, cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles. He earned his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, where he was a member of the UCLA Law Review.

Supergraphics battle intensifies in Los Angeles

When Carmen Trutanich promised during his election campaign to crack down on unpermitted supergraphics, he clearly meant it.

According to an LA Times story, arrest warrants have been issued against four people accused of putting up supergraphics without permits.  Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mildred Escobedo issued an arrest warrant for $250,000 bail for Mazen I. Nazzal, 65, of Los Angeles. Warrants for $100,000 bail each were issued for three others: Alexander Patrick Kouba, France Luanghy and Thomas Edward Curtin.

Trutanich also secured misdemeanor criminal warrants against four companies, including Yorkbury Investments and Yorkwood.  Those two companies are listed as the owners of a building at 6800 Hollywood Blvd., where three Asics sportswear supergraphics have been installed.

The four warrants accuse the defendants of misdemeanor counts of violating the city's municipal code, including a ban on the installation of new supergraphics. 

The city attorney isn't stopping there.  Click here for the full story.

Activision sued for wrongful termination by former execs

Jason West and Vince Zampella, co-founders of Activision’s Infinity Ward studio, sued Activision Blizzard in Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday, claiming breach of contract and wrongful termination. The two former executives, creators of the "Call of Duty" game franchise, claim the video game publisher fired them on “false” insubordination charges to avoid paying royalties.

“Activision terminated their employment weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalty payments as part of their existing contracts for ‘Modern Warfare 2,’” West and Zampella’s lawyers at O’Melveny & Myers LLP wrote in a statement.

They seek at least $36 million and control over “Modern Warfare,” a subset of the “Call of Duty” combat games, according to a copy of the complaint.

Full story here.

Tri-City files suit to prevent just-around-the-corner clinics in its district

In a lawsuit filed on February 26, the Oceanside-based Tri-City Healthcare District asked a judge to block Escondido-based Palomar Pomerado Health from building a series of quickie medical clinics inside Albertson's grocery stores. The stores are located in Oceanside, San Elijo Hills, and Temecula.

Tri-City is alleging that the plan violates state laws forbidding a public health care district from expanding services beyond its boundaries without permission from a special state-chartered agency. They also call it an "improper waste" of $200,000 in public funds. (As opposed to a proper waste of public funds, like ... ?) 

Palomar Pomerado board Chairman Bruce Krider said yesterday that his district hasn't made a final decision on the clinics. They did vote last month to spend up to $200,000 to explore the idea. In turn, Tri-City Chief Executive Officer Larry Anderson said even spending money to pursue the idea is wrong and a waste of public funds because the district can't legally follow through with the clinics.

Tri-City is represented by Walter Rusinek with Procopio, Cory, Hargreves & Savitch.

Click these for details.