The article provides an update on their January 2018 article in the Daily Journal regarding an internal Department of Justice memo, which encouraged government attorneys to be more aggressive in dismissing False Claims Act cases that do not serve government interests. The new article tracks the government’s evolving treatment of FCA cases since the memo was leaked and the uptick in government dismissals.
Click here to read full article.
“The Astros will vigorously contest this suit, which we believe has no merit,” said John Hueston.
Bolsinger is represented by Geragos & Geragos. Hueston Hennigan previously faced off against Geragos in the battle between the State Bar and its former executive director Joseph Dunn, with Hueston Hennigan coming away with the victory.
Read the full Daily Journal article here.
Caltech was sued by a former researcher, who claimed that he was terminated for exposing alleged misuse of government funds and research misconduct. He further alleged that Caltech tortiously interfered with his and his company’s business relations and breached contractual obligations. Caltech, on the other hand, argued that its actions were entirely proper in all aspects of its dealings with the government and that the DOE eliminated the researcher’s position by terminating funding when he failed to deliver on his commitments.
“At one point he was demanding more than nine figures, and he was trying to call into question Caltech’s integrity as a research institution and its relations with the Department of Energy,” said partner and co-lead counsel Moez Kaba to the Daily Journal. “But there was no misconduct on the school’s part and Caltech was determined to fight the claims.”
Following over a year of discovery, we moved for summary judgment and succeeded in narrowing the case substantially. The issue at trial – in May 2019 – was whether Caltech retaliated against Dr. Roumi for complaints he had made and wrongfully terminated him.
Through a spirited examination of many high-level officials at Caltech, co-lead counsel and partner John Hueston took “him on as lead witness and attempted to destroy his credibility.”
After four weeks of trial and just two hours of deliberation, we secured a full defense verdict for Caltech.
Read Top Verdicts story.
“The Court’s thorough and thoughtful preliminary injunction order affirms FFI’s First Amendment and Constitutional rights to be free from retaliation,” explained lead counsel Moez M. Kaba. “We are proud to work with FFI to protect fundamental First Amendment rights and reinstate their critical Hotline that has helped thousands of persons in immigrant detention report on the conditions of their confinement.”
In 2019, FFI partnered with the popular Netflix show Orange is the New Black (“OITNB”) to help portray the plight of persons detained in ICE facilities and increase public knowledge of the work that organizations like FFI do. Season 7 of OITNB prominently featured the Hotline, and press surrounding the July 2019 season premiere focused on the immigrant-centric storylines and FFI’s work. After first restricting the national Hotline to only certain facilities in Florida, ICE completely shut down the Hotline within two weeks of the premiere of OITNB Season 7.
Hueston Hennigan filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of FFI in December 2019 to reinstate FFI’s Hotline that ICE had shut down in retaliation for FFI’s exercise of First Amendment rights, advocating on behalf of persons in immigration detention.
In granting the preliminary injunction, Judge Birotte found that “FFI has shown that its speech was a substantial and motivating factor behind DHS’s shutdown of the Hotline,” and ordered that DHS stop “further interference with the operation of the free and confidential” Hotline and restore FFI’s Hotline at “all detention facilities operated , controlled, and/or overseen” by ICE.
As noted in the Hollywood Reporter, Mr. Kaba “praised the court for affirming the group’s ‘First Amendment and Constitutional rights to be free from retaliation.’”
FFI’s National Immigration Detention Hotline is the nation’s largest immigration detention hotline and staffed by a team of highly trained multilingual advocates across the country. Prior to the shutdown, FFI received over 10,000 calls per month from people in immigrant prisons and jails nationwide. FFI received calls from immigrants from 148 countries that spoke 80 different languages. Most calls came from people originally from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Ghana, Nigeria, Jamaica, India, and the Dominican Republic.
Freedom for Immigrants is represented pro bono by Moez M. Kaba, Rajan Trehan, and Ashley Artmann of Hueston Hennigan LLP.
Media coverage includes The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, ABCNews, San Francisco Chronicle, Law360 and others.
We invite you to learn more about our successes over the past year here and to read our Five-Year Anniversary Report.
“I’m thrilled we were able to achieve this major win, which came after a virtually uninterrupted string of courtroom wins including defeating Flywheel’s Alice challenge and attempts to stay the case, and prevailing on every major discovery motion,” said Peloton’s lead counsel.
Peloton filed the original litigation in September 2018 alleging that Flywheel had willfully and intentionally created a copycat of the Peloton Bike called the “FLY Anywhere.”
The Hueston Hennigan team included Doug Dixon, Christy Von der Ahe Rayburn, Karen Younkins, Neil Anderson, Maxwell Coll, Joseph Crusham, Xiaohan Cai and Evan Shapiro
Read the Peloton press release here.
Media Coverage includes The Wall Street Journal, Law360, The Verge, The Fool and Fox Business.
“Harry is truly a lawyer’s lawyer,” said John Hueston. “Harry’s representation of some of the world’s leading international law firms and lawyers against lawsuits alleging legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and conflicts of interest strongly complements our growing professional liability practice.”
Mr. Mittleman was previously a partner at Irell & Manella and its General Counsel, where he focused on professional liability defense for major law firms, intellectual property litigation, and entertainment, commercial and securities litigation across a broad spectrum of industries.
In one frequently cited case that has attracted significant interest and achieved widespread influence, Mr. Mittleman secured a judgment dismissing claims for alleged professional negligence on behalf of a leading international law firm. That dismissal was then affirmed in a published decision that held, as a matter of first impression under California law, that a legal malpractice lawsuit must be dismissed where the law firm could not effectively defend the suit without revealing privileged client confidences. He also represented United Talent Agency in a high-profile, complex litigation in state and federal court against the Writers Guild of America concerning television packing fees, involving claims brought under federal and state antitrust laws, federal labor laws, federal anti-racketeering laws, and state laws.
“Harry is both a valued counselor and accomplished trial lawyer, trusted by clients and counsel alike to deliver exceptional results in the most challenging cases,” said managing partner Brian Hennigan.
For over a decade, Mr. Mittleman has been a professor at UCLA School of Law where he teaches an advanced course in business torts, focusing on commercial wrongs that cause economic harm.
“I am excited to join such a dynamic and elite national powerhouse.” Mittleman said. “In the five years since it was founded, Hueston Hennigan has become the firm to beat. I look forward to joining and expanding the firm’s already respected trial lawyers and professional liability practice.”
